Henry Wallace meets the President
“Yes, Henry, please do come in.”
Secretary of Commerce Henry Wallace walked into the Oval Office and shook hands with Harry White. “Good afternoon, Mr. President.”
“Henry, I’ll get straight to the point. If you have looked at the opinion polling lately, you will see I am disliked by a great many people. The Republicans will probably take back Congress this year, and put the nail in the coffin of an expanded New Deal agenda. The next two years will be quite frustrating and difficult. I’m afraid I’m more of a liability than an asset to the Democratic Party at this point. You know I never wanted this job. They made a mistake in picking Winant- his psychology was too fragile to handle the stress of the job. The country would have been better off if Roosevelt had kept you on the ticket in 1944.”
“That’s very kind of you, Harry.”
“The wrong against you will be amended. I do not think it will come as a surprise to you that I will not be running for re-election in 1948.”
Wallace kept a stoic expression. “You’ve never expressed great enthusiasm for electoral politics.”
“I did not choose to become president. Nevertheless, I have not hesitated in advancing my agenda and vision for the American people. We must have a government which expands the programs of the New Deal and embraces an internationalist vision abroad. I believe the policies I have implemented are very similar to those you would have implemented in my place. I fear this agenda is at risk. The Democratic Party maintained high popularity during periods of war and depression, but in the absence of any immediate crisis people are growing tired of us. There are elements within the Democratic Party who oppose a bold, progressive vision for the future- the same elements who removed you from the Vice Presidency.” White paused. “The next president must continue this administration’s agenda. Particularly when it comes to foreign policy- the success of the new international order is not guaranteed, it is still fragile. Many people in this country wish for a conflict with the Soviet Union. They seek to destroy what I have worked so hard to build. But you understand we must maintain our friendship with the Soviet Union. Henry, I am prepared to offer my support for your presidential candidacy in 1948. My active support for your candidacy is of course conditional on your pledging to uphold my plans for world peace. I think such a promise will be easy for you to make. You don’t have to decide right now whether you want to be my successor. But know that you are the best and most deserving man to lead us into the future.”
Hearst’s October Surprise
On the morning of October 1, 1946, Rabbi Stephen Wise was taking a leisurely stroll on Central Park West on the way to his synagogue on the Upper West Side. It was the week of the High Holidays- Yom Kippur was only a few days away. When he wasn’t engaging in religious services for New York’s Reform Jewish Community, the Rebbe would often use his weekdays to engage in various political activities. Since the defeat of the Nazis, Wise had focused on aiding Jewish refugees and promoting Zionism- he wrote letters to and met frequently with Henry Morgenthau. The Morgenthaus had been longtime constituents of his synagogue, which had proved useful when Morgenthau was appointed to the Roosevelt administration. Morgenthau’s protégé now sat in the White House, and he had proved receptive to Wise’s lobbying on Jewish issues. As British control over Palestine waned, Wise planned on lobbying the President to explicitly back the Yishuv in Palestine, perhaps even delivering government support for the Jewish Agency or even the Haganah. As a leader of the Reform movement Wise had always been one of the most influential Jews in the United States, but with a Jew in the White House his stature rose greater still. It was a miracle that White had even become President in the first place. After the horrors the Jewish people had suffered in Europe, White’s presidency seemed auspicious- a gift from Hashem. After delivering the Jews from a modern-day Pharaoh, Hashem was laying out the signposts which would allow the Jews to return to the Promised Land. Not that Wise would ever say this aloud- he was a modern Rabbi who believed in a scientific rational Judaism. Still, he couldn't help but to seek the hand of the divine in earthly affairs. Wise prayed that the year 5707 would see the return of Israel and the deliverance of the Jews from thousands of years of precarity and persecution.
But political manners were not initially on the mind of Wise that morning. He had finished revising his Yom Kippur sermon and was thinking now of religious matters- of Hashem and repentance. But Wise’s private meditations were disturbed as he passed a crowded newsstand on 66th Street. Dozens of people had gathered outside the tiny storefront, some of the customers were yelling loudly. That can’t be good, thought the Rabbi. His curiosity piqued, Wise walked towards the newsstand.
“The Communists are in charge now- the government is a farce. Washington is filled with traitors- this explains why the Reds are running loose in Europe,” declared a balding, stout middle aged man wearing a brown cap, an unlit cigarette hanging from his mouth.
“Oh yeah? Well, what the hell do you know about politics, Henry? You run a garment shop!” yelled a short brunette woman in a thick New York accent.
“What happened?” asked the Rabbi to no one in particular. “What happened?”
