From the Archives: Episode Five

Washington Post reporter Dillard Stokes examines the ashes of the franked envelopes set on fire at the America First Committee headquarters, bearing the names of members of Congress. The envelopes were being used to spread Nazi propaganda through the United States.

Special prosecutor William Power Maloney conducts a raid on the America First Committee headquarters, recovering 10 bags of franked envelopes bearing the names of members of Congress. The bags had been removed days earlier from an apartment belonging to a DC publicist working with paid Nazi agent George Sylvester Viereck. He was using the envelopes to spread Nazi propaganda through the United States.

The storage room in the U.S. House building near Rep. Hamilton Fish's office. Rep. Fish's staffer, George Hill, had arranged to hide evidence in this storage room (Storeroom 30) that incriminated members of Congress involved in a scheme to spread Nazi propaganda throughout the United States.

Inside House Storeroom 30, where Rep. Fish's staffer hid bags of evidence which incriminated members of Congress in a scheme to spread Nazi propaganda throughout the United States.

A tag bearing the name of Congressman Hamilton Fish (R-NY), which was attached to one of the mail bags in Rep. Fish's storage room at the U.S. capitol.

Federal prosecutors collect evidence in trash cans discovered by Washington Post reporter Dillard Stokes. The trash cans were recovered by Stokes in the alley behind the America First Committee's DC headquarters, where he watched a staffer attempting to burn evidence sought in a federal inquiry into Nazi penetration of members of Congress.

Photo of franked envelopes bearing the names of members of Congress which were to be used to spread Nazi propaganda through the United States. The envelopes were found in Rep. Hamilton Fish's storage room.

Photo of a franked Congressional envelope burned in the alley behind the America First Committee's Washington, DC headquarters.

Photo of trash cans in the alley behind the America First Committee's Washington, DC headquarters, inside which staffers burned evidence of a Nazi propaganda scheme facilitated by members of Congress.

Photo of New York Republican Congressman Hamilton Fish III.

Photo of Rep. Hamilton Fish III speaking at a rally for the America First Committee.

Rep. Hamilton Fish III surrounded by reporters at a barber shop on September 19, 1939. Fish had just returned from a trip to Nazi Germany.

Rep. Hamilton Fish III (right) walking with his lawyer on December 5, 1941, the day he testified before William Power Maloney's grand jury investigating Nazi penetration in the United States.

Rep. Hamilton Fish III displaying newspapers that reported he hid evidence of a plot to launder Nazi propaganda through Congress.

Photo of Prescott Dennett, employee of paid Nazi agent George Sylvester Viereck. Dennett was indicted for assisting Viereck in the scheme to launder fascist propaganda through the United States Congress.

Photo of George Hill (center), staffer to Rep. Hamilton Fish III. Hill was convicted for perjury over his role in facilitating the scheme to used prepaid envelopes bearing the names of members of Congress to spread fascist propaganda.

A letter from George Hill to George Sylvester Viereck dated August 5, 1940. Hill informed the Nazi agent Viereck that he was working on a list of tens of thousands of names and addresses to be used in their propaganda scheme.

Nazi agent George Sylvester Viereck writes to Sen. Ernest Lundeen, informing him that "the man in [Rep. Hamilton Fish III's] office is absolutely reliable." Viereck is likely referring to George Hill, who facilitated their propaganda scheme in Congress.

Senator Burton K. Wheeler (D-MT, left) delivers what resembles a Nazi salute at an America First rally at Madison Square Garden on May 23, 1941.

Photo of William Power Maloney, pictured here in 1964.

Photo of Attorney General Francis Biddle.

Rep. Hamilton Fish III appears in the 1981 film "Reds," starring Warren Beatty and Diane Keaton.