The father, grandfather and father-in-law of President Barack Obama's senior advisor, Valerie Jarrett, were under investigation by the FBI for alleged Communist ties during the 1950s, according to new documents obtained by Judicial Watch.
Jarrett's dad, Dr. James Bowman, a pathologist and geneticist, had "extensive ties to Communist associations and individuals," reports Judicial Watch, citing his lengthy FBI file obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request.
"In 1950 Bowman was in communication with a paid Soviet agent named Alfred Stern, who fled to Prague after getting charged with espionage. Bowman was also a member of a Communist-sympathizing group called the Association of Internes and Medical Students," according to Judicial Watch.
Following his discharge from the Army Medical Corps, Bowman then moved to Iran for work, which is where Jarrett was born.
Bowman's government files describe the Association of Internes and Medical Students as an organization that "has long been a faithful follower of the Communist Party line" and engages in unpatriotic activities.
"Bowman was born in Washington D.C. and had deep ties to Chicago, where he often collaborated with fellow Communists," Judicial Watch says, going on to describe documents from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management that show that the "FBI was brought in to investigate him for his membership in a group that 'follows the communist party line.'"
Separate FBI files obtained by the conservative government watchdog group document how Jarrett's father-in-law, Vernon Jarrett, was reportedly a Communist Party member working as a saboteur at various newspapers in Chicago. He was eventually fired from one of those papers for his Communist activities.
He also allegedly wrote propaganda for Communist front groups in Chicago, like the Progressive Party, which would "disseminate the Communist Party line among ... the middle class," Judicial Watch said. In the event of a conflict with the USSR, Vernon Jarrett, who was on the FBI's Security Index for a period of time, would've been arrested.
According to one confidential informant Judicial Watch spoke to, in 1946 at a Communist Party meeting, Vernon Jarrett was instructed by the party to get a member elected in Chicago's Second Ward.
