She is known for her testimony before US Senator Joseph McCarthy about dismissal from government service, defending Abraham Lincoln, reading a favorable review of Whittaker Chambers' 1952 memoir Witness, and refusing to live with her supervisor in a commune.
"[6] Senate subcommittee chairman Joseph McCarthy refused to let her relate details about a proposition received from Troup Mathews, acting head of the VOA's French section.
[1] Lenkeith testified that she was "sort of stunned" when Mathews suggested it "could be arranged" or "worked out" for her to have children with no husband.
[3] In New York, Mathews, a decorated World War II veteran, denounced her testimony "a tissue of fabrication.
[8] Nancy Lenkeith Horneffer died age 93 near Washington, D.C. and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.