Navy Says Deatherage is “undesirable Person,” Orders His Dismissal from Navy Work

George E. Deatherage, notorious anti-Semite, organizer and leader of the Knights of the White Camelis, was today declared by the Navy to be a person “undesirable to have access to the work of the Navy Department” and his discharge from employment as chief engineer for private contractors on a $30,000,000 expansion project at the Norfolk Naval Base was ordered.

The Dies Committee, after investigations, reported Deatherage’s visits to the German embassy to discuss anti-Semitism and Nazi fund-raising techniques. The Dies Committee also held that the spreading of anti-Semitism was a principal objective of the Knights. It classified the Knights with the Christian Front, the Christian Mobilizers, the Silver Shirts and other Fascist organization which, it reported, worked with the German-American Bund.

The statement issued by the Navy today reads as follows: “After an investigation of the activities of George E. Deatherage, employed by Doyle & Russell, contractors on construction work at the naval operating base, Norfolk, Va., the Secretary of the Navy has invoked the provisions of Article 27 (C) of the contract, which requires that the contractors shall discharge from employment and exclude from the site of the work any person designated by the Secretary of the Navy as undesirable to have access to the work and/or materials of the Navy Dept.

“Based on competent investigation, the Secretary of the Navy has found that Mr. Deatherage is an undesirable person within the meaning of the contract, and as such will be excluded from the site of navy work.”