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Harold Glasser was born in Chicago on 24th November, 1905. His Jewish parents had emigrated from Lithuania. After the death of his father in 1909 the family lived a life of extreme poverty. Despite his circumstances, Glasser managed to study economics at the University of Chicago and Harvard University (1929-1930). This was followed by a year at the Brookings Institution. Glasser joined the Communist Party of the United States in 1933. (1)
Glasser was a supporter of the New Deal and in 1935 he was a statistician for the Chicago division of the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The following year he joined the Department of Agriculture. In 1936 he became an economic analyst under Harry Dexter White in the U.S. Treasury Department.
According to Whittaker Chambers it was during this period that White began spying for the Soviet Union. Chambers worked for Boris Bykov who complained about about the poor quality of the documents they were receiving. Chambers now contacted Joszef Peter, the "head of the underground section of the American Communist Party."I explained the problem to him and asked for a Communist in the Treasury Department who could 'control' White. Peters suggested Dr. Harold Glasser, who certainly seemed an ideal man for the purpose, since he was White's assistant, one of several Communists whom White himself had guided into the Treasury Department. Peters released Dr. Glasser from the American Communist underground and lent him to the Soviet underground. Glasser soon convinced me that White was turning over everything of importance that came into his hands." (2)
Glasser's code-name was "Ruble". In an interview he gave to the FBI Glasser admitted that by 1936 he had become an important figure in the President Franklin D. Roosevelt government. He claimed he was “engaged in assisting President Roosevelt in the inauguration of various economic plans in furtherance of the New Deal” and worked “on nights and weekends at the Treasury Department and at White’s residence” and put in “considerable overtime working on these plans requested by the President.” (3)
During this period Glasser "handed over government materials" to Nathan Silvermaster. He continued to work closely with Harry Dexter White but their relationship encountered problems. According to Allen Weinstein, the author of The Hunted Wood: Soviet Espionage in America (1999): "Although his friendship with White became strained, according to Glasser because of a quarrel between their wives, nevertheless White remained a strong backer. He assisted Glasser in obtaining posts and promotions at Treasury while aware of his Communist ties." (4)
On 25th March, Harry Dexter White became Director of Monetary Research and Glasser became Assistant Director. Glasser was now part of a Soviet spy network led by Victor Perlo. In April 1944, Perlo's wife sent a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt naming her husband and several members of his group, including Glasser, Henry Hill Collins, John Abt, Nathan Witt and Charles Kramer, as Soviet spies. Although she was interviewed by the FBI the people named were not arrested. Kathryn S. Olmsted has argued: "Possibly, the men of the FBI discounted the tale of an unstable, vengeful ex-wife. Or perhaps the tale of Russian espionage did not seem so sinister in 1944, when the brave Soviet allies were battling the Nazis. In any event, Katherine Perlo failed in her quest to destroy her ex-husband, and Elizabeth Bentley survived to spy another day." (5)
In 1940, Glasser was appointed Chief American economic adviser to Ecuador through a joint program of the Treasury and U.S. Department of State. In December 1941, the Secret Service forwarded a report to Harry Dexter White indicating that it had evidence Glasser was a secret member of the Communist Party of the United States. White ignored the report and helped Glasser to become Vice-Chairman of the War Production Board. Later he served as economic adviser to American forces in North Africa and U.S. Treasury representative to the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration.
