Read Spies: The Rise and Fall of the KGB in America Online
Authors: Harvey Klehr;John Earl Haynes;Alexander Vassiliev
50. David P. Hornstein, Arthur Ewert: A Life for the Comintern (Lanham, MD:
University Press of America, 1993), 200-202, 207, 267-77; Fernando Morais, Olga,
trans. Ellen Watson (New York: Grove Weidenfeld, i99o), 56, 61-62, 65, 82, 94,
io8-ii, 123-24, 129-33.
51. "Report by `Nord' regarding the trip to `19,"' circa 1936, KGB file 36857,
v.1, p. 30, Vassiliev, Yellow #2, 6-7. Whittaker Chambers testimony, 28 December
1948, U.S. House Committee on Un-American Activities, unpublished executive session testimony; Sam Tanenhaus, Whittaker Chambers: A Biography (New York: Random House, 1997), 334.
52. "Report by `Nord' regarding the trip to `19,"' circa 1936, KGB file 36857,
v.1, p. 30, Vassiliev, Yellow #2, 6-7.
53. "Report by `Granite,"' 8 March 1948, KGB file 36857, v.1, pp. 258-61, Vassiliev, Yellow #2, 34-35.
54. KGB New York to Moscow Center, 8 September 1936; Grafpen to Slutsky,
25 September 1936; Moscow Center to "Nord," 14 November 1936, KGB file 36857,
v.1, pp. 36-37, 40, 46, Vassiliev, Yellow #2, 8-g.
55. KGB New York to Moscow Center, 8 September 1936; "Excerpted letters
from `Nord' from February 1937"; "Nord" report, 18 December 1936; "Granite" report on meeting with Duggan, 12 October 1936; "Nord" report with attached annotation by the chief of the INO, 1g December 1936, KGB file 36857, v.1, pp. 37-38,
43-44, 53-54, 6o, Vassiliev, Yellow #2, 8-9, 10-12.
56. "Nord" to Moscow Center, i June 1937, KGB file 36857, v.1, p. 71-72, Vassiliev, Yellow #2, 14.
57. Moscow Center to "Nord," 14 May 1937; "On the meeting between Granite
and 1g," 29 May 1937, KGB file 36857, v.1, pp. 67-70, Vassiliev, Yellow #2, 13-14.
58. "Jung" to Moscow Center, 15 August 1937, KGB file 36857, v.i, p. 86, Vassiliev, Yellow #2, 18. Report from "ig," circa 1937; "People's Commissar of Internal
Affairs Yezhov sent," 14 May 1937; report on "Carp Export and Import Corporation," circa 1937, KGB file 3587, v.2, pp. 185, 192, 199, 202, 240, Vassiliev, Yellow
#2, 38. "Recent trends in German competition," 5 July 1938; "Memorandum on Italian," November 1938, KGB file 3587, v.7, pp. 36, 154, Vassiliev, Yellow #2, 39.
59. "Jung" to Moscow Center, 5 July 1937; "Granite" report on meeting Duggan,
2 July 1937; "Jung" to Moscow Center, 10 July 1937, KGB file 36857, v.1, pp. 74-77,
8o, Vassiliev, Yellow #2, 14-17.
6o. Part of the text of Poretsky's letter to Stalin is in Gary Kern, A Death in
Washington: Walter G. Krivitsky and the Stalin Terror (New York: Enigma Books,
2003), 128-29. Also see Elisabeth K. Poretsky, Our Own People: A Memoir of
"Ignace Reiss" and His Friends (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1970).
Chambers discussed the influence of Poyntz, Poretsky (Riess), and Krivitsky on his
decision to defect in Witness, pp. 36, 47, 59, 204, 439, 457-63.
61. "Jung" to Moscow Center, 15 August 1937, KGB file 36857, v.1, p. 84, Vassiliev, Yellow #2, 18.
62. Noel Field statement of 23 September 1954, Noel Field material, Hungarian Historical Institute Archive, quoted in Maria Schmidt, Battle of Wits-Beliefs,
Ideologies and Secret Agents in the 20th Century (Budapest: XX. Szazad Intezet,
2007), 119-20; Maria Schmidt, "Noel Field-The American Communist at the Center of Stalin's East European Purge: From the Hungarian Archives," American Communist History 3,110.2 (December 2004): 231.
63. Moscow Center to "Jung," ii September 1937, KGB file 36857, v.1, p. 87,
Vassiliev, Yellow #2, 18.
64. Poretsky, Our Own People; "Sergey," "Work in illegal conditions," circa 1944,
KGB file 35112, v.8, p. 233, Vassiliev, White #1, 61; Les crimes du Guepeou: Documents stir les assassinats d'Ignace Reiss et de Rudolf Klement (Paris: Centre d'etudes
et de recherches sur les mouvements trotskyste et revolutionnaires internationaux, 1985); Moscow Center to "Jung," ii September 1937, KGB file 36857, v. i, pp. 8788, Vassiliev, Yellow #2, 18-19.
65. "June" to Moscow Center, 25 September 1937, KGB file 36857, v.1, pp. 9093, Vassiliev, Yellow #2, 19-20.
66. Moscow Center to "Jung," 23 October 1937, KGB file 36857, v.1, p. 97, Vassiliev, Yellow #2, 21.
67. "Jung" to Moscow Center, 9 November 1937, KGB file 36857, v.1, p. 99,
Vassiliev, Yellow #2, 21. Technically, Lowry was Browder's half-niece, the daughter
of Bessie Browder Lowry, his half-sister.
