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John Abt

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{| cellpadding="1" <div style="float: right; border: 1px solid #8888aa; background: #f7f8ff; padding: 5px; font-size: 85%; margin: 0 15px 0 15px; text-align: center;">| <div style="background: #ccf; textfont-alignweight: centerbold; padding: 1px 3px 1px 3px;" | '''>This article is part of the'''<br/>'''[[Venona project|Venona]]'''<br/>'''series.'''</div>|-| style="text-align: center;"|[[Ware group]]<br/>|-| style="text-align: center;"|[[CPUSA#Secret_apparatusSecret apparatus|Secret apparatus]]<br/>|-| style="text-align: center;"|[[Agricultural Adjustment Administration]]<br/>|-| style="text-align: center;"|[[LaFollette Civil Liberties Committee]]<br/>|-| style="text-align: center;"|[[Perlo group]]|-|style="border-bottom: 1px solid #ccc"||-| style="text-align: center;"|<small>[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Template:Ushistory&action=edit Edit this box]</smalldiv>|}'''John Abt''' was the Chief of Litigation, [[Agricultural Adjustment Administration]] from 1933 to 1935. Then assistant general connsel of the [[Works Progress Administration]] in 1935. Later he served as chief counsel on Senator Robert La Follette, Jr.'s [[LaFollette Committee]] from 1936 to 1937. And 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]].
'''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>
In late 1943 Abt confessed to being a member of the [[Jacob GolosHarold Ware|Ware group]], who headed the [<ref>Committee on Un-American Activities, House of Representatives, United States Congress, [http://ia360609.us.archive.org/1/items/hearingsregardin1948unit/hearingsregardin1948unit_bw.pdf Hearings Regarding Communist Party of Espionage in the United StatesGovernment]] , (Washington: United States Government Printing Office, 1948), p. 643 (PDF p. 153). Cf. John J. Abt with Michael Myerson, ''[[History_of_Soviet_espionage_in_the_United_States#Secret_apparatus|secret apparatus]https://books.google.com/books?id=9REaIPPh4k4C Advocate and Activist: Memoirs of an American Communist Lawyer]'' (University of Illinois Press, was referred to group 1993) ISBN 0252020308, pp. 40-41</ref> an underground unit of CPUSA members by [[General Secretary]] Communist Party of the party, [[Earl BrowderUnited States]]. This group of government employees had been (CPUSA) for Federal officials, which engaged for sometime in espionage for Browder, and held regular clandestine meetings at John Abt's appartmentpolicy subversion. In early 1944It was illegal for U.S. government employees to be members of the CPUSA, Golos sent which advocated the violent overthrow of the [[Elizabeth BentleyUnited States government]] to make contact with . After the group at Abt's apartment. In attendence was Abtfounder, [[Victor Perlo]]Harold Ware, [[Charles Kramer]]was killed in an automobile collision in 1935, Abt married [[Harry MagdoffJessica Smith]] 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 deliverWare's widow.
==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.