In April 1945, General Pavel Fitin sent a memo to Vsevolod Merkulov: "Our agent RUBLE (Harold Glasser) drawn to work for the Soviet Union in May 1937, passed initially through the military "neighbors" and then through our station valuable information on political and economic issues.... To our work RUBLE gives much attention and energy is devoted and disciplined agent. According to data from VADIM (Anatoly Gorsky) the group of agents of the "military" neighbors whose part RUBLE was earlier, recently was decorated with orders of the USSR. RUBLE learned about this fact from his friend ALES (Alger Hiss), who is the head of the mentioned group. Taking into account RUBLE's devoted work for the USSR for eight years and the fact that, as a result of transfer to our station, RUBLE was not decorated together with other members of the ALES group, consider expedient to put him forward for a decoration of the Order of the Red Star. Ask for your consent." (6)
On 31st July 1948, Elizabeth Bentley appeared before the House of Un-American Activities Committee and during her testimony named several people she believed had been Soviet spies while working for the United States government. This included Victor Perlo, Harry Dexter White, Abraham George Silverman, Nathan Witt, Marion Bachrach, Julian Wadleigh, Harold Glasser, Henry Hill Collins, Frank Coe, Charles Kramer and Lauchlin Currie.
As the authors of The Secret World of American Communism (1995) have pointed out: "Edward Fitzgerald, Harold Glasser, Charles Kramer, Victor Perlo, Magdoff, Wheeler, and Tenney were called by congressional committees to testify about Bentley's charges. All refused to answer, citing their right under the Fifth Amendment not to give testimony that might incriminate themselves." (7)
Harold Glasser died on 16th November, 1992.
Harry Dexter White was the least productive of the four original sources. Through George Silverman, he turned over material regularly, but not in great quantity. Bykov fumed, but there was little that he could do about it. As a fellow traveler, White was not subject to discipline. Bykov suspected, of course, that White was holding back material. "Du musst ihn kontrollieren," said Bykov, "you must control him "- in the sense in which police "control" passports, by inspecting them.
I went to J. Peters, who was in Washington constantly in 1937, and whom I also saw regularly in New York. I explained the problem to him and asked for a Communist in the Treasury Department who could "control" White. Harold Glasser, who certainly seemed an ideal man for the purpose, since he was White's assistant, one of several Communists whom White himself had guided into the Treasury Department.
Peters released Dr. Glasser soon convinced me that White was turning over everything of importance that came into his hands. Having established that fact, I simply broke off relations with Dr. Glasser. Later on, he was to establish a curious link between the underground apparatuses, current and past. Testifying before the McCarran Committee in 1952, Elizabeth Bentley told this story. In 1944, she was working with what she identified as "the Perlo Group" (after Victor Perlo of the former Ware Group). In the Perlo Group was Dr. Harold Glasser. At one point, Miss Bentley had made a routine check of the past activities of all the Group members. The check showed that Dr. Glasser had once worked with a man whom both Victor Perlo and Charles Kramer (also a member of the Group) at first refused to identify beyond saying that the unknown man was working with the Russians. When Miss Bentley insisted, Perlo and Kramer at last said that the unknown man was named Hiss. She had never heard the name before and checked with her Soviet superiors. "It is all right," they told her. "Lay off the Hiss thing. He is one of ours, but don't bother about it any more."
Early in our acquaintanceship, I had told White that I knew nothing whatever about monetary theory, finance or economics. Nevertheless, in our rambles, when he was not complaining that the Secretary was in a bad humor, or rejoicing that he was in a good humor, White engaged in long monologues on abstruse monetary problems.
One project that he kept urging was a plan of his own authorship for the reform of the Soviet monetary structure or currency. He offered it as a contribution to the Soviet Government. I sensed that the project was extremely important to White. I took the proposal to Bykov. He was lukewarm. But he informed Moscow, which reacted with enthusiasm to the idea of having its monetary affairs "controlled" gratis by an expert of the United States Treasury Department.
Bykov suddenly instructed me to get White's plan from him at once. Haste had now become all important. But by then, White had gone on his summer vacation at a country place near Peterborough, N. H. I saw that I would have to go after him....White turned in his plan for monetary retorm, though I recall no particular excitement about it. I had assumed that his eagerness was the evidence of a disinterested love for monetary theory and concern for the Soviet Union. But I sometimes found myself wondering curiously why he worked for the apparatus at all. His motives always baffled me, possibly, I now think, because I kept looking for them in the wrong place.