The proprietor of the newsstand, a gnarly Irishman with red curly hair, beckoned to the Rabbi from the window above his rows of newspapers and snacks. “It’s this huge scandal- Hearst has this whole story about the Russians infiltrating Washington- all these big men in Washington are all spies,” the proprietor said in a New York brogue. “He says the President is in on it, and all these people working for him are Russian spies.”
Wise looked down at the newspaper headlines and gasped. In big bold letters taking up nearly the entire front fold, the headline read:
RED SPIES IN THE WHITE HOUSE!
The Rabbi quickly fumbled in his coat pocket for some change, taking out a nickel and handing it to the Irishman. Wise grabbed the newspaper and began to read the front page.
By William Randolph Hearst
Adolf Berle, the United States Ambassador to Brazil has confirmed that Whittaker Chambers, a former Communist turned journalist at TIME magazine, warned the State Department about a Soviet spy ring within the United States government in September of 1939. Chambers provided a list of men involved in the spy ring to the Ambassador. Among the men Chambers said were Communists taking orders from Moscow was Harry Dexter White, six years before he became President of the United States.
Wise felt a tremor in his chest. It had all been too good to be true. He had been wrong to be so hopeful. How foolish had he been, to think this day would not come. The gentiles had always been suspicious of the Jews, even here, even in the refuge of the United States. A Jewish President had provoked them. He knew of certain accusations from bigots and reactionaries- that was to be expected. But this story- the Hearst press had laid out all the ugly insinuations and theories out in the open. They mean to say that the President, a Jew, is disloyal, a traitor, an enemy to this country. They mean to imply that American Jews are not loyal to the Stars and Stripes, that they are foreign saboteurs destroying the nation from within.
Wise, feeling his chest tighten, tried to focus on finishing the article. Hearst said that White, several Cabinet Secretaries, and other men in his circle had begun spying for the Soviets in the 1930s. Chambers, the man who had tried to out these men as spies, had been missing since White became President- the article implied that he had been murdered by Communists. The President had fired J. Edgar Hoover as Director of the FBI and ordered the Justice Department to block investigations into espionage and prevent any allegations about the President from going public. The article frequently mentioned Hoover and his research into the President’s meetings with Soviet officials, details of dates and events. Hearst further suggested that various foreign policy decisions carried out by the White Administration were done so at the behest of the Soviet Union. In a separate section, Hearst gave a full list of all the men Chambers had named. The article continued for several pages.
They are mounting a full offensive against the President. They mean to destroy him completely. They have released this story right before the congressional elections because they want the Democrats wiped out- they want a Congress under total Republican control, so they can remove the President. There’s no escaping it. Hearst wouldn’t be so bold unless the conservative strategy had already been decided. This is to be the scandal of the century, the American Dreyfus Affair. It didn’t matter if it were true or not, because an angry, vengeful mob was coming for the President, and this mob would inevitably turn its wrath on America’s Jews.
Wise steadied his hand over his sternum, feeling as if his chest was about to burst. He had been arrogant to assume the will of Hashem, to assume that White’s presidency was a blessing. There had always been a voice at the back of his head- White has to be careful, or it will be bad for the Jews. But Wise had become proud and bold, too secure in his station and ambition. And now history conspired to bring Wise low, to threaten the Jews again when Wise had sought to guarantee their permanent safety.
Reform Judaism had little use for omens, premonitions or divination. But Wise felt in his heart a terrible swelling, a deep irrational primordial fear surging to the surface of his body. For this libel to come forth for all the nation to see during the High Holidays, at the start of the Jewish New Year- this was no accident. This was a sign, an indication of awaits the Jews in the coming year- evil misfortune and bloody terror. Wise had embraced the President all too publicly and willingly- and now his people would pay the price.
The Rabbi tried to breathe, but his chest was so tight his lungs were stuck. Wise grabbed at his shirt as his heart burst. He keeled over, collapsing onto the sidewalk. Bystanders raced over to help Wise. The short brunette woman ran off, telling the crowd she would summon an ambulance. Wise died within minutes of his heart bursting.
J’Accuse!