It is noted that during ==Lee Harvey Oswald==Arrested for [https://www.nytimes.com/1993/09/09/books/books-of-the-times-kennedy-assassination-answers.html the assassination of] [[President]] [[John F. Kennedy]] in 1963, [http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh25/html/WC_Vol25_0085b.htm self-proclaimed] "[[Marxist]]"<ref>FBI transcript: [http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh25/html/WC_Vol25_0085b.htm Lee Oswald to the Socialist Party of America], Warren Commission Hearings, CE 2240, Vol. XXV, p. 140, October 3, 1956</ref>[[Lee Harvey Oswald]]would request Abt as his attorney:{{cquote|I want that attorney in New York, Mr. Abt. I don's interrogation by t know him personally but I know about a case that he handled some years ago, where he represented the people who had violated the [[DallasSmith Act]] Police on , [which made it illegal to teach or advocate the evening violent overthrow of 22 November 1963the U.S. government] . . . I don't know him personally, after his arrest for but that is the assassination attorney I want. . . . If I can't get him, then I may get the [[American Civil Liberties Union]] to send me an attorney.<ref>[http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh7/html/WC_Vol7_0154a.htm Testimony of President Harry D. Holmes], Warren Commission Hearings, Vol. VII, pp. 299-300. Cf. [http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh7/html/WC_Vol7_0168b.htm Testimony of H. Louis Nichols], Warren Commission Hearings, Vol. VII, pp. 328-329; [http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh10/html/WC_Vol10_0062b.htm Testimony of John FJ. KennedyAbt], Warren Commission Hearings, Vol. XX, p. 116; [http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/jfk/wc/wr/html/WCReport_0315b.htm Report of Capt. J.W. Fritz, Dallas Police Department], he requested p. 8, Report of the services President's Commission on the Assassination of MrPresident Kennedy, p. Abt: 606</ref>}}
"I want that attorney ==Angela Davis==In 1970, Marin Count Judge Harold Haley's head was blown off by a sawed-off shotgun in New Yorka hostage incident in which members of the [[Black Panthers]] attempted to free Davis' lover, MrBlack Panther member [[George Jackson]]. Abt. I donJackson't know him personally but I know about a case that he handled some years agos younger brother took the judge, where he represented the people who had violated prosecutor, and three female jurors as hostages and armed the defendants.<ref>{{cite book|last=Aptheker|first=Bettina|title=The Morning Breaks: The Trial of Angela Davis|year=1997|publisher=Cornell University Press}}</ref><ref name="Register-Guard">{{cite news|agency=Associated Press|title=Search broadens for Angela Davis|newspaper=Eugene Register-Guard|date=August 17, 1970|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=4BkRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=NuEDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6482%2C3554926|accessdate=September 14, 2009}}</ref> [[Smith ActAngela Davis]]had purchased several of the firearms used in the attack, [which made it illegal <ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/harvard-new-home-angela-davis-papers-180968191/|title=Angela Davis’ Archive Comes to teach or advocate Harvard|last1=Treviño|first1=Julissa|publisher=Smithsonian Magazine|date=16 February 2018|accessdate=7 February 2019}}</ref> including the violent overthrow of shotgun used to kill the Ujudge.S<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www. government] nytimes. com/1972/04/18/archives/a-shotgun-that-miss-davis-purchased-is-linked-to-the-fatal-shooting. html|title=A Shotgun That Miss Davis Purchased Is Linked to the Fatal Shooting of Judge|last1=Caldwell|first1=Earl|work=[[The New York Times]]|date= April 18, 1972|accessdate= February 7, 2019}}</ref> Davis was also found to have corresponded with Jackson.<ref>{{cite book|authors=White, Bay, Martain|title=Freedom on My Mind|publisher=Bedford/St. I donMartin't know him personallys|isbn=978-0-312-64884-8|page=725}}</ref> California considers "all persons concerned in the commission of a crime, but that is whether they directly commit the act constituting the attorney I wantoffense. . . . If I can't get himprincipals in any crime so committed", then I may get and a warrant for her arrest was issued. [[J. Edgar Hoover]] listed Davis on the [[American Civil Liberties UnionFBI]] 's Ten Most Wanted List; the third woman to send me ever be listed<ref>{{cite web|title=Biography|work=Davis (Angela) Legal Defense Collection, 1970–1972|url=http://digilib.nypl.org/dynaweb/ead/scm/scmdavisa|accessdate=June 14, 2013}}</ref> behind Ma Barker and [[Bernardine Dohrn]]. She was apprehended and John Abt, general counsel of the Communist Party USA, represent her.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Abt|first1=John|authorlink1=John Abt|last2=Myerson|first2=Michael|title=Advocate and Activist: Memoirs of an attorney"American Communist Lawyer|url=https://books.google.com/?id=9REaIPPh4k4C&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false|year=1993|publisher=University of Illinois Press|location=Urbana, Illinois|isbn=978-0-252-02030-8}}</ref> Davis was eventually acquitted of any role in the plotting and execution of the crime.
===References=== <references/>
* 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]]
{{communism}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abt, John}}
[[Category:Biographies]]
[[Category:History]]
[[Category:KGB Agents and Sources]]
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