David Karr

David Harold Karr, born David Katz (1918, Brooklyn, New York – 7 July 1979, Paris) was a controversial American journalist, businessman, and Communist.

Enthralled with the radical left, Karr began writing at a relatively young age for the Communist Party USA publication, the Daily Worker.

In 1943 Karr came under the scrutiny of Rep. Martin Dies Jr., chairman of the House Special Committee on Un-American Activities for his Communist affiliations. Karr was at the time working for the Office of War Information (OWI). Karr appeared before the committee and stated under oath that he was an informant for the FBI, although this testimony was entirely a manufactured story. A special congressional investigation found no cause to remove him while at the same time the Civil Service Commission concluded he was both untruthful and unreliable. Karr resigned from the OWI and was immediately hired by Drew Pearson, one of America's most widely read columnists. Years later, after the release of the Venona decrypts, a decryption from June 1944, established that Karr was an informational source for the NKVD. In it, Soviet agent Vladimir Pravdin reported to Moscow information he stated he received from Soviet TASS deputy bureau chief Samuel Krafsur from his contact (Karr).

Karr earned a reputation as an unscrupulous investigative reporter who misrepresented himself to sources. In 1944, Karr was also active in Vice President Henry Wallace's effort to remain on the presidential ticket. President Franklin Roosevelt referred to Karr as a “chronic liar”. During the war, Karr was investigated twice by the FBI, once after obtaining a secret report on Soviet leader Joseph Stalin prepared for President Roosevelt by Oskar Lange, who was another NKVD source in the administration. To obtain the report, Karr claimed to be on Vice President Wallace's staff.

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