[4] Following his graduation in 1932, Lash went to work for the League for Industrial Democracy (LID), an independent socialist organization closely tied to the SPA.

About 1937 Lash went to Spain but did not participate in the fighting, preferring to speak to youth groups in an effort to help rally support for the Loyalist cause.

[3] The Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact of August 23, 1939, deeply shook Lash's growing leanings towards the Communist Party, causing him to resign as executive secretary of the American Student Union.

Lash was a hostile witness on November 11, refusing to cooperate with the committee in its effort to obtain the names of members of the Communist Party and to expound upon their influence.

[4] After boarding a train at Pennsylvania Station to attend the hearing, Lash met First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, becoming lifelong friends.

[3] In 1942 at his own request, Lash made a second appearance before the Dies Committee, at which he renounced his former Communist Party allies, while at the same time refusing to provide information about individuals with whom he worked during the Popular Front period.

[4] Lash applied for a commission with Naval Intelligence during World War II but was apparently turned away as a potential security risk.

Lash accepted this offer with gusto, quit his job at the Post, and began a five-year project which would culminate in the publication of the first installment of a two-part biography, Eleanor and Franklin.

[citation needed] During his lifetime Lash's books were translated into a number of European languages, including German, French, Spanish, Swedish, Danish, and Croatian.