Frederick Vanderbilt Field, who supported Communist causes in the 1930's through 1950's and was once described as ''the Reds' pet blueblood,'' died Feb. 1 at the Walker Methodist Health Center in Minneapolis. A great-great-grandson of Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt and a descendant of several other prestigious American families, he was 94 and had lived in Minneapolis for almost two decades.
Mr. Field first ventured into politics when he offered his services to the Democratic Party after returning to the United States from a year at the London School of Economics. He had previously been interested in socialist ideas, and when he discovered that Democratic Party leaders were not in a great hurry to change society, he drifted further in socialism's direction.
He began to proclaim the gospel of socialism at every opportunity and made a number of street-corner speeches, although he later said they were not very good.
He first publicly proclaimed his adherence to the socialist cause in 1928, when he announced that he intended to vote for Norman Thomas, the Socialist Party candidate for president. He was cut off without a penny by Frederick Vanderbilt, his great-uncle, for whom he had been named. Frederick Vanderbilt, who had no children, had earlier said he would leave his fortune, estimated at more than $70 million Depression-era dollars, to his namesake.
Socialism paled within a half-dozen years for Mr. Field, who termed it ''a splendid shell of an idea without anything important growing inside it.'' His disillusionment moved him further to the left.
After his return from London, he also went to work for the Institute of Pacific Relations, a federation of 10 national councils working to solve the problems of the Pacific area. The organization was considered respectable throughout most of the 1930's, but the Soviet Union became increasingly influential after joining in 1931, and when Congressional investigators began searching for Communists after World War II, the institute was represented as an umbrella for subversives. Mr. Field remained with the organization until 1940 and was on its board until 1947.
In the 40's, Mr. Field was an organizer and executive secretary of the American Peace Mobilization, an organization with ties to the Soviet Union that was dedicated to keeping the United States from entering the war. In 1941 the group picketed the White House for more than 1,000 hours. The picketing ended suddenly when Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union.
One of Mr. Field's sisters said that until the early 40's he had considered himself as good an American as anyone else. When the United States entered the war, he tried to get a commission in Army intelligence but was turned down as a security risk. That rejection, his sister said, was the final straw.
He became dedicated to Communism, although whether he joined the party was never known. He did acknowledge in 1951 that he had been an unpaid, registered agent for four companies in Communist China.
In a 1951 Life magazine article, Mr. Field tried to explain his political philosophy. ''Understanding your own motives is one of the most obscure pursuits in the world,'' he said. ''I'm not terribly interested in introspection but I do have deep convictions.''
He said it was possible that if he had had a job to lose, he might have done things differently. But, he added, ''I've really had nothing to lose.'' He picketed and entertained for the Communist Party, but his most important contributions were, as he was not unaware, his prestigious name and his financial generosity.
In 1951, as secretary of the bail fund of the Civil Rights Congress -- an organization designated a Communist front by the attorney general -- he was convicted of contempt of court for refusing to reveal who had put up bond for four Communists who had jumped bail. He was sentenced to 90 days in jail and served two months.
Two years later, Mr. Field moved to Mexico, where he took up archaeology. He remained there until 1982, when he returned to the United States.
Mr. Field was born on April 13, 1905. His father was William Osgood Field, a descendant of Samuel Osgood, the country's first postmaster general, and Cyrus Field, who was responsible for laying the first trans-Atlantic cable. His mother was Lila Vanderbilt Sloane. His parents' 1902 wedding involved a special train that transported family members and friends to the ceremony in Lenox, Mass., and four detectives to guard the car that carried the wedding gifts, estimated to be worth $1 million, back to Manhattan.
Mr. Field, his brother and his two sisters were raised with every luxury. In his autobiography, ''From Right to Left,'' published in 1983, Mr. Field, writing of himself in the third person, said he had grown up ''surrounded by servants who did everything for him but sneeze.''
After graduating from the Hotchkiss School in 1923, Mr. Field entered Harvard, where he was a member of Hasty Pudding and an editor of The Crimson. He graduated from Harvard in 1927 and went on to the London School of Economics, where he came under the influence of the socialist Harold Laski.
