Willard Z. Park

Willard Zerbe Park (October 14, 1906 - April 15, 1965), anthropologist. Park was a former teaching colleague of Maurice Halperin at the University of Oklahoma. Both Park and Halperin actively sought out recruitment with Soviet intelligence, or the "Communist East" through the "New Masses" and Jacob Golos. Contacts were made with Elizabeth Bentley through Mary Price.

Biography

He was born in Silt, Colorado on October 14, 1906. He received his A.B. degree in anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley and finished a year of graduate school also at Berkeley. At Berkeley he met his future wife, Susan Brandenstein (1908-1993), who was also an anthropology student. [cite web |url=http://www.library.unr.edu/specoll/mss/96-05.html |title=A Guide to the Field Notes of Willard Z. Park |accessdate=2008-05-29 |quote= |publisher=University of Nevada, Reno ]

Beginning in 1942 Park was the Assistant Chief of the Economic Analysis Section of the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs (CIAA), and later the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration.

In 1943 Park was interviewed in connection with a Hatch Act investigation. Much of Parks FBI file is redacted, including his background material, which usually includes routine items like a date of birth, parentage, education, and personal information. Park was considered a minor source of intelligence.

He died on April 15, 1965, in Reno, Nevada. [cite journal | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | date = | year =1966 | month = | title =Willard Z. Park 1906-1965 | journal =American Anthropologist | volume = | issue = | pages = | publisher = | location = | issn = | pmid = | doi = | bibcode = | oclc = | id = | url =http://www.jstor.org/pss/668070 | language = | format = | accessdate = | laysummary = | laysource = | laydate = | quote =Willard Zerbe Park died suddenly of a respiratory infection on April 15, 1965, at Reno, Nevada. He is survived by his widow ... ]

References

Further reading

* Alexander Vassiliev, "Untitled Notes on Anatoly Gorsky’s December 1948 Memo on the Failed American Networks" (2003)
* [http://foia.fbi.gov/foiaindex/silversm.htm FBI Silvermaster file]