The famous article "Red Spies in the White House" ran as an exclusive on the front pages of all the Hearst papers at the start of October 1946. These allegations were quickly republished by all the other newspapers and discussed in newsreels and on the radio. Within a few days, nearly every soul in the country had heard the story of a communist conspiracy that had taken control over Washington. It was the talk of every town and city, every schoolhouse and factory, every bar and kitchen table. Those who had deeply loathed the President beforehand loudly declared, with both excitement and anger, that the President was a traitor. The most loyal Democrats and partisans of the New Deal were quick to declare the innocence of the President and his cabinet, denouncing the Hearst story as wicked libel. Most Americans- most of the western world, in fact- did not know what to make of the story. Hearst had hedged his bets in the article, noting that he could not prove Chambers’ allegations were certain- he definitely did not have enough evidence to prove the conspiracy in a court of law. The story was based on hearsay and secondhand accounts, and the central witness of the story was presumed dead. There was nothing in the article that was immediately actionable.
And yet- if there was nothing to the story, if it was just a humongous lie, a big fraud, then surely the Hearst papers wouldn’t have risked publishing the story. Was the President a Communist spy? Perhaps not- but there had to be something there, some kernel of truth dangerous enough that Hearst and Hoover would risk it all to publicly declare that the President might be a traitor. The United States was supposed to have evolved from the rough and tumble politics of the 19th century- the President was not a man who was always liked, but the institution of the presidency was to be treated with reverence and respect, certainly by citizens as prominent as Hearst and Hoover. If Harry Dexter White was what his enemies thought him to be- what would that mean for the foundations of American government, for the American way of life? And so for the vast majority of Americans, a sense of uncertainty prevailed. With the exception of the hardest bigots and most paranoid anti-Semites, the idea that the President was a spy was not something most people wanted to believe. The theory was too frightening, too awful to immediately and easily accept. After the publication of the article, amidst loud partisan acrimony and bickering, most Americans, after being hit by an initial rush of adrenaline, fell silent. For all that ensued afterwards, what characterized the national mood was a quiet unease, a shaking suspicion. For those who thought what J. Edgar Hoover said was true, dared it not to be true. George Gallup’s polling organization had found in the months leading up to the 1946 midterms that White had a poor approval rating and that the Republicans were expected to win control of Congress by a significant margin. But when Gallup conducted a poll to test the public reaction to the Hearst article in the final weeks before the election; the most popular answer to the question “Do you believe that the allegations against President White and his administration are wholly or partly true?” was “I don’t know.”
The President, apparently having caught wind of the allegations in the Hearst article long before it was published, wasted little time in responding. On October 2, 1946, the President flew from Washington to New York City to give a speech addressing the allegations. The President stood at a podium directly in front of the Statue of Liberty on Liberty Island, surrounded by American flags. Although many Americans heard the speech by radio, thus missing the visual symbolism of the speech, a picture of the President and the Statue of Liberty was published on the front pages of newspapers the following day and in numerous magazines. The President’s speech was also shown in newsreels and was shown on an obscure invention called television owned by a few thousand residents in New York City. The positioning of the President’s speech is particularly significant as White sought to inextricably associate himself with America’s most iconic monument. White was the President, and as the President there was to be no question that he was the chief defender of America’s most cherished institutions.
“Good evening. My fellow citizens, certain claims have been made by reactionary and irresponsible elements of the press attacking the loyalty and integrity of various members of the government, including myself. These claims are lies- complete and utter lies, libelous falsehoods. These lies, in the immediate sense, target the dedicated civil servants in our government who have spent their careers in the service of the American people. These yellow journalists appear invested in destroying me personally- both my reputation and my presidency. This alliance between yellow journalists and disgruntled, discredited former government officials is a partisan endeavor, aimed at breaking the New Deal and the power of the Democratic Party. They aim to empower the most reactionary political elements in the country. But this tall tale, this ridiculous myth is not just aimed at any particular individuals or political faction. This sinister cabal has aimed a dagger at the heart of the American republic- an attack which seeks to break the foundations of constitutional government. The directors of this cabal are a group of industrialists, plutocrats, and militarists who have sought to undermine the New Deal for years, and with the passing of that great hero, Franklin Roosevelt, they have decided this is the time to strike. And to destroy the New Deal, they aim to destroy the system of government that produced it- that is the liberal democratic republicanism which has served as the guiding principle of this country since 1776. The cabal aims to end my presidency, yes, but they also aim to end government by the people. If the cabal succeeds in their aims, government by the people and for the people will perish from the Earth.