Mr. Field is survived by his fourth wife, the former Nieves Orozco, who had been a favorite model of Diego Rivera and whom he married in Mexico in 1958. Three earlier marriages ended in divorce. He was married to Elizabeth Brown in 1929 and, three years after his 1935 divorce, to Edith Chamberlain Hunter. That marriage ended in 1949, and four months later he married Anita Boyer, whose first husband, Dr. Raymond Boyer, was convicted in Canada as part of a Russian spy plot.
Survivors also include four daughters, Lila Field Jacob of Minneapolis, Nievska Gonzales of Cuernevaca, Mexico, and Princeton, N.J., Federika Field of Mexico City and Xochitl Field of Minneapolis; 12 grandchildren; 16 great-grandchildren; and a sister, Mary Jackson of Milton, Mass.
Mr. Field, considered a maverick most of his life, never bowed to public or political pressure or to ostracism by his peers.
''You can get stinking drunk at the Stork Club every night and still be held in the highest esteem,'' Life magazine quoted him as saying in 1951, ''but if you write or even believe anything different, then you're a traitor to your class.''
(The New York Times, Feb 7, 2000)
Mr. Field first ventured into politics when he offered his services to the Democratic Party after returning to the United States from a year at the London School of Economics. He had previously been interested in socialist ideas, and when he discovered that Democratic Party leaders were not in a great hurry to change society, he drifted further in socialism's direction.
He began to proclaim the gospel of socialism at every opportunity and made a number of street-corner speeches, although he later said they were not very good.
He first publicly proclaimed his adherence to the socialist cause in 1928, when he announced that he intended to vote for Norman Thomas, the Socialist Party candidate for president. He was cut off without a penny by Frederick Vanderbilt, his great-uncle, for whom he had been named. Frederick Vanderbilt, who had no children, had earlier said he would leave his fortune, estimated at more than $70 million Depression-era dollars, to his namesake.
Socialism paled within a half-dozen years for Mr. Field, who termed it ''a splendid shell of an idea without anything important growing inside it.'' His disillusionment moved him further to the left.
After his return from London, he also went to work for the Institute of Pacific Relations, a federation of 10 national councils working to solve the problems of the Pacific area. The organization was considered respectable throughout most of the 1930's, but the Soviet Union became increasingly influential after joining in 1931, and when Congressional investigators began searching for Communists after World War II, the institute was represented as an umbrella for subversives. Mr. Field remained with the organization until 1940 and was on its board until 1947.
In the 40's, Mr. Field was an organizer and executive secretary of the American Peace Mobilization, an organization with ties to the Soviet Union that was dedicated to keeping the United States from entering the war. In 1941 the group picketed the White House for more than 1,000 hours. The picketing ended suddenly when Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union.
One of Mr. Field's sisters said that until the early 40's he had considered himself as good an American as anyone else. When the United States entered the war, he tried to get a commission in Army intelligence but was turned down as a security risk. That rejection, his sister said, was the final straw.
He became dedicated to Communism, although whether he joined the party was never known. He did acknowledge in 1951 that he had been an unpaid, registered agent for four companies in Communist China.
In a 1951 Life magazine article, Mr. Field tried to explain his political philosophy. ''Understanding your own motives is one of the most obscure pursuits in the world,'' he said. ''I'm not terribly interested in introspection but I do have deep convictions.''
He said it was possible that if he had had a job to lose, he might have done things differently. But, he added, ''I've really had nothing to lose.'' He picketed and entertained for the Communist Party, but his most important contributions were, as he was not unaware, his prestigious name and his financial generosity.
In 1951, as secretary of the bail fund of the Civil Rights Congress -- an organization designated a Communist front by the attorney general -- he was convicted of contempt of court for refusing to reveal who had put up bond for four Communists who had jumped bail. He was sentenced to 90 days in jail and served two months.
Two years later, Mr. Field moved to Mexico, where he took up archaeology. He remained there until 1982, when he returned to the United States.
