'Life' Mixes Up Pictures of White

In one of recent journalism's biggest identity mix-ups, Henry Dana White '21, an unassuming Boston attorney, became known to millions of Americans this week in Life Magazine as Harry Dexter White, a dead spy suspect and target of the Administration's latest attack on the Truman regime.

Contacted at his Boston office, Henry D. White, whose pictures appears on page 30 of the current issue as that of Harry Dexter White, stated that he did not consider the case "the least bit amusing." "People I don't even know very well have been calling me up all week--including several lawyers who want the case," White remarked.

Picture Taken from Yearbook

The erroneously identified picture was copied out an incorrect Harvard University yearbook of Life. Henry D. White graduated from the Law School in 1942 and never saw the subsequent yearbooks. Harry White began graduate work for a Ph.D. in Government in 1925, and the yearbook published Harry's biography for several years running under Henry White's Picture. "From what I know of Harry Dexter White, he didn't mind being incognito," suggested the Boston lawyer. "In fact, he probably enjoyed it very much--though it's just guesswork on my part."

Error First in "Globe"

"The error first appeared in the Boston Globe last Wednesday," White explained. "I called them immediately about it, and told them I preferred not to have any more publicity. The Life came out with the same picture. They called me almost immediately from New York, several times, in fact. They said they'd do anything they could to make it up to me, but I told them nothing they could do would make much difference. It was too late."

"This kind of mistake could be professionally damaging," said the attorney. "After all, a lawyer lives by attracting legal work from people who are well disposed toward him. People could see the picture and associate an innocent man with entirely false connotations." Despite his annoyance, White would not commit himself on whether or not he intends to sue Life for libel.

Man of Mystery

This week's issue of Life is devoted to a pictorial and documentary expose of the mysterious career of Harry Dexter White. Under the heading "50 Detectives Work on a Mystery Story," Life explains how 50 editorial detectives, "including reporters, deskmen, film editors, writers, and Time correspondents in the Washington bureau . . . worked straight through two nights to meet Life's deadline. "Pictures, too," says Life, "played a big part in unravelling the mystery."