In August 1944 prior to establishing a direct link to Gorsky, Glasser had handled over government materials to Silvermaster. That fall, he also used Perlo and Bentley to convey information to the NKGB. After talking to Glasser, Gorsky concluded that the Treasury official understood that he worked for Soviet intelligence; in Glasser's words, "I am not a child and realize exactly where and to whom my materials have been going for several years."
Although his friendship with White became strained, according to Glasser because of a quarrel between their wives, nevertheless White remained a strong backer. He assisted Glasser in obtaining posts and promotions at Treasury while aware of his Communist ties.
BIn addition, three individuals Bentley identified as working with her networks during World War II are listed by Gorsky as working in the mid-1930s for "Karl's Group" (in other words, Whittaker Chambers). These were Harry Dexter White, George Silverman, and Harold Glasser. She told the FBI that one member of her network, Glasser, had for a time worked for a network she knew little about except that it was run by a man named "Hiss" at the State Department. Glasser, as described by himself in a December 1944 handwritten autobiography for Moscow, was born in Chicago in 1905, the son of Lithuanian immigrants, and studied economics at the University of Chicago. He joined the Communist Party in 1933 and the Treasury Department in 1936. With the assistance of Harry Dexter White, he rose to be assistant to the director of monetary research in January 1942. Both Alger and Donald Hiss, working for the State Department, were also listed under Karl's Group...
General Fitin sent a memo in April 1945 to Vsevolod Merkulov, KGB chief, to review the work Glasser ("Ruble") had done for the KGB. The memo stated that according to information from Gorsky, a group of agents of the GRU, to which Glasser had previously belonged, had recently received awards for their work. "Ruble" learned this from his friend and leader of the group, "Ales." Fitin wrote that since "Ruble" missed out on an award, and given his productive work over the past eight years, he recommended "Ruble" receive the Order of the Red Star. As Haynes and Klehr observed, this passage confirms the March 30 cable that "Ales" and his group were awarded Soviet medals, but adds that Glasser had been working with the "Ales" group, further confirmation that "Ales" was Hiss.''
By 1948, various Soviet defectors-Massing, Bentley, Chambers, Gouzenko-had compromised many Soviet intelligence officers and their U.S. agents and assets. The GRU and KGB went into damage control mode and operations stood down. In an effort to minimize the damage, especially from the notorious Hiss case, Moscow suggested an active measures campaign. In December 27, 1948, a cipher telegram indicated that a KGB disinformation campaign against "Karl" (Whittaker Chambers) be advanced.
Our agent RUBLE (Harold Glasser) drawn to work for the Soviet Union in May 1937, passed initially through the military "neighbors" and then through our station valuable information on political and economic issues.... Ask for your consent."
(1) Allen Weinstein, The Hunted Wood: Soviet Espionage in America (1999) page 266
(2) Whittaker Chambers, Witness (1952) pages 429-431
(3) Harold Glasser, interviewed by the FBI (13th May, 1947)
(4) Allen Weinstein, the author of The Hunted Wood: Soviet Espionage in America (1999) page 266
(5) Kathryn S. Olmsted, Red Spy Queen (2002) page 67
(6) Harvey Klehr and John Earl Haynes, The Secret World of American Communism (1995) page 316
(7) General Pavel Fitin sent a memo to Vsevolod Merkulov (April 1945)
Harold Glasser
Harold Glasser (November 24, 1905 – November 16, 1992), was an economist in the United States Department of the Treasury and spokesman on the affairs of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) 'throughout its whole life' and he had a 'predominant voice' in determining which countries should receive aid. Glasser was a member of the Perlo group of Soviet spies during World War II and worked closely with Harry Dexter White. [1] [2] His code name in Soviet intelligence and in the Venona files is "Ruble". [3] [4]
Glasser's gives a nod to Lake Hopatcong history
HOPATCONG -- Pasquale Carpino has already made his mark in the food and restaurant business.