Mr. Field was born on April 13, 1905. His father was William Osgood Field, a descendant of Samuel Osgood, the country's first postmaster general, and Cyrus Field, who was responsible for laying the first trans-Atlantic cable. His mother was Lila Vanderbilt Sloane. His parents' 1902 wedding involved a special train that transported family members and friends to the ceremony in Lenox, Mass., and four detectives to guard the car that carried the wedding gifts, estimated to be worth $1 million, back to Manhattan.
Mr. Field, his brother and his two sisters were raised with every luxury. In his autobiography, ''From Right to Left,'' published in 1983, Mr. Field, writing of himself in the third person, said he had grown up ''surrounded by servants who did everything for him but sneeze.''
After graduating from the Hotchkiss School in 1923, Mr. Field entered Harvard, where he was a member of Hasty Pudding and an editor of The Crimson. He graduated from Harvard in 1927 and went on to the London School of Economics, where he came under the influence of the socialist Harold Laski.
Mr. Field is survived by his fourth wife, the former Nieves Orozco, who had been a favorite model of Diego Rivera and whom he married in Mexico in 1958. Three earlier marriages ended in divorce. He was married to Elizabeth Brown in 1929 and, three years after his 1935 divorce, to Edith Chamberlain Hunter. That marriage ended in 1949, and four months later he married Anita Boyer, whose first husband, Dr. Raymond Boyer, was convicted in Canada as part of a Russian spy plot.
Survivors also include four daughters, Lila Field Jacob of Minneapolis, Nievska Gonzales of Cuernevaca, Mexico, and Princeton, N.J., Federika Field of Mexico City and Xochitl Field of Minneapolis; 12 grandchildren; 16 great-grandchildren; and a sister, Mary Jackson of Milton, Mass.
Mr. Field, considered a maverick most of his life, never bowed to public or political pressure or to ostracism by his peers.
''You can get stinking drunk at the Stork Club every night and still be held in the highest esteem,'' Life magazine quoted him as saying in 1951, ''but if you write or even believe anything different, then you're a traitor to your class.''
(The New York Times, Feb 7, 2000)
Frederick Vanderbilt Field, who supported Communist causes in the 1930's through 1950's and was once described as ''the Reds' pet blueblood,'' died Feb. 1 at the Walker Methodist Health Center in Minneapolis. A great-great-grandson of Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt and a descendant of several other prestigious American families, he was 94 and had lived in Minneapolis for almost two decades.
Mr. Field first ventured into politics when he offered his services to the Democratic Party after returning to the United States from a year at the London School of Economics. He had previously been interested in socialist ideas, and when he discovered that Democratic Party leaders were not in a great hurry to change society, he drifted further in socialism's direction.
He began to proclaim the gospel of socialism at every opportunity and made a number of street-corner speeches, although he later said they were not very good.
He first publicly proclaimed his adherence to the socialist cause in 1928, when he announced that he intended to vote for Norman Thomas, the Socialist Party candidate for president. He was cut off without a penny by Frederick Vanderbilt, his great-uncle, for whom he had been named. Frederick Vanderbilt, who had no children, had earlier said he would leave his fortune, estimated at more than $70 million Depression-era dollars, to his namesake.
Socialism paled within a half-dozen years for Mr. Field, who termed it ''a splendid shell of an idea without anything important growing inside it.'' His disillusionment moved him further to the left.
After his return from London, he also went to work for the Institute of Pacific Relations, a federation of 10 national councils working to solve the problems of the Pacific area. The organization was considered respectable throughout most of the 1930's, but the Soviet Union became increasingly influential after joining in 1931, and when Congressional investigators began searching for Communists after World War II, the institute was represented as an umbrella for subversives. Mr. Field remained with the organization until 1940 and was on its board until 1947.
In the 40's, Mr. Field was an organizer and executive secretary of the American Peace Mobilization, an organization with ties to the Soviet Union that was dedicated to keeping the United States from entering the war. In 1941 the group picketed the White House for more than 1,000 hours. The picketing ended suddenly when Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union.
