Abraham Chasanow was suspended from the U.S. Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

 Hydrographic Office

Hydrographic office

A hydrographic office is an organization which is devoted to acquiring and publishing hydrographic information.Historically, the main tasks of hydrographic offices were the conduction of hydrographic surveys and the publication of nautical charts...

 as a security risk in July 1953, during the period of McCarthyism

McCarthyism

McCarthyism is the practice of making accusations of disloyalty, subversion, or treason without proper regard for evidence. The term has its origins in the period in the United States known as the Second Red Scare, lasting roughly from the late 1940s to the late 1950s and characterized by...

 in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, in part for activities related to the founding of the cooperative

Cooperative

A cooperative is a business organization owned and operated by a group of individuals for their mutual benefit...

 Greenbelt Veteran Housing Corporation

Greenbelt Homes, Inc.

Greenbelt Homes, Incorporated is the housing cooperative in Greenbelt, Maryland comprising the original houses built by the US Federal Government in 1936 during the administration of Franklin Delano Roosevelt as part of the New Deal, as well as additional defense housing built in 1941 by the Farm...

 at his home in Greenbelt, Maryland

Greenbelt, Maryland

Greenbelt is a city in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. Contained within today's City of Greenbelt is the historic planned community now known locally as "Old Greenbelt" and designated as the Greenbelt Historic District...

. During highly publicized hearings, the Navy did not produce evidence to support the charge and his accusers were never identified. Chasanow was cleared of all charges thirteen months later. In 1954, Assistant Secretary of the Navy (AIR)

Assistant Secretary of the Navy (AIR)

The Assistant Secretary of the Navy was a civilian office of the United States Department of the Navy. The Assistant Secretary of the Navy initially reported to the Assistant Secretary of the Navy and later to the Under Secretary of the Navy....

 James H. Smith, Jr.

James H. Smith, Jr.

James Hopkins Smith, Jr. was United States Assistant Secretary of the Navy from 1953 to 1956 and then was head of the United States Agency for International Development from 1957 to 1959.-Biography:...

 issued a formal apology to Chasanow.

In 1955 investigative reporter Anthony Lewis

Anthony Lewis

Anthony Lewis is a prominent liberal intellectual, writing for The New York Times op-ed page and The New York Review of Books, among other publications. He was previously a columnist for the Times . Before that he was London bureau chief , Washington, D.C...

 won the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting

Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting

The Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting has been awarded since 1948 for a distinguished example of reporting on national affairs. The Pulitzer Committee issues an official citation explaining the reasons for the award....

 for a series of articles describing the Chasanow case. The case was also the subject of a 1957 movie Three Brave Men

Three Brave Men

Three Brave Men is a 1956 film directed by Philip Dunne. It stars Ray Milland and Ernest Borgnine.-Cast:*Ray Milland as Joe DiMarco*Ernest Borgnine as Bernard F. 'Bernie' Goldsmith*Frank Lovejoy as Capt. Amos Winfield U.S.N....

starring Ray Milland

Ray Milland

Ray Milland was a Welsh actor and director. His screen career ran from 1929 to 1985, and he is best remembered for his Academy Award–winning portrayal of an alcoholic writer in The Lost Weekend , a sophisticated leading man opposite a corrupt John Wayne in Reap the Wild Wind , the murder-plotting...

 and Ernest Borgnine

Ernest Borgnine

Ernest Borgnine is an American actor of television and film. His career has spanned more than six decades. He was an unconventional lead in many films of the 1950s, including his Academy Award-winning turn in the 1955 film Marty...

.

Sources