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Lewis E. Pierson Collection Description: Mr. Lewis E. Pierson, President of Irving Trust, N.Y., and President of the United States Chamber of Commerce, organized a confidential and private group that provided financial support to investigate Soviet propaganda and operations in the United States. This group was organized as a result of a meeting between Pierson and Col. T. Bentley Mott, Military Attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Paris. Pierson was the sole United States contact for this private group through the office of Van Ness Harwood, President of Harwood, Inc., a public relations and research company in New York City. The initial efforts and progress of events are summarized in an unsigned and undated Memorandum, located in the collection, with the cover title: Lewis E. Pierson, Confidential. Supposed evidence uncovered by this group about Senators Borah and Norris was turned over to Senator Reed, chairman of the U.S. Senate Special Committee to Investigate Propaganda or Money Alleged to Have Been Used by Foreign Governments to Influence U.S. Senators,(1) which subsequently exonerated them. The collection also includes research reports prepared by Van Ness Harwood under the name of Industrial Facts Reports, on labor, Socialist, Communist, and radical activities worldwide. Agents employed by this group included Serge Marcotoune, a Soviet citizen, and the Frenchman Richard de Keranz. 1. Cf. U.S. Congress. Senate. Special committee to investigate propaganda
or money alleged to have been used by foreign governments to influence
United States Senator. Alleged payments by the Mexican government to
United States senators. Hearings before a Special committee...Seventieth
Congress, first session, pursuant to S.Res.7 ... Washington, U.S. Government
Printing Office, 1927-28. Also, Final report. The collection is arranged as received and is comprised of 1.4 cubic feet of reports, correspondence, cablegrams, copies of purported bribes, and codes. These materials were used by Col. T. Bentley Mott and Van Ness Harwood, who was the contact person for the private group, George Henry Payne, Dudley Field Malone, Ivy Lee, J. Edgar Hoover, Maxim Litvinov, and Georgi Chicherin. All metal fasteners and staples have been removed in accordance with archival standards. Box 1 Industrial Facts, Inc. Reports 1) May-Dec 1929 2) Jan-July 1930 3) 1913-1930 4) List of Photostats 5) Van Ness Harwood Special Research Reports 1931 Box 2 1) Sp ATT #1 2) Banque Commerciale Pour L'Europe Du Nord Assemblee Generale Ordinaaire Du 28 Mars 1927 3) Banque Commerciale Signatures From Purdi to Van Ness, 1927 4) Photographs of Documents 5) Exhibits: Copies of Evidence 6) Receipt of Retainer for Robert C. Morris Atty, June 29, 1929 and Expenditure, July 24-June 15 1928 7) Correspondence: Morris, Plante & Saxe to Lewis E. Pierson 8) Miscellaneous (Titled unimportant by collector) 9) Negative of Plan of Soviet Activities 10) Key and Code used by Harris and Purdy 11) Report Of Some Activities of U.S. Senator W.E> Borah as Recorded in the NY Times 1919-1929 12) L.E. Pierson Resume 13) Contents of Safe Deposit Box 14) Keys 15) Family Correspondence Box 3 1) Original Cables/Letters to Pierson from Mott, Woods, Velay: Start of Negotiations, April 1925 2) Letters from J. Edgar Hoover and Saturday Evening Post, 1926-1927 3) Agreement with Purdy/Some Receipts/ Escrow Contract, 1925 4) The Plan, 1925 5) Correspondence: Letters of Introduction From Krassin, D. F. Malone Introducing M De Keranz on U.S. visit, Summer 1925 Also includes Letters from O.H. Kahr and George H. Payne 6) Correspondence: Isaiah J. Hoorgin 1925 7) Cables and Letters Exchanged Between Lloyd, Purdy and Van Ness Harwood 1925 8) Cables and Letters From/To Purdy, Van Ness Harwood, and Lloyd, 1926 9) Receipt: Hotel Bill July 13, 1926 for Ride Krans (K) 10) Misc. Correspondence of L.E. Pierson, 1926 11) Copies/Translations Letters Rakowsky to Kempner, re: Disbursement of Funds, 1926-1927 12) Cables and Letters Exchanged Between Lloyd, Purdy, and Van Ness Harwood, Jan-June 1927 13) Cables and Letters Exchanged between Lloyd, Purdy, and Van Ness Hardwood, July-December 1927 14) Correspondence Between L.E. Pierson and Ivy Lee, July 1927 15) Correspondence/Cables Van Ness Harwood While Abroad, Dec. 1927 16) Miscellaneous Items Concerning Payment to Senators 1926-1927 17) Confidential Reports on Activites of M and K, 1925-1927 Box 4 1) Van Ness Harwood Notarized Deposition Concerning Meeting with L. E. Pierson and Myron T. Herrick, Jan. 1928 2) Confidential Report, April (May 1) 1928 (From V.N.H.?) 3) Report of Situation as of June 15, 1928 4) Van Ness Harwood Sworn Statement Concerning Validity of Documents with French Government, July 1929 5) Entente International vs. Third International, Aug. 1928 6) Memo Concerning Lloyds (Col Mott) Visit to America From Harwood, Dated Nov 1928 and Dec 6, 1928 7) Notarized Letters From Purdy to Van Ness Hardwood, 1929 8) Cut Photo Copies of Receipts and Letters From Malone, Borah, Rakovsky and Davtian (1929?) 9) Memo Dictated by Pierson, September 25, 1929 10) Plan of Soviet Campaign vs. Pierson, 1929 11) Misc. Correspondence, 1930 12) Draft of Letter to President Herbert Hoover from Lewis E. Pierson, September 1929 13) Confidential Summary: Lewis E. Pierson, Undated-Unsigned 14) Confidential Letter to L.E. Pierson From W.B. Phillips, June 17, 1932 15) Cables and Letters Exchanged Between Lloyd, Purdy and V.N.H., 1928 16) Reports by the Special Committee to Investigate Propaganda or Money Alleges to have been used by Foreign Governments to influence U.S. Senators, Jan 11, 1928 and Jan. 7, 1929 17) Newspaper Clippings: Forged Documents (1929) 18) Cable/Letters exchanged between Lloyd, Purdy and Van Ness Harwood 1929 19) Test Photographs in Possible Forging of Documents 20) Disbursing Secret Funds: The Soviet Plan |