Henry Collins

This article is part of the Venona series.

CPUSA

Agricultural Adjustment Administration

National Recovery Administration

Ware group

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Henry J. Collins was an American citizen employed in the New Deal National Recovery Administration in the 1930s and later the Agricultural Adjustment Administration. He was a member of the Communist Party of the United States (CPUSA) and the Washington, D.C. based Ware group, along with Alger Hiss, Lee Pressman, Harry Dexter White and others.

Collins was the Ware group's treasurer and collected Communist Party dues from its members. Collins also acted as a talent spotter and recruiter for Soviet intelligence. "Worthington Wiggins" is the pseudonym of a State Department employee Collins recruited. He later served as Director of the American-Russian Institute in New York. J. Peters, head of the CPUSA's secret appartus recognized Collins, Hiss and Pressman had the potential for advancement within the United States government. So in 1936 a decision was made to separate Collins from the larger Ware group, and Whittaker Chambers became Collins's contact with Peters.

Former State Department official Laurence Duggan, shortly before his suicide, told the FBI that Collins had attempted to recruit him for Soviet espionage.

References

• FBI Silvermaster file, Vol. 67, pgs. 13 - 14 pdf, August 1946. Background on Collins from Whittaker Chambers.
• Whittaker Chambers Testimony before HUAC 3 August 1948
• Alexander Vassiliev's original Russian notes titled "A.Gorsky's Report to Savchenko S.R., 23 December 1949", "Failures List".