In short, this cabal has aims of establishing a fascist regime in the United States. One of the leaders of the cabal, John Edgar Hoover, was formerly leader of the FBI for many years. I removed him from office after discovering the extent of his illegal activities and his abuse of power- years of blatant violations of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, illegal spying on law-abiding citizens and the possession of blackmail files aimed at coercing those elected officials who might oppose him. Hoover abused his power to turn the agents of the Justice Department into his own personal secret police, an American Gestapo. I believe he sought to make himself a shadow President, the real power in Washington, but I put an end to those plans. Embittered and vengeful at the thwarting of his ambitions, he has taken up the black standard of revenge, making the purpose of his life my political destruction. This man tried to establish a secret state and undermine democracy in the United States. This tall tale is a continuation of that effort by other means. Nor is Hoover the only member of the cabal with fascist aims. For the past few months now, the former general Adolf Wiedelbach has been testing the waters with smears of disloyalty, smears that this administration is in the control of a foreign power. Wiedelbach, during his time in the Army, made statements openly praising fascism and dictatorship. His partner in villainy and deceit, George Patton, has made similar claims. They have made vile slurs and remarks advocating for religious and racial prejudice- against me in particular.
I had hoped that in my work on behalf of the American people, that my private and professional life would remain separate. I hoped that my personal biography and background would not be relevant, that my friends and opponents alike would judge me by my actions as President, by my policies. I did not ask for this job- it was thrust upon me by unhappy circumstance. I have done my best to discharge the responsibilities given to me by the Constitution, and to discharge the obligations I owe to the American people. I do not claim to be perfect. In a free and democratic country, it is right and proper for patriotic citizens to criticize the President, to suggest he could be doing a better job, and to vote for his political opponents. But this evil lie, which calls into question my loyalty into question- my adherence to my oath of office- that is unacceptable! That is evil!
I stand today at the feet of the Statue of Liberty. It was she who greeted my parents when they first came to this country some sixty years ago. They were of the wretched refuse of the old world, those for whom Europe had no use. They came from the Russian Empire- and they were Jews. In those days, the Czar and the Cossacks persecuted the Jews mercilessly- pogroms were inflicted upon Jewish communities. Jewish children trembled in their beds, babes were not safe in their cradles. Even in times of peace, my family suffered from terrible poverty and starvation.
But even in distant Lithuania, they could see the bright torch of Lady Liberty. She beckoned for the tired and poor and hungry to come to these shores. For America was the land of freedom and opportunity, where there were no limits to what you could achieve. My father ran a hardware store- he never imagined that one of his sons would become Secretary of the Treasury, let alone President of the United States. It easily could have been very different. Had my family remained in Lithuania, we would have been there in 1941 when the Nazis marched in and exterminated the Jews of that country. Our bones would be dust, our home a grave. But against the odds, I stand before you today, thanks to the American miracle. Only in the United States would my story be possible. I owe this country everything.
I have sought to repay that debt by dedicating my life to the service of the American people. I served this country in uniform during the First World War. I was deployed to France near the battlefront, and I was prepared to give my life in defense of this country. To my brothers in arms, I was not a Jew or Lithuanian first- I was an American. I owe a great debt to my friends in the Army, for they reminded me of this country’s promise. For years, I worked as a civil servant dedicated to stopping the ravages of the Great Depression. I worked tirelessly during the last war to protect this country from foreign enemies. How can these men accuse me of treason, of disloyalty to a land to which I owe everything?
This story promulgated by William Randolph Hearst is sneaky and dishonest, for it does not directly state what it means to imply. It accuses several, good, sound civil servants of treason, simply because they are associated with me. But there is a darker, more sinister force behind this lie- religious hatred and anti-Semitism. It is because of my religion that the fascists have decided on this particular charge. Jews have always been accused of treason and disloyalty. It was the evil lie that Jews were malicious puppet masters, traitors and Communist saboteurs which motivated Hitler to bring ruin to Europe and murder millions. And now this same base ideology, which we only recently though permanently defeated, rears its ugly head upon these shores. They are afraid of the justice we are delivering in Germany, of the measures we are taking to permanently dismantle the threat that nation poses to world peace. They would destroy me, destroy the principles of Lady Liberty because of their vicious hatred for Jews. Anti-Semitism is the death of democracy. In France, the false accusations against Alfred Dreyfus were used to mobilize reactionaries and bigots, an alliance which ultimately collaborated with the Nazis to subjugate their own country. The attacks on me are an attempt to instigate a similar incident.
The American people are asking questions about my political activities. I was briefly acquainted with Mr. Chambers and other members of left-wing political circles. Chambers, being paranoid, deluded, and suicidal, accused me and a great many others of being spies. So let me be clear- these charges are utter rubbish. There are no red spies in my administration, at least none that I have hired. I am not a communist. I have not consciously hired any Communists. I am an honest, loyal American, and my allegiance is to the Republic and to the Constitution. That is indisputable.”