HOPATCONG -- Pasquale Carpino has already made his mark in the food and restaurant business. The executive chef/entrepreneur has two catering businesses -- Taste and NYC Catering Corporation -- but he still wants to expand.
After buying his first restaurant at the age of 20 and flipping it a year later, Carpino, now 38, has been turning around struggling eateries for most of his life. His latest attempt -- Glasser's -- will be on the northwestern shores of Lake Hopatcong in Henderson Cove.
Glasser's is really three places in one. Glasser's Seafood and Steakhouse is upstairs while Glasser's Sports Bar and Grill is downstairs. Both opened on Oct. 3. Glasser's General Store will open soon.
Carpino said he's received nothing but positive feedback from the neighboring Northwood and Glasser residents, while acknowledging the ambitiousness of his undertaking.
"It is (ambitious)," he said. "But nothing I can't handle. We're trying to give back to the community a little bit. Some of the people here drive like 30 minutes just to get to a store."
The shared name of the three establishments is a nod to the local history of the area. Glasser is a hamlet within Northwood, both of which are in the Borough of Hopatcong. Glasser has its own zip code (07837) and U.S. Post Office, dating back to the 1930s.
The two-story building Glasser's now occupies has been around nearly as long.
Carpino, his wife, Heather, and their four children live in Newton, but he is acutely aware of the history of Lake Hopatcong. He said he understands how important it is to the community to have a viable business in the cove again.
"We only hire locals. We support our locals. That's what we're here for," Carpino said. "We're trying to contribute to the lake and make it better for them."
Carpino said Glasser's is directly targeting the business of the lake community by offering what people want, which is great food, a welcoming atmosphere and fair prices.
"The average guy, he wants to stop in, we cater to that," he said. "We made a simplified menu for different types of people."
Almost every night of the week, both the restaurant and the sports bar have specials. At Glasser's Seafood and Steakhouse, kids eat free on Mondays there's free dessert with the purchase of an entree on Tuesdays and Wednesdays feature a four-course prime rib diner for $21.95 a person. Glasser's Sports Bar and Grill has specials such as free pool with $5 burgers on Monday or 50 cent appetizers (wings, mozzarella sticks, clams and poppers), $5 18-inch pizzas and drink deals on football Sundays.
Both places have Happy Hour every day from 4 to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday from 5 to 6 p.m., Glasser's offers a four-course Early Bird special for $19.95.
"We're keeping the prices down but offering high-quality stuff," Carpino said. "All my chefs here are executive chefs, top of the line chefs. We're providing very upscale food for an extremely casual price."
Carpino said he knows the location has a reputation as a summer spot. Glasser's has 58 dock spaces for boats in the summer, and Carpino hopes to have floating docks for wave runners next year. But he believes Glasser's will make its mark on the community this winter.
"We're set up to do well all year round. People still need to eat in the winter," he said with a hearty chuckle. "We're not bears we don't hibernate. We're looking forward to the winter here."
David Danzis can also be contacted on Facebook, on Twitter: @ddanzisNJH, or by phone: 973-383-1274.
Perlo group
When Glasser returned to the United States in 1944, he reestablished contact with the Perlo group. Victor Perlo, the groups head, explained to Elizabeth Bentley that Glasser had been a member of the group before the War started, and Glasser was transferred to work with another group. Charles Kramer, another member of the Perlo group, told Bentley that Glasser joined Alger Hiss' group.
In an 25 April 1945 memo from Soviet Union, but Glasser had been neglected because of his transfer back to KGB. The text from KGB Archives reads in part as follows:
"Our agent RUBLE, drawn to work for the Soviet Union in May 1937, passed initially through the military "neighbors" and then through our station valuable information on political and economic issues. To our work RUBLE gives much attention and energy is devoted and disciplined agent. "According to data from VADIM the group of agents of the "military" neighbors whose part RUBLE was earlier, recently was decorated with orders of the USSR. RUBLE learned about this fact from his friend ALES, who is the head of the mentioned group. Taking into account RUBLE's devoted work for the USSR for eight years and the fact that, as a result of transfer to our station, RUBLE was not decorated together with other members of the ALES group, consider expedient to put him forward for a decoration of the Order of the Red Star. Ask for your consent.
