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John Abt
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'''John Abt ''' was also a member of the Chief of Litigation, [[Harold Ware|Ware groupAgricultural Adjustment Administration]]from 1933 to 1935, a group then assistant general counsel of American governmental employees in the 1930[[Works Progress Administration]] in 1935. Later he served as chief counsel on Senator Robert La Follette, Jr.'s also belonging [[LaFollette Committee]] from 1936 to 1937, then special assistant to the United States Attorney General, 1937 and 1938. In 1948 he worked with the Progressive Party of former Vice President [[Henry A. Wallace]]. Abt spent most of his career as chief counsel for the [[Communist Party ]].<ref>Joan Cook, "[https://www.nytimes.com/1991/08/13/nyregion/john-j-abt-lawyer-dies-at-87-communist-party-counsel-in-us.html John J. Abt, Lawyer, Dies at 87]," ''The New York Times'', August 13, 1991</ref> In 1950–53, he unsuccessfully defended the Communist Party before the [[Subversive Activities Control Board]].<ref>The SACB found that the party was required by law to register as an agent of a foreign power. 83d Cong., 1st sess., Document No. 41, Subversive Activities Control Board, [http://ia360638.us.archive.org/2/items/herbertbrownellj1956unit/herbertbrownellj1956unit.pdf Herbert Brownell, Jr. Attorney General of the United States, Petitioner vs. Communist Party of the United States of America, Respondent: Report of the Board], April 23, 1953 (Washington: United States Government Printing Office: 1953), pp. 1, 132 (PDF pp. 9, 140)</ref> He later argued unsuccessfully before the [[Supreme Court] which advocated ] for the violent removal repeal of the [[United States governmentMcCarran Act]]. After the groups founder<ref>Joan Cook, Harold Ware, was killed "[https://www.nytimes.com/1991/08/13/nyregion/john-j-abt-lawyer-dies-at-87-communist-party-counsel-in an automobile collision in 1935, -us.html John J. Abt married Jessica Smith, WareLawyer, Dies at 87]," 's widow.'The New York Times'', August 13, 1991</ref>
==Perlo group== In late 1943 [[Jacob Golos]], who headed the [[Communist Party of the United States]] [[CPUSA#Secret apparatus|secret apparatus]], was referred to a group of CPUSA members by General Secretary of the party, [[Earl Browder]]. This group of government employees had been engaged for sometime in espionage for Browder, and held regular clandestine meetings at John Abt's apartment. In early 1944, Golos sent [[Elizabeth Bentley]] to make contact with the group at Abt's apartment. In attendance were Abt, [[Victor Perlo]], [[Charles Kramer]], [[Harry Magdoff]] and [[Edward Fitzgerald (Soviet spy)|Edward Fitzgerald]]. They discussed paying party dues to Bentley, the various types of information each would be able to deliver, and the type of information other members not in attendance would also be willing to deliver. In late 1943 the FBI opened an investigation of Abt. Its surveillance showed frequent meetings in the early months of 1944 between Abt and a man then known as Alexander Stevens, one of the several pseudonyms used by [[Josef Peters]], who at one time headed the CPUSA secret appartus apparatus but was still involved in clandestine activities.
Abt turned the [[Perlo group]] over to the [[KGB]] in 1944.
Abt is referenced in [[Venona]] decrypts #588 KGB New York to Moscow, 29 April 1944 and #687 KGB New York tp Moscow, 13 May 1944.
* John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr, ''Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America,'' Yale University Press
* New York FBI report, 9 April 1944, John Jacob Abt FBI file 100-236194100–236194, serial 6.
* The Warren Commission Report, Volume X - [http://history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh10/pdf/WH10_Abt.pdf#search='john%20j.%20abt' Testimony of John J. Abt]
==See also==
*[[Alger Hiss]]
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[[Category:KGB Agents and Sources]]