Ware Group

The Ware group was a covert organization of Communist Party USA operatives within the United States government in the 1930s, run first by Harold Ware and then by Whittaker Chambers.[1]

Contents

Background

Harold Ware founded this group. Ware was a Communist Party (CP) official working for the federal government in Washington, D.C.. By 1934, the group had grown to some 75 members, divided into cells. Members initially joined Marxist study groups and then into activities on behalf of the Party. They shared a belief that Marxist ideologies were the correct way to approach the problems of the ongoing Great Depression.

The Ware group started among young lawyers and economists hired by the Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA). This New Deal agency reported to the Secretary of Agriculture but was operated independently of Department of Agriculture bureaucracy.

Notable members

Alleged members of the Ware group include:

Harry Dexter White, then Director of the Division of Monetary Research in the United States Department of the Treasury, was also allegedly affiliated with the group.[2]

Handover

Ware died of injuries sustained in an automobile accident near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in August 1935.

J. Peters, who had introduced Whittaker Chambers to Harold Ware the year before, placed Chambers in charge of the Ware Group.[2]

References

  1. ^ Gall, Gilbert J. "A Note on Lee Pressman and the FBI." Labor History. 32:4 (Autumn 1991).
  2. ^ a b [|Chambers, Whittaker] (1952). Witness. New York: Random House. pp. White on 29, 40, 67-68, 69, 70, 334, 370 383-384, 386, 405, 414-416, 419-421, 423, 426, 427, 429-432, 442, 470, 492, 500, 510-512, 544, 554, 600-; handover from Ware to Chambers on 31, 204, 332-348, 350, 352, 361, 370, 377, 378, 467, 542, 543, 552, 553, 624, 685, 686. ISBN 52-5149. http://lccn.loc.gov/52005149.