Premature witch hunt? The Amerasia case in context

Abstract

The Amerasia case concerned the theft of classified U.S. federal government documents by government officials and left-wing critics of U.S. foreign policy. The case did not result in serious criminal penalties and the failure of the prosecution has never been adequately explained. There is some superficial validity to the contention that the case was legally weak to begin with, but it is important to situate the Amerasia case in the context of the debate over the direction of U.S. foreign policy in the transition from World War II to the Cold War. Although conclusions on the subject at this point must remain tentative, there is persuasive evidence that the Truman administration ensured that the U.S. Justice Department did not prosecute the case vigorously because a committed prosecution of the Amerasia case had the potential to compromise or undermine U.S. foreign policy in the early months of the Truman presidency.