The Climate of Treason

Caught in a flareback of history, desperate Democrats tried with might & main to wriggle out of the Harry Dexter White scandal. Their line was different from the flat assertions of outrage ("Red herring," "I do not intend to turn my back . . .") that greeted the 1948 charges against White and Alger Hiss. This time the fact of espionage was more or less admitted. Harry Truman acknowledged that White was disloyal, and even the New Republic said: "There can be little doubt that White was guilty of the actions described by Miss Bentley.'' i.e., passed secrets to the Communists and influenced U.S. policy according to Communists' wishes.

Despite this fact, said the Democrats, the Republicans were not justified in repeating the charge against White or in disclosing that Truman had the facts on White months before White left Government service. "I don't think the people will eat warmed-over spy." said Democratic National Chairman Stephen Mitchell. It was pointed out by other Fair Dealers that the "political climate" of the years when White served the Russians was very different from the climate today. Somehow, this was supposed to be an excuse for White and the people who protected him.

In fact, the political climate of the Roosevelt and first Truman Administrations was the real weight of the case against the Democratic leaders. Political climate is manmade. The moral confusion that marked the Roosevelt Administration made it possible for White & Co. to attain great power. That this confusion still exists is evidenced by Truman's continued refusal to accept the meaning of the White case.

Nobody would accuse Roosevelt or Truman of disloyalty. What they were accused of was creating and maintaining a political climate in which treason flourished.

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