One of Mr. Field's sisters said that until the early 40's he had considered himself as good an American as anyone else. When the United States entered the war, he tried to get a commission in Army intelligence but was turned down as a security risk. That rejection, his sister said, was the final straw.
He became dedicated to Communism, although whether he joined the party was never known. He did acknowledge in 1951 that he had been an unpaid, registered agent for four companies in Communist China.
In a 1951 Life magazine article, Mr. Field tried to explain his political philosophy. ''Understanding your own motives is one of the most obscure pursuits in the world,'' he said. ''I'm not terribly interested in introspection but I do have deep convictions.''
He said it was possible that if he had had a job to lose, he might have done things differently. But, he added, ''I've really had nothing to lose.'' He picketed and entertained for the Communist Party, but his most important contributions were, as he was not unaware, his prestigious name and his financial generosity.
In 1951, as secretary of the bail fund of the Civil Rights Congress -- an organization designated a Communist front by the attorney general -- he was convicted of contempt of court for refusing to reveal who had put up bond for four Communists who had jumped bail. He was sentenced to 90 days in jail and served two months.
Two years later, Mr. Field moved to Mexico, where he took up archaeology. He remained there until 1982, when he returned to the United States.
Mr. Field was born on April 13, 1905. His father was William Osgood Field, a descendant of Samuel Osgood, the country's first postmaster general, and Cyrus Field, who was responsible for laying the first trans-Atlantic cable. His mother was Lila Vanderbilt Sloane. His parents' 1902 wedding involved a special train that transported family members and friends to the ceremony in Lenox, Mass., and four detectives to guard the car that carried the wedding gifts, estimated to be worth $1 million, back to Manhattan.
Mr. Field, his brother and his two sisters were raised with every luxury. In his autobiography, ''From Right to Left,'' published in 1983, Mr. Field, writing of himself in the third person, said he had grown up ''surrounded by servants who did everything for him but sneeze.''
After graduating from the Hotchkiss School in 1923, Mr. Field entered Harvard, where he was a member of Hasty Pudding and an editor of The Crimson. He graduated from Harvard in 1927 and went on to the London School of Economics, where he came under the influence of the socialist Harold Laski.
Mr. Field is survived by his fourth wife, the former Nieves Orozco, who had been a favorite model of Diego Rivera and whom he married in Mexico in 1958. Three earlier marriages ended in divorce. He was married to Elizabeth Brown in 1929 and, three years after his 1935 divorce, to Edith Chamberlain Hunter. That marriage ended in 1949, and four months later he married Anita Boyer, whose first husband, Dr. Raymond Boyer, was convicted in Canada as part of a Russian spy plot.
Survivors also include four daughters, Lila Field Jacob of Minneapolis, Nievska Gonzales of Cuernevaca, Mexico, and Princeton, N.J., Federika Field of Mexico City and Xochitl Field of Minneapolis; 12 grandchildren; 16 great-grandchildren; and a sister, Mary Jackson of Milton, Mass.
Mr. Field, considered a maverick most of his life, never bowed to public or political pressure or to ostracism by his peers.
''You can get stinking drunk at the Stork Club every night and still be held in the highest esteem,'' Life magazine quoted him as saying in 1951, ''but if you write or even believe anything different, then you're a traitor to your class.''
(The New York Times, Feb 7, 2000)
Mr. Field first ventured into politics when he offered his services to the Democratic Party after returning to the United States from a year at the London School of Economics. He had previously been interested in socialist ideas, and when he discovered that Democratic Party leaders were not in a great hurry to change society, he drifted further in socialism's direction.
He began to proclaim the gospel of socialism at every opportunity and made a number of street-corner speeches, although he later said they were not very good.
He first publicly proclaimed his adherence to the socialist cause in 1928, when he announced that he intended to vote for Norman Thomas, the Socialist Party candidate for president. He was cut off without a penny by Frederick Vanderbilt, his great-uncle, for whom he had been named. Frederick Vanderbilt, who had no children, had earlier said he would leave his fortune, estimated at more than $70 million Depression-era dollars, to his namesake.
Socialism paled within a half-dozen years for Mr. Field, who termed it ''a splendid shell of an idea without anything important growing inside it.'' His disillusionment moved him further to the left.
