FBI File on Harry Dexter White
Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Harry Dexter White was one of the highest-ranking New Deal officials accused of espionage by Communist-underground-couriers-turned-government-informants Elizabeth Bentley and Whittaker Chambers. Instrumental in shaping post-war international monetary policy, White co-authored the plans which created the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank and served as the American executive director of the International Monetary Fund. In 1948, Bentley accused White of passing confidential documents to members of a Communist spy ring. Chambers claimed that White had provided him with information and documents at several meetings between the two men in the 1930s. White denied the accusations when he appeared before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) in August 1948. Two days after testifying, White died of a heart attack, leaving many questions about his activities unanswered.
This FBI file contains reports, correspondence, news clippings, and four pages of White's documents that were found in a hollow pumpkin on Chambers's Maryland farm in 1948. This file is an excellent resource for the study of the anticommunism fervor in the formative years of the Cold War.
Number of rolls: 5