The President’s prompt response prevented the development of a national consensus that he was guilty. In the aftermath of the speech, the leaders of the Democratic Party and the nation’s foremost liberals united in condemning "Red Spies in the White House" and defending the President. Eleanor Roosevelt sharply denounced Hearst’s article as “disgraceful” in her daily column “My Day”, stating that “In a free country like the United States, we operate under the presumption of innocence until proven guilty. Mr. Hoover is utilizing blackmail tactics, improperly trying to instigate political prosecution over political differences. He has wantonly smeared the names of many good men on flimsy hearsay. This hysteria threatens our survival as a free country.” Speaker Rayburn and Senator Barkley, despite their lukewarm relationship with the President, released a joint statement on behalf of Congressional Democrats condemning Hearst for irresponsibly politicizing journalism in order to benefit the Republican Party in the midterms. They dismissed the charges of a Soviet spy ring controlling the executive branch as “flatly absurd on its face” and “beneath dignity”. Albert Einstein organized hundreds of intellectuals and prominent citizens, including Betrand Russell, Hannah Arendt, and Linus Pauling, to sign a letter publicly defending the President. The letter denounced the charges against the President as anti-Semitic and compared them to the Salem Witch Hunts. Einstein and several other signatories of the letter were recruited by the White administration to mount a sustained campaign in the press in the President’s defense. Henry Wallace declared the Hearst article was “a vicious and evil attack against a great and decent man.” Left-wing journalist I.F Stone, quickly seizing upon the President’s comparison of himself to Dreyfus, was the first author during the White Affair to imitate Emile Zola and publish an article titled J’Accuse!, in The Nation magazine. Dreyfus called the allegations against the administration “an anti-Semitic, pro-Nazi plot” aimed at deposing White in favor of a fascist regime which would carry out the persecution of American Jewry. Stone further accused Hearst, Luce, and Hoover of plotting a third world war against the Soviet Union. Stone had previously been ambivalent about White, but quickly became the President’s stoutest defender in print, praising him as a great hero standing against a resurgent tide of fascism. Stone spoke for many Jewish leftists who correctly saw the allegations of White as an existential threat not only to their political projects, but their very status as Americans.
The President’s most prominent public advocate, however, was Attorney General Samuel Dickstein. Dickstein’s defense of White was so aggressive he was nicknamed “Harry’s Bloodhound.” Dickstein called upon his credibility as the founder of the McCormack-Dickstein Committee (later the House Un-American Activities Committee) to defend the President’s patriotism. Dickstein compared "Red Spies in the White House" to the Business Plot of 1933, an alleged coup attempt to overthrow President Roosevelt and install a fascist military dictatorship. Dickstein was a major promoter of General Smedley Butler’s claims that such a Business Plot existed when he was in Congress. Dickstein claimed that there was a second Business Plot afoot, and that the same business interests behind the first business plot were accusing the President of being a spy in another attempt to destroy democracy. Dickstein pointed towards the prominence of right-wing former generals in the opposition towards White as additional evidence of a fascist scheme, referring to General Patton as a “trial dictator”. Dickstein further implied that the perpetrators of this second Business Plot were Nazi sympathizers seeking to reverse the results of World War II. The Attorney General launched public diatribes against the isolationist wing of the Republican Party, implying their early opposition to American entry into World War II was evidence that the Republican Party supported fascism. Dickstein arranged for a press conference on October 17, 1946 in which he announced that the Justice Department was opening an investigation into unspecified “fascist putschists” under the terms of the Smith Act. (The Smith Act, passed in 1940, was written to give the Roosevelt administration authority to prosecute Nazi sympathizers in the United States). Dickstein then threatened to use the Espionage Act to block the distribution of Hearst newspapers, although most of the public had already heard of the Chambers allegations. Senator Robert Taft of Ohio declared to reporters that Dickstein’s press conference was “a ridiculous stunt… meant to intimidate the political opposition into silence and submission.” New York Governor Thomas Dewey, a former prosecutor and presidential candidate, said that Dickstein’s press conference was “a farce”, pointing out that Hearst’s article was protected by the 1st amendment. “In this country, citizens are free to make any criticism of the President, even if it isn't true.” Dewey further suggested that the legal justification to prosecute Hearst, Hoover, and other critics of the President under the Smith Act was so weak; that there was no Smith Act investigation at all and that the Attorney General was fibbing for political purposes. Several other prominent attorneys agreed with Dewey’s analysis. Neither Dewey or Taft, both considered prospective Republican presidential candidates in 1948, said whether or not they believed in Whittaker Chambers, merely suggesting that the matter warranted further investigation. The Attorney General made numerous speeches, radio interviews, and editorials defending the President. Dickstein repeatedly referenced the Dreyfus Affair, accusing Hearst and Hoover of antisemitism and Nazi sympathies. Dickstein, whose birthplace in Lithuania made him the target of conspiracy theories by