(2 of 2)
Ladejinsky, the statement charged, had "required clearance from the Communist Party" to work for Amtorg in 1930. "He may be subject to coercion," because of three sisters living in Soviet Russia. "His trip to the U.S.S.R. in 1939 as a tourist [and] his membership in two Communist-front organizations, as well as information contained in classified reports, [prevent] the necessary security clearance required for the position of attache."
Ladejinsky, whose published anti-Communist writings date back to 1934, answered quietly. He had visited Russia with official U.S. approval, he said, had not heard from his sisters for seven years and had never been "a Communist or followed the Communist line." He had, moreover, been checked and cleared for security several times, most recently last spring. The State Department's rigid security chief, Scott McLeod, had evaluated and dismissed the same charges for which, without any inquiry or questioning, he was blackballed publicly by the Agriculture Department.
His ouster stirred up a storm. From Tokyo U.S. Ambassador John Allison cabled a protest. Author James Michener (Tales of the South Pacific, Sayonara) wrote in a letter to the New York Times: "It is precisely as if Richard Nixon and Adlai Stevenson were to be charged with subversion. Mr. Ladejinsky is known throughout Asia as Communism's most implacable foe and about the only American who has accomplished much in actually stopping the drift of all Asian farmers to Communism. To fire him for security reasons is truly incredible."