Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-01-22

IT called you over" he said
"because I want you to do q job
for me and 1t must be conf1den-
tial."
First Full Probe
Mr.. Roosevelt went on to say
he had become increasingly con-
cerned about the activities OF
Communists and other subversive
groups. He felt that he should
have more information than he
had been receiving. He Won
dered if there were some way by
which he could obtain q broad
intelligence picture Of Commu-
mist and Fascist activities alike
in relation to the economic and
political life Of the country.
Mr.. Hoover said that there
was, but that under the law the
Secretary Of State must request
the Attorney General to under
take an investigation. This Sec
rotary Of State Cordell Hull
quickly did. and Attorney Gen.
eral Homer Cummings passed
along the order to Mr.. Hoover
There had been previous
checks by the FBI into pro-
Fascist activities. but they had
been limited to individual cases
and there had been no constant
investigation carried on In the
field Of subversive activities.
First Big Spy Case
But now the FBI, quietly and
without publicly disclosing the
source Of its authority. began to
check on Communist activities
and to chart the rise Of Fascist
movements in the United States
These intelligence investigations
would later stir up q hornets
nest of criticism to the effect
that the FBI was meddling in
the political beliefs and opinions
of persons merely because they
held radical views contrary to
those held by Mr.. Hoover.
The first major espionage case
In this period involved Guenther
Gustave Rumrich, who had de-
scribed from the United States
Army in 1886 and then entered
the German espionage service.
War Department intelligence
officers called the FBI into the
Rumrich case when they received
a warning from an American
military attache in London that
an effort would be made to steal
the United States secret East
Coast defense plans. The identity
of the foreign agent was I'M
known to the military and the
FBI.
Soon after this warning was
received. New York detectives
and State Department special
agents arrested a man who had
attempted to obtain American
passport forms by representing
himself as Secretary OF State
Hull in a telephone cali to the
New York passport bureau. The
man was Guenther Gustave
Rumrich. He carried in his
pocket a penciled note which
identified him as the agent who
would attempt to steal the coastal
defense plans.
Rumrich was turned over to
the FBI and through him special
agents unfolded a Nazi plot to
obtain information on Americas
military strength and defense
plans, and on the secrets of the
new aircraft carrier, the Enter
prise.
The story Of Rumrich's arrest
was leaked by someone to New
York newspapers and Rumrich's
confererates scattered. Eighteen
persons were indicted, but only
four were convicted. The others
were listed as fugitives frorl
Justice.
Bund Activity
The FBI worked with the Of
fce Of Naval Intelligence to mai
another spy, John Semer Farms.
worth, q graduate Of the Nava
Academy who was dishonorablS
discharged from the Navy in 1922
and then became a spy in thu
pay Of the Japanese from 1893;
through 1886. The first tip or
Farnsworth's activities camt
from Fulton Lewis, jr., a news,
man who heard and believed
Farnsworth's drunken talk Of {
spy career.
Rather than expose the cas-,
himself as an exclusive story, HI
took the facts to the FBI--s
practice followed by other re-
porters over the years when Sc
curity was involved. Farnsworth
the FBI learned. received SOM
$4,000 for giving the Japanes,
stolen Navy blueprints, cod
books. signal books. sketches o