isolationists and racists, referred to the Chambers allegations as “ the Big Russian Hoax” and “the dirty Chambers dossier”, terms which were quickly adopted by the President’s supporters. In other instances, however, Dickstein suggested that the “Big Russian Hoax” was itself a Communist plot- that Whittaker Chambers, as a self-confessed member of the Communist Party, had falsely accused Roosevelt administration officials of being Communist spies as part of a plot to discredit the Roosevelt administration. Dickstein noted that Chambers had met with Berle at the start of Hitler’s invasion of Poland. Dickstein suggested that Chambers had been working with a foreign power to undermine the Roosevelt Administration’s foreign policy and prevent American intervention against the Axis. Dickstein suggested multiple theories about Chambers, including that he was a Nazi spy or sympathizer, and that Chambers was a Communist Party spy. At the time Hitler invaded Poland, Communist Parties in the West were opposed to the Allied war effort on Stalin’s orders, due the Soviet Union’s Molotov-Von Ribbentrop Pact with Nazi Germany. The Attorney General’s theory was that Chambers had been ordered by the Communists to launch false allegations against Roosevelt administration officials in order to cause internal chaos in the United States and uphold the Molotov-Von Ribbentrop Pact. The audaciousness of the Attorney General and the fact that his theories about Chambers were entirely contradictory were quickly seized upon by Conservative newspapers, but did not seem to be noticed by most Democrats.
While Generals Patton and Willoughby, still on their “Go to Hell Harry” campaign tour before the midterms, triumphantly touted "Red Spies in the White House" as proof they were right about the President, most Republican politicians were cautious about stating whether or not they believed in the Chambers allegations. House Minority Leader Joseph Martin, who was elected the Republican Speaker of the House in 1947, held a press conference on October 3, 1946, in which he said that the Chambers allegations were “serious charges”, but said he could not comment on whether the allegations were wholly or partly true. A few days later, Martin promised that the Republicans would open a special investigation into the President and the Cabinet under the auspices of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) in order to determine the extent of Communist influence in the federal government. Maine Senator Wallace White, the leader of the Senate Republicans, announced his support for Martin’s proposal, and declared the Senate would also open an investigation into Communist infiltration of the government should the Republicans take control of the Senate. White reiterated that the Republican Party did not know if Chambers had told the truth, but that communist infiltration of the United States was a serious issue. Kenneth Wherry, the Republican Whip in the Senate, denounced “Communists run rampant in Washington”, but upon advice from Senators White and Taft did not directly accuse any specific government official of being a spy. Robert Taft, previously mildly supportive of the President’s diplomatic overtures towards the Soviet Union, attacked White’s “reckless abrogation of our international responsibilities” and his “concessions to Marxist dictatorships.” Taft further compared the Morgenthau Plan, of which he had been a vocal critic, to “the Stalinist terrors carried out against dissidents in Russia.” Joseph Martin and Wallace White, in a closed door meeting with Republican senators and representatives, urged the Republican congressional caucus to avoid explicitly endorsing the Hearst article as true in the weeks leading up to Election Day. While a few right-wing representatives ignored the advice of their leaders and called the President and his advisors Communists, the majority of Republican congressmen were reticent on the subject. Claire Booth Luce, who was not running for reelection, publicly defended Whittaker Chambers and Time Magazine, and stated she believed the President had Communist sympathies. Given her marriage to Henry Luce meant that her public silence would appear to be a betrayal of her husband, Joseph Martin gave the congresswoman an exemption from the caucus wide policy. Margaret Chase Smith of Maine, in solidarity with one of the handful of fellow women in the Republican confessional caucus, stood beside Luce during multiple speeches and announced that the Soviet infiltration of the government must be confronted. Joseph Martin's ban on commenting on the veracity of the Chambers allegations applied only to sitting congressmen. Grassroots Republican activists were vocal in attacking White as a Soviet agent. Nor did Martin's message reach all Republican candidates. Congressional candidate Richard Nixon, who had previously criticized his opponent Jerry Voorhees for his connections to a Communist front group, quickly seized on the list of Communists provided to Hearst by Isaac Don Levine. The list included Lee Pressman, a lawyer who worked for the Congress of Industrial Organization (CIO) Pac- the very group Nixon had linked to Voorhees. Nixon denounced Voorhees as a "patsy for the Communists in the labor movement and in the White House." This marked the start of a Congressional career for Nixon which would be particularly notorious for such attacks on political opponents. Nor was Nixon unique in this respect- Republican candidates not bound by the incumbents pledge to Martin experimented with varying levels of red-baiting- some used proxies to accuse their opponents of being Soviet agents. The President himself was nicknamed “Harry Dexter Red” by the Chicago Tribune- an epithet the Republicans quickly embraced with relish. “Harry Dexter Red” was an easy way to insult the President for being too left-wing and hint at the espionage allegations without explicitly commenting on their truthfulness.
