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FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION
TO: Assistant Attorney General Kames M. McInerney
DATE: December 20, 1950
FROM: Director, FBI
SUBJECT: JOHN WHITESIDE PARSONS [Jack Parsons], ESPIONAGE — IS
There are being forwarded herewith copies of the following reports:
Report of Special Agent [Redacted] dated November 2, 1950, at Los Angeles, California. Report of Special Agent Wade H. Alley dated November 22, 1950, at Cincinnati, Ohio. Report of Special Agent [Redacted] dated December 7, 1950, at Los Angeles, California.
On December 15, 1950, a representative of Hughes Aircraft advised that when Parsons' employment was terminated on September 26, 1950, Parsons requested the return of seven California Institute of Technology reports dated 1941 through 1944 which he had kept in his file drawer at Hughes Aircraft. These reports were all marked "confidential," and related to Air Corps jet propulsion research. Parsons was listed as coauthor of two reports.
On December 15, 1950, [Redacted] head of the report group, at the Jet Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, advised that of these seven reports, two are confidential, two are restricted, two are classified, and the classification of the seventh is not known. [Redacted] advised that a review of the seven reports might downgrade the present classifications. He said that during the period Parsons was employed at the Jet Laboratory security regulations were lax and it was a common practice for employees to remove reports for their own purposes. There was no charge out system of any consequence.
[Redacted] had been requested to review these seven reports, has advised that a final decision on the present classifications may take at least one month.
You have previously been furnished reports in the case entitled "Dr. Sidney Weinbaum, was espionage — R; Perjury; and Fraud Against the Government." Weinbaum, you will recall, was convicted by the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles on September 7, 1950, on fraud and perjury charges growing out of the fact that he had concealed his membership in the Communist Party while employed at the California Institute of Technology. Parsons was one of the original informants in the Weinbaum matter. [Redacted] [Redacted] [Redacted].
You are also advised that T-6 in the report of Special Agent [Redacted], dated July 26, 1949, at Los Angeles in the case entitled [Redacted], was, Internal Security — R," is John Whiteside Parsons. This report was furnished you by letter dated August 4, 1950.
You will note in the enclosed reports that Parsons stated that he intended to turn data over to Herbert Rosenfeld. You have previously been furnished copies of the reports in the case entitled "Herbert Theodore Rosenfeld, Internal Security — R." The basis of the Rosenfeld investigation is his contact with Mikhail Gorin, who was arrested by Agents of this Bureau in December, 1938, and who was subsequently convicted in Federal Court of Espionage charges. He was sentenced to six years, but was permitted to depart to Russia in 1941.
You will note on page 10 of the enclosed report of Special Agent [Redacted], dated November 2, 1950, at Los Angeles in this matter that Parsons advised that while residing at 1003 South Orange Grove, Pasadena, California, he was a member of a religious cult which was alleged to have been involved in immoral activities. This membership may have been a factor in deciding whether or not to use Parsons as a witness in the Weinbaum trial.
In March, 1944 [Redacted], who was then connected with [Redacted], advised that in the Summer of 1940, he was approached by a bartender in Long Beach, California, to attend a week-end party to be held at 1003 South Orange Grove, Pasadena, California. [Redacted] advised that after his arrival at that address he learned that what he thought was to be a week-end party was actually a meeting of a cult known as "The Church of Thelema." During the course of the week-end [Redacted] was initiated into this order, and stated that he does not recall anything of the initiation proceedings, except that all of the participants removed their clothes and were given robes. [Redacted] advised that he was apparently drugged and that he spent two days and nights at 1003 South Orange Grove. and that there were forty or fifty members of the cult. [Redacted] said that one [Redacted] was the head of the organization at the time [Redacted] was interviewed in 1944, and that [Redacted] is assisted by [Redacted] Jack Parsons. [Redacted] said that a girl named [Redacted] is apparently the concubine for the organization.
It is requested that you furnish your opinion as to whether or not the facts contained in the enclosed reports constitute a violation of any Federal statute, and whether or not prosecution is warranted.
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