Figure 1.--.
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Figure 1.--. |
Widely publicized spy cases at the time added to the public concern about an internal Communist threat. Two of the most important involved involving Alger Hiss and Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. At the time the degree to which the Soviets had penetrated the Manhattan Project was not known. Only later were the Verona Intercepts lead to a fuller understanding of the Soviet spy network. Later Robert Oppenheimer himself came unders suspision. The Rosenbergs were not the most harmrful spys. There were others, including Klaus Fuchs who provided much more useful information. There is no doubt, however, Julius Rossenberg was a Soviet spy and was guilty of passing atomic secrets to the Soviets. While the Rosenbergs provided information of only limited value, they proved to be enormously effective in Soviet propaganda to condemn the United States. Rudolf Abel was the Soviet master spy in America during the Cold War. He operated under the name of William Fischer. He entered the United States in 1948 and set up an effective ring of agents. His primary assignment was nuclear weapons. He worked with both the Cohens and the Rosenbergs.
Rudolf Abel was the Soviet master spy in America during the Cold War. He operated under the name of William Fischer. He entered the United States in 1948 and set up an effective ring of agents. His primary assignment was nuclear weapons. He worked with both the Cohens and the Rosenbergs. His agents had infiltrated Los Alamos where the Manhattan Project had developed the atomic bombs. Most analysts believe that the information gathered by Abel had a major impact on the Soviet nuclear program. He also set up sabotage operations in the United States and Latin America. The FBI did not arrest him until June 1957, primarily using information provided Reino Hayhanen, a Soviet defector. Abel was sentenced to 30 years in prison, but was released in 1960, in exchange for the the American U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers, which the Soviets had shot down.
Joel Barr and Alfred Sarant are e forgotten members of the Rosenberg spy ring. They were never caught and arrested. They managed to elude the FBI and find refuge in the Soviet Union.
They played an important role in the development of modern Soviet technology. Nikita Khrushchev even built a new city--Zelenograd. This became the Soviet Union's Silicon Valley. They in effect helped found the Soviet microelectronics industry.
Klaus Fuchs was a German theoretical physicist. He was a refugee from the NAZIs taken in by the British. He was part of the British mission particupating in the Manhattan Project. He passed valuable documents to the Soviets throughout World War II.
The Verona Papers eventually led the FBI to Ted Hall. By all accounts the information on the Manhattan Project that he provided the Soviets was more valuable than that provuded by the Rosenbergs. Once the Soviet's tested their first atomic bomb, he refused to continue cooperating with Soviets further. He turned down Rudolf Abel's request for further information on American atmomic research. Feasring arrest, he moved to England and was never prosecuted.
One of the most prominent investigations was that of Alger Hiss.
One KGB plant began his career at age 9 in of all places an English private school. Many private schools were bastions of conservative thought. This was not the case of Dartington Hall. The school was founded by Leonard Elmhirst, an idealistic individual who dreamed of creating a utopian community with radical ideas about rural development and education. His marriage to the American railroad heiress and widow Dorothy Whitney gave him the money to actually experiment with his ideas. He bought the Dartngton Hall estate in South Devon after World War I. One author explains that the school provided "a heady atmosphere of sexual freedom and liberal thought". [Perry] Whitney's son Michael Straight arrived at the school at age 9 from America (1925). When Michael left school, seven of the 10 students are reported to have joined the Communist Party. This was at the time of first disilunionist following World War I, then the Depression and the rise of Hitler. Michael went on to Cambridge. Michael became a KGB plant in America. He was recruited by art historian Anthony Blunt. Notorious British spys like Kim Philby also came outof this inter-war environment. Srtraight went on to become a patron of none other than Elenor and Frankloin Roosevelt. He worked in the State Departmeht and edited The New Republic. His accomplishmentsd for the KGB are not readily apparent. One Australian author believes that he played a role in China's inrervention in Korea. [Perry] This is, however, speculative.