It is unclear to what extent the Hearst article played in the Republicans winning both the Senate and the House of Representatives from the Democrats in 1946. The President had suffered from poor approval ratings even before the article was published, largely due to inflation and the fact that he had never been elected to office. There was some speculation that the allegations against the President worsened the losses the Democrats suffered. While Democratic congressmen suffered from their association with Harry White, the specific claim that the President was a Communist spy did not seem to change the outcome of any particular congressional race. No sitting members of Congress were directly implicated in the scandal, and polls showed that voters generally reserved from making any judgements, taking a wait and see attitude. The Republicans took the results of the election as a mandate to reverse the excesses of the New Deal and to embark on a mission to destroy the White Presidency.
Joseph Martin, who replaced Sam Rayburn as Speaker of the House, took the forefront in addressing the Chambers allegations after the election. Martin said that investigating Communist infiltration of the United States government would be a top priority of the new Republican congress. Martin gave the portfolio of investigating the President to J. Parnell Thomas, the incoming chair of the House Un-American Activities Committee. Thomas quickly became a celebrity in the press, vowing to hold the President accountable. Right-wing Republicans including Richard Nixon and Karl Mundt were appointed to the Committee. Congressman John Rankin, the Mississippi Dixiecrat and infamous racist, was pulled from the Committee by Sam Rayburn on behalf of President White, after Rankin made anti-Semitic attacks against the President on the floor of Congress. Adam Clayton Powell Jr, the African-American congressman from Harlem, received Rankin’s spot on the Committee. Despite both Rankin and Powell being Democrats, the two had polar opposite political views. Powell was a staunch supporter of the President due to White’s support for African-American civil rights. Powell, in a committee of congressmen overwhelmingly hostile to Harry Dexter White, vowed to defend the White administration from what he called a “witch hunt”. In the waning weeks of 1946, Harry Dexter White and Joseph Martin readied themselves for a battle for control of the federal government.
Conspiracy Theories about the President
After the publication of the Hearst article, multiple conspiracy theories and "scandals" were popularized against the President. Many of these theories had already existed beforehand but were brought to new public prominence. One of these scandals involved Abraham Wolfson, a dentist in Newark. Wolfson had formerly been married to Ruth Terry, the sister of the First Lady before the couple divorced in 1934. Dr. Wolfson was thus the President's former brother-in-law. Separate articles printed in the Newark Evening News listed Wolfson as participating in the Ambijan Committee, the Council of Peace Mobilization, and the Russian War Relief Committee Campaign. All three of these organizations were front groups for the Communist Party, an organization of which Dr. Wolfson was an active card-carrying member. An article published in the Newark Evening News in September of 1945 mentioned that Wolfson had been related by marriage to the new President, but the dentist otherwise avoided public attention for a year- since his connection to the President was rather indirect. The Hoover detective agency began investigating Wolfson in earnest in the Summer of 1946. Promoted by Hoover, the Newark Evening News published an article summarizing Wolfson's Communist connections shortly after the publication of "Red Spies in the White House". Hoover further alleged that President White had repeatedly met with Wolfson even after the dentist had divorced Ruth Terry. Hoover, in a statement released to the Hearst papers, implied that Wolfson was the President's handler and liaison with the Communist Party. The Newark Evening News article on Wolfson was syndicated by the Associated Press and published in newspapers nationwide. Republicans were irritated that Wolfson's Communist activities, despite not being secret, had not been brought to public attention earlier. Dr. Wolfson received numerous death threats and public ostracism, forcing him to flee his home and dental practice to a refuge provided by his comrades. President White's Press Secretary said that while the President did know Wolfson, he had not associated with him in several years and that the President had many in-laws and relatives. It was absurd for the President to be accused of sharing the political views of a man he had not talked to for several years. President White commented that there were members of his extended family who were Republicans, and no one had ever accused him of being a secret Republican. Congressional Republicans nevertheless promised to subpoena Wolfson to testify before HUAC. Philip Roth, a Jewish author who grew up in Newark, later wrote a fictionalized biography of Wolfson in the novel The Dentist. Wolfson was portrayed by Roth as a sympathetic if somewhat flawed and pathetic figure, manipulated by his Communist superiors and subject to anti-Semitic opprobrium. In the treatment of Wolfson, who was ostracized by his community in Newark and subject to a wave of threats and harassment, Roth Roth saw a story which was emblematic of American suspicion towards Jews in the 1940s.
