Word: morgenthau
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...technical arguments, but his greatest talent was his ability to put a technical point in broad, political perspective and reduce it to plain English. An associate recalls: "He could talk economics in kindergarten terms." This was important because his boss as Secretary of the Treasury was Henry Morgenthau Jr., who had every reason to appreciate a man who could talk in kindergarten terms...
More Important: Influence. Far more important than White's espionage activity was his influence on policy. White became the No. 1 brain at the command of Secretary of the Treasury Morgenthau. Although he hated rich men, White used his old flattery plan on Morgenthau, would often tell him: "Let your instincts be your guide, Mr. Secretary; your instincts are usually pretty good." Morgenthau, who has 900 volumes of diaries about his Washington work, has steadfastly refused to talk about his late assistant...
With White constantly at Morgenthau's elbow and ear, the Treasury Department became an important voice in wartime diplomacy, and it was a leading planner for major postwar policies. Morgenthau sat as chairman of an interdepartmental committee on postwar economic planning. White drafted the basic plan for the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, set up at Bretton Woods in July 1944. It was in this connection that White's general views prevailed over those of Britain's Lord Keynes. In a meeting once, White sneeringly called Keynes "Your Royal Highness." Keynes was offended at what...
...policy, Elizabeth Bentley testified that White, carrying out Communist Party orders, was the architect of the Morgenthau plan for the postwar emasculation of Germany. White's boss, Henry Morgenthau Jr., carried this plan to the 1944 Quebec Conference between Roosevelt and Churchill. It called for the dismantling of German industry and the creation of a "pastoral" Germany. Witness Bentley said that this plan was espoused by Communist grand strategy to create a power vacuum between Russia and a weakened Western Europe, so that the whole Continent would be subject to the weight of Russian power...
...testimony to the House committee, White neither admitted nor denied a connection with the Morgenthau plan, but he did deny espionage activity and swore that he had never been close to the Communist Party or its ideas...