Lee Pressman
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| Agricultural Adjustment Administration |
| Ware group |
| Works Progress Administration |
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Lee Pressman was an American government official and Communist sympathizer during the mid-20th century.
Pressman was assistant general counsel of the Agricultural Adjustment Administration, from 1933 until 1935, appointed by Secretary of Agriculture Henry A. Wallace. Then he was general counsel in the Works Progress Administration from 1935, appointed by Harry L. Hopkins. Later in 1935 he was general counsel of the Resettlement Administration, appointed by Rexford G. Tugwell. After leaving government in June 1936 he became general counsel for the Committee for Industrial Organization (CIO) and for the Steel Workers' Organizing Committee. In March 1937 he became General Counsel for the Textile Workers' Organizing Committee.
In the 1930's Pressman was also a member of the Ware group, a group of American citizens employed in the United States government who considered Marxist ideologies a solution to the Great Depression, while secretly working for Soviet intelligence. As communists, Pressman and the members of the group were pledged to the violent overthrow of the United States government. In 1950 Pressman admitted to having been a secret member in 1934-35 and an ideological ally thereafter.
Lee Pressman was responsible for getting Alger Hiss the appointment as counsel for the Nye committee.[1]
References
- John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr, Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America, Yale University Press
