Harold Glasser, director of the Institute on Overseas Studies of the Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds who-formerly held the position of an economist in the Treasury Department, was called yesterday by the Senate Internal Security Committee to testify whether he had been a Communist during his 12 years of Federal service. At the hearing, he invoked the Fifth Amendment’s guarantees against self-incrimination and declined to answer questions concerning Communism.
Mr. Glasser testified that he was advisor at international conferences to the then Secretaries of State George C. Marshall and Dean Achescn and was also acting as financial expert at the first and second United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration meetings. His particular task at these meetings was to advise as to which of the UNRRA countries could pay the full cost of the aid given them.
Testimony and exhibits at the hearing showed that Mr. Glasser was warmly recommended to the Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds, by Mr. Acheson and former Secretary of the Treasury John W. Snyder. Mr. Acheson wrote that he had known Mr. Glasser during his seven years in the State Department and had worked with him at UNRRA meetings where he had been impressed with Mr. Glasser’s technical competence and his ability to work under the strain and long hours of difficult negotiations.” He commended Mr. Glasser as “a good working companion, maintaining an extraordinary evenness of temper and good humor,” and concluded: “I am sure that he is able to approach problems in a well organized and analytical manner and that you will find him a first-rate economist.”
(In New York, H. L. Lurie, executive director of the Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds, said that he felt Mr. Glasser was “an unusually able and competent man” and was “very valuable because of his knowledge and skill.” He added that in 1947 and 1948 he had received letters from the then Secretary of the Treasury, John W. Snyder, that were “enthusiastic in their appraisal” of Mr. Glasser)
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