The most famous spy trial was that of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. At the time the degree to which the Soviets had penetrated the Manhattan Project was not known. Only later were the Verona Intercepts lead to a fuller understanding of the Soviet spy network. Later evem Robert Oppenheimer came under suspision. The Rosenbergs were not the most hamrful spys. There were others, including Klaus Fuchs who provided much more useful information to the Soviets. There is no doubt, however, Julius Rossenberg was a Soviet spy and was guilty of passing atomic secrets to the Soviets. The Rosenbergs and Greenglasses grew up in New York City's Lower Easr Side. Conditions there turned many to radical politics. Both Julius and Ethel became committed Communists. The Rossenbergs like many American Jews had also become despondent in the 1930s over the rise of the NAZIs and persecution of Jews. Many American Communists in the 1950s still viewed the Soviet Union as an utopian state. The Soviet role in World War II had gained them great prestige. The chilling horrors of the Gulag were not yet well known. Most Communists ignored the extent to which the Soviets cooperated with Hitler after the NAZI-Soviet Non-Agression Pact and the Soviet aggressions in 1939-41. Ethel had little to do with the spying, but she almost certainly knew about it. The Government hoped to force Julus to talk by threatening to execute her as well. The trial was held in 1951. Concerned that they had no real evidence on Ethel, the Government induced of all people her brother, David Greenglass, to testify falsely against her in exchange for lenient treatment for him and his wife. Greenglass had actually stole the material that Julius passed on to the Soviets. The Government believed incorrectly that Julius headed a major spy ring. [Roberts] While this was not true, he could have led the FBI to Rudolf Abel who did run a major spy ring. In the end, neither Julius or Ethel talked and they were executed, leaving their two boys orphans. Years after the trial, Greenglass resurfaced for a television interview. There was not an ounce of remorse for what he had done to his sister. While the Rosenbergs provided information of only limited value, they proved to be enormously effective in Soviet propaganda to condemn the United States. Many on the left were convinced that the Rosenbergs were innocent. One leftist activist, Ronald Radosh, a Red Diapper baby, wrote a book making a case for Julius' guilt. [Radosh] He was vilified by the Left because of the lingering sympathy for them as martyrs for the cause. Radosh subsequently became a right-wing supporter for the Contras in Nicaragua and apologist for Franco. After the fall of the Soviet Union, information from KGB archieves left little doubt that Julius was guilty. There is still no indication that Ethel was an active conspirator.
Harry Dexter White was one of the higest placed Sovier agents in the American Government. White was Teeasury Secretary Morgenthau's deputy. His identity came to light in the Verona transcripts. White's 1938 assessment of U.S. policy toward Japan was among the documents found in the pumkin on Whittiker Chamber's farm. Nathan Silvermaster's ring of spys presented documents from White to Red Spy Queen Elizabeth Bentley. White is known to have used his position to advance Soviet interests. He helped to delay American assistance to Chaing Kai-shek during World War in violation of Morgenthau's instructions. He had a major role in drafting the Morgenthau Plan to essentually pastroalize Germany after the War. After the defeat of Germany, he helped get the Soviets plates of the occupation currency from which they printed $380 million in marks. White was, however, never procecuted. He died of a hear attack 3 days after testifying before the House Un-American Affairs Committee (August 16, 1948). [Craig]
American journalists in the aftermath of 9-11 have decided that America needs more human intelligence rather than technology. Most ignore or more likely fail to understand than there are rare instances in history in which beligerants have penetrated the opponents inner circle. The Allies fought both World Wars without doing so and most of the Cold war as well. (The 1980s as the Soviet Union egan to unravel is a little different.) The Germans in both World Wars also failed to do so. The one exception was the Soviet Union's success in running spy rings in America, Britain, Germany, and Japan. They were very effective, but the reason for their success lies in the peculiar circumstances of the World War II era. Liberal thinkers were apauled by World War I. The Depression brought the capitalist sociities and governing class in further disrepute. At the time the attrocities of the Soviet state were not well understood in the West. The failure of the democracies to confront Hitler in the 1930s convinced many that they had to help the Soviet Union who at the time seemed to be the only state confronting Hitler. Many of these people raionalized Salin's Pact with Hitler (1939). During the War they felt it important to get Americam military secrets to Soviets who were bearing the brunt of the fighting against Hitler. The nexus of circumstances that led to the Americans spying for the Soviets was very unusual and rarely repeated in the history of espionage. The Soviets did score some successes later in the Cold War, but it was not the ideologically motivated spies of the World war II era. Rather the Soviets turned to the more common method of finding isolated individuals willing to sell secrets.
Coulter, Ann. Treason: Liberal Treachery from the Cold War to the War on Terrorism (Crown Forum, 2003), 355p.
Craig, R. Bruce. Trasonable Dought: The Harryc Dexter White Spy Case (University of Kansas Press, 2004), 2004), 436p. Craig's account is generally fact-based. One glaring error is the assertion that White did not hire other Communists and help others get sensitive Government posts. We differ on his assessments of what White did. Craig asserts that White was an horable man, convinced of the superority of the Soviet system. The emensity of Soviet crimes against humanity were not as well known in the 1940s, but there was enough known to question the attributes of the Soviet system.
Perry, Roland. Last of the Cold War Spies: The Life of Michael Straight, the Only American in Britain's Cambridge Spy Ring (Da Capo, 2005), 395p.
Radosh, Ronald. The Rosenberg File (1983). Radosh, a committed Communist at the time, began his reserach in the 1970s thinking he could make a case for the Rosenberg's innonsence. He found that Julius was in fact guilty.
Roberts, Sam The Brother: The Untoldstory of Atomic Spy David Greenglass and How He Sent His Sister, Ethel Rosenberg, to the Electric Chair (Random House, 2001), 543p.
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