Fitin's account corroborates Elizabeth Bentley's deposition.
In the transcript # 1759 KGB Washington to Moscow 28 March 1945, Glasser reports the Treasury Department is sending a young lawyer, Josiah DuBois, to Moscow to serve on the American delegation to the Allied Reparations Commission meeting. Glasser says he established “most friendly relations” with DuBois and judged him to be ideologically a Communist, although he was not a CPUSA member. Glasser reports how he counseled DuBois to be more “discreet” in expressing left-wing views and notes that his personal relationship with DuBois was such that he could “normally obtain by asking” anything he wanted.
Glasser is in the subject of several June 1945 Venona cables. Three June 1945 transcripts report Glasser's transmitting U.S. State Department reports of Soviet war losses, a State Department report on a Finnish company believed to be hiding Nazi financial assets, and an Office of Strategic Services report on the movement of Nazi gold through Swiss banks.
What Glasser family records will you find?
There are 21,000 census records available for the last name Glasser. Like a window into their day-to-day life, Glasser census records can tell you where and how your ancestors worked, their level of education, veteran status, and more.
There are 4,000 immigration records available for the last name Glasser. Passenger lists are your ticket to knowing when your ancestors arrived in the USA, and how they made the journey - from the ship name to ports of arrival and departure.
There are 4,000 military records available for the last name Glasser. For the veterans among your Glasser ancestors, military collections provide insights into where and when they served, and even physical descriptions.
There are 21,000 census records available for the last name Glasser. Like a window into their day-to-day life, Glasser census records can tell you where and how your ancestors worked, their level of education, veteran status, and more.
There are 4,000 immigration records available for the last name Glasser. Passenger lists are your ticket to knowing when your ancestors arrived in the USA, and how they made the journey - from the ship name to ports of arrival and departure.
There are 4,000 military records available for the last name Glasser. For the veterans among your Glasser ancestors, military collections provide insights into where and when they served, and even physical descriptions.
Harold Glasser
Harold Glasser, was an economist in the United States Department of the Treasury and spokesman on the affairs of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) 'throughout its whole life' and he had a 'predominant voice' in determining which countries should receive aid. Glasser was a member of the Perlo group of Soviet spies during World War II and worked closely with Harry Dexter White. His code name in Soviet intelligence and in the Venona files is " Ruble".
Contents[hide]
1 Transfer to GRU
2 Perlo group
3 SISS investigation
4 Venona
5 See also
5.1 Source
//
[edit]
Transfer to GRU
Harold Glasser joined the United States Department of Treasury in 1936 and became its assistant director of the Division of Monetary Research by late 1938. At this time, in 1937, Josef Peters transferred Glasser to GRU, after Whittaker Chambers was pressured by Soviet Case Officer Boris Bykov about Harry Dexter White's production. Glasser, the number two man in the division beneath White, reported back that as far as he could discern, White was providing everything of importance.
In 1940 Glasser was appointed Chief American economic adviser to Ecuador through a joint program of the Treasury and U.S. Department of State. In December 1941 the Secret Service forwarded a report to Harry Dexter White indicating that it had evidence Glasser was involved in Communist activities. White never acted on the report. Glasser continued to serve in Ecuador until 1942.
After America became involved in World War II, Glasser received appointments to higher-level positions, such as Vice-Chairman of the War Production Board, was dispatched to serve as economic adviser to American forces in North Africa, U.S. Treasury representative to the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, and Treasury representative to the Allied High Commission in Italy.
[edit]
Perlo group
When Glasser returned to the United States in 1944, he reestablished contact with the Perlo group. Victor Perlo, the groups head, explained to Elizabeth Bentley that Glasser had been an member of the group before the War started, and Glasser was transferred to work with another group. Charles Kramer, another member of the Perlo group, told Bentley that Glasser was transferred to a group working for the GRU headed by Alger Hiss.