Another, more sinister conspiracy theory emerged from the racist fringes to popular prominence following the accusations against the President. This theory supposed that Harry Dexter White was not really the President because he was not an American citizen. The President, claimed these conspiracy theorists, had really been born in Lithuania and falsely claimed to be born in the United States after immigrating to Boston in his youth. The anti-Semitic fascist Reverend Gerald K Smith was the first to promote this theory, in a pamphlet published in 1945 shortly after White became President. This pamphlet, entitled The Truth About Harry Weissnovitz is believed to be the first public accusation that the President was a Communist spy. Smith accused White of not being an American citizen and of fraudulently producing documents indicating he was born in the United States. Smith claimed that White had been groomed to be a spy from his birth in Lithuania by the Elders of Zion- who he also claimed were controlling the global Communist movement. Smith claimed that the Jewish-Communist conspiracy had installed White as President as the culmination of the Jewish-Communist plot for world domination. Smith referred to the President using the name his family used in Lithuania- Weissnovitz. White was the anglicized version of the family name Harry's father Jacob had adopted in the 19th century. Smith's pamphlet was initially obscure and read only by a small audience. After the publication of the Chambers allegations, the Reverend Smith republished the pamphlet to a more receptive public. While Smith himself was kept at arm's length by most Republicans, his talking points about the President were quickly adopted by many ordinary Americans, who learned of such theories from the church pulpit or by word of mouth. “Harry Weissnovitz" became a popular way to refer to the President, along with "Go to Hell Harry '' and “Harry Dexter Red”. While Smith's "Birther" theory was originally explicitly anti-Semitic, other advocates of the theory denied accusations of bigotry. They claimed they were not making any accusations against Jews in general- merely against the President and his family. Even in its watered down form, the Birther theory nevertheless maintained anti-Semitic undertones- that American Jews were not really Americans, that they could not be real Americans, that they were inherently foreign and suspect. There were those who repeated the theory who did not realize the bigoted implications of the theory, being generally ignorant of Jews and what constituted bigotry. The claim that the President was a foreign citizen- a citizen of the Soviet Union, in fact- enabled a fantasy that the White's Presidency could immediately be rendered illegitimate, that all White had done could immediately be undone, that he could be removed from office right away without being impeached. This was the true appeal of the theory to a great many people. The President’s general evasiveness about his background- he mentioned being the son of Jewish immigrants but little else- increased the popular potency of Birtherism. It was even unclear why the President had adopted the middle name of Dexter- he was not born with it, and he did not explain where it came from. A man who was vague about such basic details such as his own name, the birthers reasoned, was certainly lying about his origins.
There were few politicians who explicitly embraced the Birther theory, although some made dark allusions to the President's family background and called him Weissnovitz as a reminder that he was born to foreign Jews. The theory spread nationwide and was believed by millions. The White administration and his defenders in the Press pointed to Reverend Smith's Nazi sympathies to discredit the theory and those who believed it- I.F Stone called Birtherism Nazi propaganda and claimed Reverend Smith was becoming hugely influential in the Republican Party. While The Truth About Harry Weissnovicz did receive a good deal of attention, particularly in the Midwest and South, the majority of believers in Birtherism had not read the pamphlet and many were not even aware of it. Gallup polling conducted in 1947 suggested that at least a fifth of the country (and a plurality of Republicans) believed in some variant of Birtherism. John Rankin was the most prominent elected official to espouse Birtherism in 1946. Various bills were introduced in the state legislatures condemning Harry Weissnovitz as an illegitimate President. The most active proponents of Birtherism were those who had originally hated the President on account of his Jewishness. The President was privately encouraged by the surge in anti-Semitic rhetoric against him, believing he was more sympathetic as a victim of bigotry than as a suspected Communist. While Speaker Martin and mainstream Republicans avoided explicit anti-Semitism and sought to limit public discussion of the Chambers allegations to White’s Communist ties; White and his haters among the radical right agreed that the upcoming fight over the White Presidency was not really about Democrats versus Republicans, or even Communists versus Capitalists, but between the Jews and their friends versus those who hated them. They both relished such a fight.
