Laurence Todd

Laurence Todd (1882–1957) was an American journalist who worked as a news agency correspondent in Washington, DC. A committed radical, Todd worked as personal secretary to Socialist Congressman Meyer London from 1915 to 1916. Todd is best remembered as a correspondent for the Soviet news agency TASS for nearly three decades, a relationship about which he was interrogated in a hearing of the United States Senate in April 1956.

Biography

Early years

Laurence Todd, known as "Larry" to his friends, was born in Nottawa, St. Joseph County, Michigan on December 15, 1882. His father was a civil engineer and farmer.

Todd attended primary school in the village of Colon

Todd went into journalism at an early age, working as a reporter for the Kalamazoo Gazette of Kalamazoo, Michigan in 1904 and 1905. In the fall of 1905, Todd enrolled at the University of Michigan, where he studied literature. He was dispatched to Europe as a correspondent of the Federated Press in 1922, remaining there through 1923. Todd would remain on the TASS payroll as a full-time employee until his retirement in June 1952. This and other charges against other dinner party guests were parlayed into a Congressional hearing on a so-called "Brain Trust Revolution" chaired by conservative North Carolina Democrat Alfred L. Bulwinkle. Moreover, Todd swore that he had "never attended any Communist meeting in my life, to the best of my knowledge."

With respect to his actual job tasks, Todd stated:

"I was in charge of a Washington report for the TASS Agency, which is located in New York. I was a correspondent here, and I gathered news and sent it. I was in charge of the local accounts of the bureau, the expense accounts, and things like that. I never employed anyone. I neither had authority to employ nor to dismiss anyone."

During his testimony, Todd declared that he "never knew" the State Department's Alger Hiss, but refused to answer according to his rights under the Fifth Amendment when asked whether he knew Nathan Gregory Silvermaster or William Ludwig Ullman,

Death and legacy

Laurence Todd died November 30, 1957.

Todd's papers, including correspondence and diaries totaling one linear foot, is housed at the Bentley Historical Library of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

Laurence Todd was the nephew of Albert May Todd (1850–1931), known as "The Peppermint King of Kalamazoo," a wealthy left wing philanthropist who was an early member of the American Civil Liberties Union and founder of the Public Ownership League of America in 1916.

Footnotes