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George Shaw Wheeler
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George Shaw Wheeler
George Shaw Wheeler (May 22, 1908 – October 18, 1997) (known also as George S. Wheeler) was an American economist and advisor to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, best known for being the first American to defect over the Iron Curtain to Czechoslovakia in November 1947.
Wheeler's defection inspired his friend Noel Field to defect in 1949 and US Senator Joseph McCarthy cited Wheeler's name when accusing US President Harry S. Truman of "Trumanism", i.e., "the placing of your political party above the interest of the country", specifically when it came to promoting alleged Communist spy Harry Dexter White and others (including Wheeler).
American Couple Asks Czech Haven
Asserting that the immediate reason for the statement was "to protest against the brutal and unlawful treatment by the American occupation authorities of fifty-eight Czechoslovak citizens who were kidnapped in a carefully planned and typically gangster plot and flown over the border of their country," he [Wheeler] declared that "I want to have nothing in common with the Gestapo methods of the executors of American policy ... I place myself proudly in the camp of peace and progress."
(The New York Times, 8 April 1950, page 1)
George Shaw Wheeler was born on May 22, 1908, in Rollingbay near Tacoma, Washington. His parents were Francis Marion Wheeler and Jeanie Melissa Shaw. He had five siblings including sister Margaret Jean Wheeler Schuddakopf and brother Donald Niven Wheeler. In 1924, he graduated from high school in White Bluffs, Washington. In 1929, earned a BA from Reed College in Portland, Oregon, and continued in post-graduate work there to June 1930, followed by post-graduate work at the University of Chicago to August 1934. (In 1961, he received a doctorate in economics from Charles University in Prague.)
In the early 1930s, Wheeler also served as assistant head of the economics department at the University of Chicago. Then, in 1935, he and his wife moved to the Washington, DC area.
On August 16, 1936, Wheeler began to work for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). On October 20, 1938, he joined the Wage and Hour Division of the United States Department of Labor. On May 1, 1942, he began work for the War Production Board. On September 18, 1943, he became Chief of Section, Blockade and Re-occupation Branch, Re-occupation Division, Franco Section, Foreign Economic Administration. In the fall of 1944, he moved to London to work in a denazification unit. In May 1945, he was stationed in Germany as a Chief of a Section of the Office of Military Government for Germany, United States (OMGUS) working for the Department of Labor and to head up a denazification unit.
According to Jay Lovestone, Wheeler was there to help control Brigadier General Frank McSherry, "a patsy for the Communists" according to David Dubinsky and who had worked with Sidney Hillman on the War Production Board. In June 1945, Wheeler helped write a 16-page "procedure for organizing unions".
An FBI report dated February 28, 1942, reported information from the Dies Committee that Wheeler was a member of the American Peace Mobilization's Washington Book Shop and was a member at large of the Executive Council of the Washington Committee to Aid China. On March 24, 1942, the FBI interviewed Wheeler in New York, at which time he denied being a member of the Communist Party. He admitted to being a member of the Washington Committee for Democratic Action and attending meetings of the American Peace Mobilization.
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George Shaw Wheeler
George Shaw Wheeler (May 22, 1908 – October 18, 1997) (known also as George S. Wheeler) was an American economist and advisor to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, best known for being the first American to defect over the Iron Curtain to Czechoslovakia in November 1947.
Wheeler's defection inspired his friend Noel Field to defect in 1949 and US Senator Joseph McCarthy cited Wheeler's name when accusing US President Harry S. Truman of "Trumanism", i.e., "the placing of your political party above the interest of the country", specifically when it came to promoting alleged Communist spy Harry Dexter White and others (including Wheeler).
American Couple Asks Czech Haven
Asserting that the immediate reason for the statement was "to protest against the brutal and unlawful treatment by the American occupation authorities of fifty-eight Czechoslovak citizens who were kidnapped in a carefully planned and typically gangster plot and flown over the border of their country," he [Wheeler] declared that "I want to have nothing in common with the Gestapo methods of the executors of American policy ... I place myself proudly in the camp of peace and progress."
(The New York Times, 8 April 1950, page 1)
George Shaw Wheeler was born on May 22, 1908, in Rollingbay near Tacoma, Washington. His parents were Francis Marion Wheeler and Jeanie Melissa Shaw. He had five siblings including sister Margaret Jean Wheeler Schuddakopf and brother Donald Niven Wheeler. In 1924, he graduated from high school in White Bluffs, Washington. In 1929, earned a BA from Reed College in Portland, Oregon, and continued in post-graduate work there to June 1930, followed by post-graduate work at the University of Chicago to August 1934. (In 1961, he received a doctorate in economics from Charles University in Prague.)
In the early 1930s, Wheeler also served as assistant head of the economics department at the University of Chicago. Then, in 1935, he and his wife moved to the Washington, DC area.
On August 16, 1936, Wheeler began to work for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). On October 20, 1938, he joined the Wage and Hour Division of the United States Department of Labor. On May 1, 1942, he began work for the War Production Board. On September 18, 1943, he became Chief of Section, Blockade and Re-occupation Branch, Re-occupation Division, Franco Section, Foreign Economic Administration. In the fall of 1944, he moved to London to work in a denazification unit. In May 1945, he was stationed in Germany as a Chief of a Section of the Office of Military Government for Germany, United States (OMGUS) working for the Department of Labor and to head up a denazification unit.
According to Jay Lovestone, Wheeler was there to help control Brigadier General Frank McSherry, "a patsy for the Communists" according to David Dubinsky and who had worked with Sidney Hillman on the War Production Board. In June 1945, Wheeler helped write a 16-page "procedure for organizing unions".
An FBI report dated February 28, 1942, reported information from the Dies Committee that Wheeler was a member of the American Peace Mobilization's Washington Book Shop and was a member at large of the Executive Council of the Washington Committee to Aid China. On March 24, 1942, the FBI interviewed Wheeler in New York, at which time he denied being a member of the Communist Party. He admitted to being a member of the Washington Committee for Democratic Action and attending meetings of the American Peace Mobilization.