August 17: ON THIS DAY IN 1948, Yankee Stadium farewell for Babe Ruth
ON THIS DAY IN 1948, the Eagle reported, “Boston, Aug. 17 (U.P.) – Harry Dexter White, 56, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury from 1945 to 1946 and one of the key figures in the current spy hearings in Washington, died at his summer home in Fitzwilliam, N.H., yesterday, his family disclosed today. White, who had been in government service since 1934, died of a heart seizure, relatives said … White was the highest ranking former government official accused before the House Un-American Activities Committee in its Soviet spy hearings … White had been doubly accused. Elizabeth T. Bentley said he was one of 30 wartime government officials who supplied information to a Soviet espionage network for which she was courier.”
On that same day, it was also reported, “Those who cheered Babe Ruth alive will be able to see him once again – in the Yankee Stadium, ‘the House that Ruth built.’ There in the Bronx arena George Herman Ruth climbed to the heights of baseball glory. There he batted most of the 60 home runs of a single season, a glittering record. There he became the Bambino, the Sultan of Swat, the beloved of millions of fans of all ages. And there he was taken today to lie in state, beginning at 5 p.m., for the host of his admirers to pass by his casket for a last farewell.”
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