In an 25 April 1945 memo from Pavel Fitin, head of KGB foreign intelligence, to Vsevolod Merkulov, head of the overall KGB organization, Fitin asked fair treatment for an award to be given to a longtime operative, Harold Glasser. Fitin called Merkulov's attention to the fact that Glasser had been working for Soviet intelligence for a long time, since May 1937, usually for the KGB but also at times for the GRU. Fitin explained how while Glasser was working with the GRU, Glasser felt he had been slighted. Fitin explained how the group of GRU agents of which Glasser was part, was decorated with honors of the Soviet Union, but Glasser had been neglected because of his transfer back to KGB. The text from KGB Archives reads in part as follows:
"Our agent RUBLE, drawn to work for the Soviet Union in May 1937, passed initially through the military "neighbors" and then through our station valuable information on political and economic issues. To our work RUBLE gives much attention and energy is devoted and disciplined agent.
"According to data from VADIM the group of agents of the "military" neighbors whose part RUBLE was earlier, recently was decorated with orders of the USSR. RUBLE learned about this fact from his friend ALES, who is the head of the mentioned group. Taking into account RUBLE's devoted work for the USSR for eight years and the fact that, as a result of transfer to our station, RUBLE was not decorated together with other members of the ALES group, consider expedient to put him forward for a decoration of the Order of the Red Star. Ask for your consent.
Fitin's account corroborates Elizabeth Bentley's deposition.
In the transcript # 1759 KGB Washington to Moscow 28 March 1945 Glasser reports the Treasury Department is sending a young lawyer, Josiah DuBois, to Moscow to serve on the American delegation to the Allied Reparations Commission meeting. Glasser says he established “most friendly relations” with DuBois and judged him to be ideologically a Communist, although he was not a CPUSA member. Glasser reports how he counseled DuBois to be more “discreet” in expressing left-wing views and notes that his personal relationship with DuBois was such that he could “normally obtain by asking” anything he wanted.
Glasser is in the subjcet of several June 1945 Venona cables. Three June 1945 transcripts report Glasser's transmitting U.S. State Department reports of Soviet war losses, a State Department report on a Finnish company believed to be hiding Nazi financial assets, and an Office of Strategic Services report on the movement of Nazi gold through Swiss banks.
SISS investigation
After the war he was economic adviser to the American delegation at the Council of Foreign Ministers meeting in Moscow in 1947 and economic adviser to the Treasury secretary at the board of governors meeting of the World Bank. In December 1947 at the time of his resignation, Glasser was assistant director of Treasury's Office of International Finance.
Glasser's promotions and job ratings throughout his career were determined by fellow Communists Frank Coe and William Ullmann promotions and job ratings were reviewed and backed by Harry Dexter White. Transcripts of Glasser's promotions and job rating forms signed by Coe, Ullmann, and White are in Interlocking Subversion in Government Departments Report.
Pavel Fitin later described as “valuable” the political and economic information Glasser passed along, all of which found its way into thirty-four special reports to Josef Stalin and other top Kremlin leaders. Glasser’s materials were “all of critical interest to the leadership of the USSR” because it included the contents of an Office of Strategic Services (OSS) memorandum about the economic consequences of stripping Germany of heavy industry an internal memorandum from the Department of the Treasury concerning conferences at State Department on postwar reparations and an internal memorandum by the Treasury Department concerning Lend-Lease policy toward the Soviet Union. A 4 June 1945 cable reports Glasser would be on the Treasury committee advising Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson, the U.S. prosecutor at the Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal.
Venona
Harold Glasser is referenced in the following decrypted Venona project cables:
Source
Whittaker Chambers, Witness (New York: Random House, 1952), p. 430
Allen Weinstein, Perjury, The Hiss-Chambers Case (New York: Random House, 1997), pgs. 326-327.
