William Walter Remington (October 25, 1917 – November 24, 1954) was an American economist who was employed in various United States government positions. His career was interrupted by accusations of communist espionage made by Elizabeth Bentley, a Soviet spy and defector.
Remington was tried twice and convicted twice. The first conviction was set aside on legal grounds, but the second conviction, in 1953 on two counts of perjury, was upheld. He was sentenced to three years in federal prison. In November 1954, he was murdered in his cell by fellow inmates at Lewisburg Prison.
Background William Walter Remington was born on October 25, 1917, in New York City. He was raised in Ridgewood, New Jersey, by parents Lillian Maude Sutherland (1888-1969) and Frederick C. Remington (1870–1956).1920 US Census for Glen Rock, New Jersey His father worked for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Co.; his mother was an art teacher in New York.
Remington distinguished himself in school. He was admitted to Dartmouth College at age 16, graduating Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude in 1939. He then earned a Master's degree from Columbia University in 1940. Coming from a branch of the wealthy Remington family (from Ilion, New York in the Mohawk Valley), Remington's parents were demanding.
The son developed a somewhat unconventional and flamboyant personality. From an early age, he was drawn to radical leftist politics, and declared to his friends when he was 15 that he was a communist. During the Depression, numerous intellectuals were drawn to communism. In college, he befriended members of the Young Communist League (YCL) and Communist Party of the United States (CPUSA). In subsequent trial testimony, Remington stated that while he was a Republican when he entered college, he "moved left quite rapidly" and became a radical but was never a YCL or CPUSA member at Dartmouth. Whether Remington ever officially joined these communist organizations became a key point of contention in his legal battles.
Career After obtaining his Master's degree in economics, Remington was employed in a number of federal civil service posts, principally as an economist: Tennessee Valley Authority, Knoxville, Tennessee, September 1936 to May 1937 Workers Education Committee, Knoxville, April to August 1937 Junior Economist with the National Resources Planning Board, Washington, D.C., May 1940 to July 15, 1941 Associate industrial economist in the Office of Price Administration of the Office for Emergency Management, from July 1941 to February 1942; Assistant to the Director of the War Production Board, February 1942 to October 1943 Assistant to the Director of Orders and Regulations Bureau in the War Production Board, October 1943 to 1946 President's Council of Economic Advisers, March 1947 to March 1948Trussell, C. P. "Exposure Hinted of Loyalty Files; Raising of Curbs on Records Is Predicted as Key Men Confer in Washington", The New York Times, September 10, 1948. Accessed June 19, 2008.
For his position with the Office of Price Administration, Remington was required to undergo a loyalty-security check, which began in 1941. He admitted having been active in Communist-allied groups such as the American Peace Mobilization, but denied any sympathy with communism and swore under oath that he was not and had never been a member of the Communist Party. Although his leftist affiliations raised concerns, the inquiry was somewhat superficial in nature (despite dragging out for many months), and his security clearance was approved.
Alleged espionage
According to later testimony by Remington, the espionage case that would change his life began in 1942 when he and his wife Ann started socializing with Joseph North, editor of the communist publication, New Masses. North was an old friend of Ann's mother. On one occasion, North invited Remington to lunch in New York City, at which time Remington was introduced to Jacob Golos, a supposed writer working on a book about war mobilization. Remington had a follow-up meeting with Golos in March 1942, and it was then that Remington was introduced to a woman identified as "Helen Johnson", a researcher helping Golos with his book. Only years later, Remington claimed, did he learn that Helen Johnson was actually Elizabeth Bentley.
On nearly a dozen occasions in 1942 and 1943, Remington met with Bentley and supplied her with information. The two of them would meet alone outside his War Production Board office without a corroborating third person present. She testified that the meetings occurred "on street corners, park benches and in secluded restaurants." In his testimony, Remington said "he had suggested a couple of times that she come to his office, but she always had an excuse for not doing so." The material he gave her included data on U.S. airplane production and other matters pertaining to the aircraft industry, as well as some information on an experimental process for manufacturing synthetic rubber from garbage. Remington later asserted (a) he was unaware "Helen Johnson" was connected with the Communist Party, (b) he believed she was a leftist researcher concerned whether American big business was fully aiding the Soviet war effort against Nazi Germany, and (c) the information he supplied her was publicly available. Review of Un-American Activities: The Trials of William Remington by Gary May.
But Bentley was a communist and an espionage agent for the Soviet Union. In 1945, she broke with the communists and became an informer for the FBI. She implicated a number of her contacts, including Remington. Bentley's revelations of Soviet espionage activities in the United States received a great deal of press attention. She identified more than 80 Americans—including several employees of government offices—as working for the Soviets, of whom only William Remington was still holding a government position.
