George Howard Earle III

George Howard Earle III (December 5, 1890–December 30, 1974) was an American politician. He served as the governor of Pennsylvania from 15 January 1935 to 17 January 1939.

In 1943, when Earle was a United States Navy Lieutenant Commander and the President's special emissary to the Balkans, he presented a plan to President of the United States Franklin D. Roosevelt that Earle believed might end the war in Europe early. The German ambassador and the head of the German secret service secretly proposed to Earle that German troops could surround Hitler’s headquarters and turn Hitler over to the Allies as a war criminal. German troops then would be repositioned to defend against the Russian military. The plot was never approved.

In 1944, FDR assigned Earle to compile information on the Katyń massacre, the massacre of the Polish intelligentsia by the Soviet government. Earle did so, using contacts in Bulgaria and Romania, and concluded that the Soviet Union was guilty.

After consulting with Elmer Davis, the director of the Office of War Information, Roosevelt rejected Earle's conclusion, saying that he was convinced of the responsibility of Nazi Germany, and ordered Earle's report suppressed. When Earle formally requested permission to publish his findings, the President gave him a written order to desist. Earle was reassigned and spent the rest of World War II in American Samoa.