The Record

Harry Truman used strong words in his radio and television speech. But he spoke, in the face of a strong record that did not support his case. This is the record:

The first warning that Harry Dexter White and other Government employees were assisting a Communist espionage ring was sent to the White House on Nov. 8, 1945 by FBI Chief J. Edgar Hoover. Marked "top secret." the report was sent by special messenger to Brigadier General Harry Hawkins Vaughan.

The Alert. In his opening sentence, FBI Chief Hoover used language designed to arouse the attention of even the busiest Government official. He began: "As a result of the bureau's investigative operations, information has been obtained that a number of persons employed by the Government of the U.S. have been furnishing data and information to persons outside the Federal Government who are in turn transmitting this information to agents of the Soviet government."

Hoover went on to say that the FBI was not yet certain about "the degree and nature of the complicity of these people in the espionage ring," but it was sure that they were serving as sources. He named 14 Government employees. Among them: White. Nathan Gregory Silvermaster, George Silverman, Victor Perlo, William Ludwig Ullmann.

There were sharp specifics about the ring's operations. Said Hoover: "The Government documents were forwarded to Gregory Silvermaster, who photographed them and turned the exposed but undeveloped film over to a contact of the Soviet ... In the past, it is reported, the contact man made trips to Washington, D.C. once every two weeks, and would pick up on each occasion an average of 40 rolls of 35-mm. film." He concluded his letter: "An investigation of this matter is being pushed vigorously, but I thought the President and you [Vaughan] would be interested in the foregoing information immediately."

The Clincher. On Dec. 4. 1945, a second FBI report went to the White House. It contained further details and named more spies. A third report, concentrating on White with still more detail, was sent to the White House on Feb. 4, 1946. In his letter accompanying that report, Hoover observed that both Truman and Vaughan had "expressed interest" in the subject, indicating that the earlier reports had been noticed and considered.

While FBI reports normally do not reach conclusions, but only give facts, the third report contained an unusually strong statement: "This information has been received from numerous confidential sources whose reliability has been established by inquiry or by long observation. In no instance is any transaction or event related where the reliability of the information or the source is questionable."

Far from supporting Truman's new defense that the Administration left the spies in office in an effort to trap them, the Hoover letter says that a special report was made on White because his confirmation was pending before the Senate. If Hoover had wanted to have White in the Government to get more evidence, he would hardly have stressed the fact that White was about to get a new and better Government job.

Hoover left no doubt that he considered his factual case complete. His letter said. "This whole network has been under intensive investigation since November 1945, and it is the results of these efforts that I am able to make available to you."

With such reports at hand, four alternatives would normally suggest themselves : 1) bring charges against the Government employees, 2) fire them, 3) try to trap them, or 4) place them in positions where they would no longer have access to strategic information or influence on policy. There is no record that any of these steps were taken. White and others named in the reports retained access to secrets. None of them were trapped by actions after 1946. The case against them today is substantially what Hoover presented in the three reports.

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