Acting on Bentley's information, the FBI began secret surveillance of Remington in late 1945. He was by this time disillusioned with communism and had broken off his relationships with radical organizations, and so the investigation revealed nothing of interest. In 1946, Remington was working with the Office of War Mobilization and Reconversion. From there he transferred in March 1947 to a position with the President's Council of Economic Advisers, where he was paid an annual salary of $10,305. Because the FBI was keeping Bentley's testimony and its investigation of Remington secret, it raised no objection to his transfer, and he continued to serve in fairly high-level government posts.
In 1947, Remington was interviewed by the FBI and also questioned before a federal grand jury in New York City about the information he had given to Elizabeth Bentley. He testified that no confidential information was involved, and the issue seemed to end there. Remington became an anti-communist informer from this time and for the following year. He sent the FBI information on more than fifty people, only four of whom were connected with his own case. Most of those he named he had never met. He accused them of being Communists, isolationists, Negro nationalists, or "extreme liberals." He also verbally attacked his wife Ann, from whom he had become estranged, and his mother-in-law Elizabeth Moos, both avowed Communists.
Another loyalty investigation of Remington was opened early in 1948. In June, he was relieved of his duties pending the findings of that investigation. In July of that year, the New York World-Telegram published a series of articles about Elizabeth Bentley, and the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations opened hearings to investigate her allegations. At these hearings, Bentley made her accusations against Remington public. He denied her allegations. The Washington Post described him as "a boob...who was duped by clever Communist agents." At his loyalty review hearings, Remington downplayed his earlier connections with communist and leftist organizations. He said that his wife's adherence to communist doctrine was the reason for the end of their marriage.
While testifying before the Senate, Bentley was protected from libel suits. When she repeated her charge on NBC Radio's Meet the Press that Remington was a communist, he sued her and NBC for libel. At this point, Remington's case acquired considerable notoriety. When Remington's lawyers attempted to subpoena Bentley, she could not be found. Headlines included "RED WITNESS "MISSING" AT 100-G SLANDER SUIT" and the like. When she finally reappeared, she was subpoenaed for the libel suit.
She refused to testify at Remington's loyalty hearing. The Loyalty Review Board noted that the only serious evidence against Remington was "the uncorroborated statement of a woman who refuses to submit herself to cross-examination." It cleared Remington to return to his government post. The libel suit was settled out of court shortly thereafter, with NBC paying Remington $10,000.
Second round of investigations
In 1950, the FBI and the federal grand jury in New York City reopened their investigations of Remington, and the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) opened a third investigation. Because of continuing suspicions about him, Remington had been demoted at the Commerce Department. His once-promising career in the Truman administration was stagnant. Ann Remington, now divorced from him, was subpoenaed to appear before the grand jury. She testified that her husband had been a dues-paying member of the Communist Party, and that he had given secret information to Elizabeth Bentley while knowing that Bentley was a Communist. A few days later she recanted, and stated that she would claim marital privilege and refuse to testify against her ex-husband in any trial. The grand jury decided to indict Remington for committing perjury when he denied ever being a member of the Communist Party.
Trials
First trial (1950-1951) Remington's first trial began in late December 1950. Roy Cohn, later to become famous as Joseph McCarthy's chief counsel and already a noted anti-communist, joined the prosecution's legal team.
"Elizabeth Bentley later supplied a wealth of detail about Remington's involvement with her and the espionage conspiracy. Remington's defense was that he had never handled any classified material, hence could not have given any to Miss Bentley. But she remembered all the facts about the rubber-from-garbage invention. We had searched through the archives and discovered the files on the process. We also found the aircraft schedules, which were set up exactly as she said, and inter office memos and tables of personnel which proved Remington had access to both these items. We also discovered Remington's application for a naval commission in which he specifically pointed out that he was, in his present position with the Commerce Department, entrusted with secret military information involving airplanes, armaments, radar, and the Manhattan Project (the atomic bomb)."Roy Cohn, McCarthy (1968), page 38
During the trial eleven witnesses claimed they knew Remington was a communist. They included Elizabeth Bentley, Ann Remington, Professor Howard Bridgeman of Tufts University, Kenneth McConnell, a communist organizer in Knoxville; Rudolph Bertram and Christine Benson, who worked with him at the Tennessee Valley Authority; and Paul Crouch, who claimed he provided Remington with copies of the southern edition of the communist newspaper, the Daily Worker.