Vintage matte-finish 9.25 x 7.25 photo of FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover testifying before the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee on the Harry Dexter White case on November 17, 1953, signed and inscribed on the original 11.5 x 10 mount in fountain pen, "To Paul Shafer, with every good wish, J. Edgar Hoover, 11 - 17 - 53," and countersigned by his assistants Clyde Tolson and Lou Nichols, who are pictured to his immediate left and right. Reverse bears an affixed press caption. In very good to fine condition, with a diagonal crack to the lower right corner of the image.



Harry Dexter White (1892-1948) was a senior U.S. Treasury department official, who worked closely with the Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau Jr., and helped set American financial policy toward the Allies of World War II. White was accused in 1948 of spying for the Soviet Union, which he adamantly denied. Although he was never a Communist party member, his status as a Soviet informant was confirmed by declassified FBI documents related to the interception and decoding of Soviet communications, known as the Venona Project.