After his return from London, he also went to work for the Institute of Pacific Relations, a federation of 10 national councils working to solve the problems of the Pacific area. The organization was considered respectable throughout most of the 1930's, but the Soviet Union became increasingly influential after joining in 1931, and when Congressional investigators began searching for Communists after World War II, the institute was represented as an umbrella for subversives. Mr. Field remained with the organization until 1940 and was on its board until 1947.
In the 40's, Mr. Field was an organizer and executive secretary of the American Peace Mobilization, an organization with ties to the Soviet Union that was dedicated to keeping the United States from entering the war. In 1941 the group picketed the White House for more than 1,000 hours. The picketing ended suddenly when Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union.
One of Mr. Field's sisters said that until the early 40's he had considered himself as good an American as anyone else. When the United States entered the war, he tried to get a commission in Army intelligence but was turned down as a security risk. That rejection, his sister said, was the final straw.
He became dedicated to Communism, although whether he joined the party was never known. He did acknowledge in 1951 that he had been an unpaid, registered agent for four companies in Communist China.
In a 1951 Life magazine article, Mr. Field tried to explain his political philosophy. ''Understanding your own motives is one of the most obscure pursuits in the world,'' he said. ''I'm not terribly interested in introspection but I do have deep convictions.''
He said it was possible that if he had had a job to lose, he might have done things differently. But, he added, ''I've really had nothing to lose.'' He picketed and entertained for the Communist Party, but his most important contributions were, as he was not unaware, his prestigious name and his financial generosity.
In 1951, as secretary of the bail fund of the Civil Rights Congress -- an organization designated a Communist front by the attorney general -- he was convicted of contempt of court for refusing to reveal who had put up bond for four Communists who had jumped bail. He was sentenced to 90 days in jail and served two months.
Two years later, Mr. Field moved to Mexico, where he took up archaeology. He remained there until 1982, when he returned to the United States.
Mr. Field was born on April 13, 1905. His father was William Osgood Field, a descendant of Samuel Osgood, the country's first postmaster general, and Cyrus Field, who was responsible for laying the first trans-Atlantic cable. His mother was Lila Vanderbilt Sloane. His parents' 1902 wedding involved a special train that transported family members and friends to the ceremony in Lenox, Mass., and four detectives to guard the car that carried the wedding gifts, estimated to be worth $1 million, back to Manhattan.
Mr. Field, his brother and his two sisters were raised with every luxury. In his autobiography, ''From Right to Left,'' published in 1983, Mr. Field, writing of himself in the third person, said he had grown up ''surrounded by servants who did everything for him but sneeze.''
After graduating from the Hotchkiss School in 1923, Mr. Field entered Harvard, where he was a member of Hasty Pudding and an editor of The Crimson. He graduated from Harvard in 1927 and went on to the London School of Economics, where he came under the influence of the socialist Harold Laski.
Mr. Field is survived by his fourth wife, the former Nieves Orozco, who had been a favorite model of Diego Rivera and whom he married in Mexico in 1958. Three earlier marriages ended in divorce. He was married to Elizabeth Brown in 1929 and, three years after his 1935 divorce, to Edith Chamberlain Hunter. That marriage ended in 1949, and four months later he married Anita Boyer, whose first husband, Dr. Raymond Boyer, was convicted in Canada as part of a Russian spy plot.
Survivors also include four daughters, Lila Field Jacob of Minneapolis, Nievska Gonzales of Cuernevaca, Mexico, and Princeton, N.J., Federika Field of Mexico City and Xochitl Field of Minneapolis; 12 grandchildren; 16 great-grandchildren; and a sister, Mary Jackson of Milton, Mass.
Mr. Field, considered a maverick most of his life, never bowed to public or political pressure or to ostracism by his peers.
''You can get stinking drunk at the Stork Club every night and still be held in the highest esteem,'' Life magazine quoted him as saying in 1951, ''but if you write or even believe anything different, then you're a traitor to your class.''
(The New York Times, Feb 7, 2000)
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