Abraham Chasanow

Abraham Chasanow (December 1, 1910 – June 11, 1989) was a United States government employee who was suspended from employment in July 1953, during the McCarthy era, on the grounds that he was a security risk. He was later reinstated.

Chasanow was born on December 1, 1910, and attended what later became American University Washington College of Law.

Chasanow was employed by the U.S. Navy's Hydrographic Office for 23 years when suspended without pay on July 29, 1953, and charged as a security risk. Unidentified informants had accused him of having left-wing associations. He was removed from government employment on April 7, 1954. At the time, he lived in Greenbelt, Maryland, where he had been head of the Citizens' Association and a director of the Lions Club.

The charges against him included:

He was first exonerated by the unanimous decision of a security board and then that judgment was set aside. He appealed and followed the advice of his attorney, Joseph A. Fanelli, to make his case public. The Navy announced on May 4, 1954, that a special hearing board would review his case. That board reversed his dismissal.

On September 1, 1954, Assistant Secretary of the Navy James H. Smith, Jr. issued a formal apology to Chasanow and described the accusations against him as "a grave injustice." Smith said the informants did "a disservice to the security procedures of the nation" and announced that the Navy was modifying its security procedures in response to Chasanow's case. To reestablish Chasanow's reputation, Smith detailed the findings of the special hearing board that found Chasanow an "above average loyal American citizen" and praised his "exemplary family life", civic participation, and "active religious life". The board found that Chasanow's contacts with others suspected of disloyalty predated their identification as subversives and had been "short or casual". Chasanow commented: "All I can say is that it seems like I woke up from a bad dream and the sun was shining." He was awarded back pay. The American Jewish Congress praised Smith's action, but asked for an investigation of the role of antisemitism in the charges against Chasanow. It said in a letter to Charles S. Thomas, Secretary of the Navy, that "under the present loyalty program there is far too much room for action based on suspicion, arbitrary conjecture and secrecy."Time magazine called Smith's statement "a handsome apology".

...
Wikipedia