Fitin to Merkulov 25 April 1945, File #43072, Vol. 1, pp. 96-97, KGB Archives.
Allen Weinstein and Alexander Vassiliev, The Haunted Wood: Soviet Espionage in America—the Stalin Era (New York: Random House, 1999)
Interlocking Subversion in Government Departments,’ part 2, 81–82, 98–99.
John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr, Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America, Yale University Press (1999)
Harold Glasser joined the United States Department of Treasury in 1936 and became its assistant director of the Division of Monetary Research by late 1938. In 1937, J. Peters transferred Glasser to the Soviet Main Intelligence Directorate (Glavnoe Razvedyvatel'noe Upravlenie) or GRU in order to report on Harry Dexter White's cooperation with Soviet intelligence (Soviet case officer Boris Bykov had pressured Whittaker Chambers on the subject of White's intelligence production). Glasser, the number two man in the division beneath White, reported back that as far as he could discern, White was providing everything of importance.
In 1940, Glasser was appointed Chief American economic adviser to Ecuador through a joint program of the Treasury and U.S. Department of State. In December 1941, the Secret Service forwarded a report to Harry Dexter White indicating that it had evidence Glasser was involved in Communist activities. White never acted on the report. Glasser continued to serve in Ecuador until 1942.
After America became involved in World War II, Glasser received appointments to higher-level positions, such as Vice-Chairman of the War Production Board, was dispatched to serve as economic adviser to American forces in North Africa, U.S. Treasury representative to the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, and Treasury representative to the Allied High Commission in Italy.
Nikki Glasser Bio: Net Worth & Height
Nikki Glasser was born on 1 June 1984 in Ohio. Raised in a Catholic family, she embraces the mixed ethnicity of German and Irish. Nikki is very close to her parents, especially her father. She considers her father an inspiration who encouraged her to become the influential independent comedian that she is today.
The comedian completed her high school education from Kirkwood High School, in Missouri, and later went to the University of Kansas, where she attained a degree in English Literature.
Today, at the age of 34, Nikki stands at the tall height of 5 feet 9 inches (1.75 meters). Her body measurements show that she has an ideal body and weighs 57 kgs.
Nikki's actual net worth is not revealed to the public, but since she is a famous comedian, it can be estimated that she earns a hefty amount of money. Her salary is not disclosed to people because of her secretive nature, but it is sure that she makes impressive digits.
EcoMug History
The EcoMug concept was hatched in 2002 in Harold Glasser’s ENVS4100: Campus as a Living Learning Laboratory course. Students began by selling the mugs and working with local businesses to offer discounts, but the program did not achieve widespread adoption. After a few iterations the idea caught the attention of the Western Student Association (WSA), who funded the project until 2007. In 2009, WSA passed a resolution that all incoming students should be given EcoMugs which was supported by President Dunn, the Office of Business and Finance, the Division of Student Affairs, the Office of Academic Affairs, the Office of Community Outreach, and the WMU Bookstore. During the same school year new student researchers in Dr. Glasser's class conducted extensive quality control testing of over 60 types of reusable beverage containers. They loaded them in backpacks upside down to check for leaks, threw them down staircases in Wood Hall to test durability, and stared at them for hours seeking enlightenment. Ultimately 6,000 mugs were purchased and distribution began.
Since 2009 over 20,000 EcoMug have been distributed to students, faculty and staff. Incoming freshman, transfer students, and graduate students continue to qualify for free mugs, and all other members of the WMU community may purchase EcoMugs at a cost of $7.00 and EcoJugs for $5.00. Major distributions occur at events during fall welcome week. Day to day distribution happens at the Office for Sustainability.
In 2011 WMU began installing filtered, chilled water bottle filling stations in campus buildings. Office for Sustainability and Facilities Management have collaborated to install hydration stations in most major campus buildings. Paid for with the Sustainability Fee, the project is intended to offer students, faculty, and staff even more incentive to "lug your mug."
