Evening star., 1953-11-10

clerk in the OSS. She remained
didn't remember White being
mentioned in the file. The name
he remembered was Alger Hiss.
Mr.. Braden said the report con-
tanned 1.-The whole story of Hiss,
who finally went to prison five
years later.
Had "WhOle Story"
"They had the whole story in
there, right up to the typewriter
and the Ford car and much of
the other evidence that came
out later at the trial." Mr.. Bra
den said.
The typewriter was the one
that Hiss allegedly used to copy
State Department documents:
the automobile, one which Hiss
allegedly turned over for use of
the Communist Party.
Mr.. Braden said he was
especially interested in the Hiss
material at the time because
Hiss was away high up" in the
State Department.
Therefore 1 made a point
of inquiring later what de-
cision had been made about
Hiss in the light of this
report" MI. Braden said in a
telephone interview from New
York. Il was informed that
Dean Acheson (then Undersec-
retary of State) and Jimmy
Byrnes personally went over the
Hiss case and they cleared him" :"
Many Saw Report.
Asked whether he thought
Mr.. Truman knew about the
December FBI material, Mr..
Braden said:
Il haven't any way of know
ing. But when so many saw the
report-assistant secretaries and
people like that-z-I think it
would be reasonable to suppose
the President did"
In some ways, the statements
of Mr.. ByrneS and MI. Braden
come closer to MI. Truman him
self than did the latest state
ment of Mr.. Brownell.
Mr.. Brownell first mentioned
the White case in a Chicago
speech on Friday, asserting that
the December and February re-
ports of the FBI were delivered
to Gen. Vaughan at the White
House.
The December report, Mr..
Brownell said on Friday, was de-
livered Ito President Truman
through his military aide"
In a follow-up statement last
night, Mr.. Brownell did not re-
new the statement that Mr.. Tru-
man personally received the
documents, but he named a list
of other Truman officials who,
he said. did.
Copy Also to Tom Clark.
Mr.. Brownell said the Decem-
ber report. which named White
and number of other Govern
ment officials as members of
Soviet espionage rings, went to
Gen. Vaughn 'for the attention
of the President" Copies, he
said, also went Immediately to
Attorney General Tom C. Clark,
the late Secretary of the Navy
James V. Forrestal, Mr.. Braden,
and Mr.. ByrneS.
In the following months, he
said, copies also went to Admiral
William D. Leahy, then Chief of
Staff; then Assistant Chief of
Staff Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg,
Mr.. Vinson and Fred Lyon, an
official of the State Department.
MI. Clark also got a second COPY.
Admiral Leahy told the Asso-
ciated Press:
Il never saw any FBI report
on Harry Dexter White as far
as I can recollect. If I had, I
might have looked at it."
Gen. Vandenberg, a patient
at Walter Reed Hospital, was
not available for comment.
On January %, Mr.. Truman
nominated White for the Job
with the Monetary Fund. This
prompted the FBI to compile
"a special report concerning
White and his espionage &C
tivities," Mr.. BroWnell said.
According to the records in
the Department of Justice" Mr.
Brownell said, this special re-
port concerning White was de-
livered personally on February
4, 1916, to Brig. Gen. Vaughan
for the attention of the Presi-
dent.
"On the same day, duplicate
of the report was, according to
the Department of Justice rec
ords, delivered to the Office of
Attorney General Tom C. Clark
"a triplicate of the same re-
mort ,,,aS accnrdinn To tho rec.