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In its files, the FBI has additional, independent information about White that confirms the Chambers-Bentley testimony. This evidence shows repeated contacts between White and Gregory Silvermaster. One of Attorney General Herbert Brownell's problems: much of this evidence was obtained by wire tapping, and it is inadmissible in court.
More Important: Influence. Far more important than White's espionage activity was his influence on policy. White became the No. 1 brain at the command of Secretary of the Treasury Morgenthau. Although he hated rich men, White used his old flattery plan on Morgenthau, would often tell him: "Let your instincts be your guide, Mr. Secretary; your instincts are usually pretty good." Morgenthau, who has 900 volumes of diaries about his Washington work, has steadfastly refused to talk about his late assistant.
With White constantly at Morgenthau's elbow and ear, the Treasury Department became an important voice in wartime diplomacy, and it was a leading planner for major postwar policies. Morgenthau sat as chairman of an interdepartmental committee on postwar economic planning. White drafted the basic plan for the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, set up at Bretton Woods in July 1944. It was in this connection that White's general views prevailed over those of Britain's Lord Keynes. In a meeting once, White sneeringly called Keynes "Your Royal Highness." Keynes was offended at what he considered an insult to the Crown.
One of White's greatest triumphs, although a short-lived one, was the Morgenthau plan for postwar Germany. The plan called for destruction of nearly all German industry, and reduction of Germany to a "pastoral" state, plus early withdrawal of all U.S. troops. This, of course, would have left Germany—and Europe—an easy prey to Communist domination.
After White wrote the plan, Morgenthau, bypassing the State and War Departments, took it to the Quebec Conference in September 1944. There, Morgenthau and White pushed through approval of the plan by Roosevelt and Churchill. White had taken pains to inform Lord Cherwell. Churchill's personal assistant, that British requests for U.S. funds would be greeted with much greater favor if Britain approved the White-Morgenthau plan. When the agreements were being initialed, F.D.R. suggested that Churchill initial the German one first and then an economic agreement that would lead to an additional loan to Great Britain. Asked Churchill: "What do you want me to do? Get on my hind legs and beg like Fala?"
At that time, hardly anyone on the Allied side wanted an easy peace for Germany. But when the details of White's Morgenthau plan leaked out, the plan was widely condemned. The most important group in favor of the plan was the World Communist Party. F.D.R. soon abandoned it. Churchill, who had believed from the first that it would never become a reality, reported in the latest volume of his memoirs, with obvious satisfaction: "With my full accord, the idea of 'pastoralizing' Germany did not survive."