Author of 'How Democracies Die' reveals why the US is in worse shape than he thought
U.S. Senate and House members attend President Donald J. Trump address Thursday, Feb. 6, 2020 in the East Room of the White House, where the President responded to being acquitted in the U.S. Senate Impeachment Trial.
During the 2020 presidential race, a wide range of Donald Trump critics — including arch-conservative columnist/author Mona Charen (who worked in the Reagan White House) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a self-described "democratic socialist" — slammed Trump as dangerously authoritarian. They warned that U.S. democracy itself was on the line. Now-President Joe Biden won the election, but the threat of authoritarianism was evident when Trump tried to overturn the election results and a violent far-right mob attacked the U.S. Capitol Building on January 6. Four months into Biden's presidency, journalist Susan B. Glasser examines the state of American democracy this week in an article for The New Yorker — and she warns that there is a lot to be worried about.
"Far from embracing Biden's call for unity," Glasser explains, "Republicans remain in thrall to the divisive rants and election conspiracy theories of their defeated former president. As a result, Congress is at such a partisan impasse that it cannot even agree on a commission to investigate the January 6 attack by a pro-Trump mob on its own building."
Glasser notes that during Biden's 2020 campaign, he "carried around" a copy of the 2018 book "How Democracies Die" — which was written by Harvard University professors Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt and warned that authoritarianism was prevailing over liberal democracy in many countries. And Biden has stressed that the United States needs to set a positive example for the world by showing how well democracy can work. But many Republican Trump supporters, according to Glasser, are showing themselves to be overtly anti-democracy.
Glasser observes, "GOP-controlled state legislatures are passing measures that will make it harder for many Americans to vote…. Trump has been putting out the word that he plans to run for reelection in 2024 — and exulting in polls showing that a majority of Republicans continue to believe both his false claims of a fraudulent election and that nothing untoward happened on January 6. Needless to say, these are not the signs of a healthy democracy ready to combat the autocratic tyrants of the world."
Ziblatt, during a recent interview, told Glasser that he finds the political climate in the U.S. in 2021 to be "much more worrisome" than the warnings he gave when he wrote "How Democracies Die" with Levitsky three years ago. "Turns out, things are much worse than we expected," Ziblatt lamented.
The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed a bill calling for a commission to investigate the January 6 insurrection, but that bill hit a brick wall in the U.S. Senate when most GOP senators — clearly afraid of offending Trump — refused to support it. The six Republican senators who did vote in favor of the bill were Maine's Susan Collins, Utah's Mitt Romney, Nebraska's Ben Sasse, Alaska's Lisa Murkowski, Louisiana's Bill Cassidy and Ohio's Rob Portman.
The state of U.S. democracy is also addressed this week in an editorial from the Washington Post's editorial board, which calls out Trump supporters in state legislatures who are trying to punish secretaries of state who refused to help him overturn the election results in their states — including Georgia's Brad Raffensperger, a conservative Republican who is facing a primary challenge from far-right Rep. Jody Hice.
"Rep. Jody Hice (R-Ga.) is gunning to replace Mr. Raffensperger in Georgia, and he already has Mr. Trump's endorsement," the Post's editorial board explains. "Mr. Hice led House Republicans in voting against counting electoral votes from swing states that preferred Mr. Biden. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution revealed a letter Mr. Hice sent to Georgia conservatives claiming that the 2020 vote was rife with 'systemic voting irregularities and fraud' and that the 'back-stabbing' Mr. Raffensperger worked 'arm and arm with Stacey Abrams to deliver the presidency and Senate to the radical left.' These are absurd lies extensive investigation showed no fraud, and Mr. Raffensperger is a stern conservative who wanted Republicans to win — but simply refused to fix the system on behalf of Mr. Trump."
The Post's editorial board continues, "Mr. Hice is hardly the only threat to democracy. Politico points to candidates in Arizona, Nevada and Michigan running to take over the secretary of state's office in each key swing state…. Republicans of conscience must reject these extremists."