68. "Jung" report, 2 December 1937; "Jung" report, 7 January 1938; "Jung" report on Duggan meeting, 3 January 1938, KGB file 36857, v.1, pp. 100-102, Vassiliev, Yellow #2, 21.
69. "Jung" to Moscow Center, 7 March 1938, KGB file 36857, v.1, pp. 1o8-g,
Vassiliev, Yellow #2, 22-23.
70. "Jung" to Moscow Center, 28 June 1938; "Jung did not meet," KGB file
36857, v. i, pp. 114, 116, Vassiliev, Yellow #2, 23. Additional reports about material
Duggan delivered in 1938 and 1939 in Vassiliev, Yellow #2, 23-25.
71. "Jtmg" to Moscow Center, 5 October 1939, KGB file 36857, v.1, p. 152, Vassiliev, Yellow #2, 25. Adolf Berle, "Underground Espionage Agent [Transcription of
Berle's notes of 2 September 1939 interview with Whittaker Chambers]," in U.S.
Senate Internal Security Subcommittee, Interlocking Subversion in Government De-
partntents [Hearings] (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Govt. Print. Off., 1953), part 6,
PP. 329-30. The other six were Alger and Donald Hiss, Julian Wadleigh, Noel Field
(who by that time had left DOS for the League of Nations), Leander Lovell, and
Richard Post. Adolf Augustus Berle, Navigating the Rapids, 1918-1971: From the
Papers of Adolf A. Berle, ed. Beatrice Bishop Berle and Travis Beal Jacobs (New
York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1973), 249-50.
72. "Jung" to Moscow Center, 5 October 1939, KGB file 36857, v.1, pp. 156-58,
Vassiliev, Yellow #2, 25-26; Moscow Center to Gennady, 9 November 1939, KGB
file 35112, v.5a, pp. 395-96, Vassiliev, Black, 161.
73. Moscow Center to KGB New York, ii April 1940; "Jung" to Moscow Center, 1 December 1938, KGB file 36857, V.1, pp. 134, 161, Vassiliev, Yellow #2, 24, z6.
74. "Glan called ig," zi October 1940; "He called again," 4 November 1940;
"Information (evidently November 1940) from a report from Center," KGB file
36857, v.1, pp. 167-68, Vassiliev, Yellow #2, 27. "Hull Aide Stresses Hemisphere
Unity," New York Times, 3 November 1940.
75. Report by "Glan," November 1940, KGB file 36857, v.1, pp. 170-78, Vassiliev, Yellow #2, 27-28.
76. Moscow Center to "Maxim," 27 November 1941; Moscow Center to "Maxim,"
1o January 1942, KGB file 35112, v.6, pp. 10, 95-96, Vassiliev, White #1, 31-33•
77. KGB New York to Moscow Center, 25 February 1942; "Mer" to Moscow
Center, 17 November 1942, KGB file 36857, v.1, pp. 185, 193, Vassiliev, Yellow #2,
28-29. "Polit. and dip. line of work (Plan)," 6 April 1942, KGB file 43173, v. i, p. 8a,
Vassiliev, Black, 43. "Mer's letters to C. through Zarubin," 29 July 1942, KGB file
35112, v.7, p. io6, Vassiliev, White #1, 45.
78. Moscow Center to "Mer," 26 November 1942; "`Granite's' letter to ig," 25
November 1942; "Mer" to Moscow Center, 2 February 1943; "Mer" to Moscow Center, 4 February 1943; "Report on 1g," KGB file 36857, v.1, pp. 1g6a-198, 200-205,
219-22, Vassiliev, Yellow #2, 29-33.
79. Venona 1025, 1035-36, KGB New York to Moscow, 30 June 1943; Venona
380 KGB New York to Moscow, 20 March 1944; Venona 744 and 746 KGB New
York to Moscow, 24 May 1944; Venona 916 KGB New York to Moscow, 17 June
1944. Zarubin to Merkulov, "Memorandum (on the station's work in the country),"
30 September 1944, KGB file 35112, v.1, pp. 418-1g, Vassiliev, White #1, 13.
8o. "Albert" to Moscow Center, 10 July 1944, KGB file 36857, v.1, p. 229, Vassiliev, Yellow #2, 34. Venona 1015 KGB New York to Moscow, 22 July 1944; Venona
1613 KGB New York to Moscow, 18 November 1944; Venona 1636 KGB New York
to Moscow, 21 November 1944. "Report on `Prince' (a.k.a. 19)," 7 May 1948, KGB
file 43173, v-5, P. 267, Vassiliev, Black, 88.
81. "Report by `Granite,"' 8 March 1948, KGB file 36857, v.1, p. 262, Vassiliev,
Yellow #2, 35.
82. Moscow Center to "Vladimir," 7 May 1948, KGB file 36857, v.1, pp. 263-64,
Vassiliev, Yellow #2, 36. The phrase "not to reveal our worker's identity" does not
mean that Striganov seas not to use his name but that he should take care not to reveal his identity as a KGB agent.
83. Report by "Saushkin," July 1948; KGB Washington to Moscow Center, 25
November 1948; "`Saushkin' called Pr.," 15 December 1948, KGB file 36857, v.1,
pp. 271-72, 282, 284, Vassiliev, Yellow #2, 36-37.
84. Massing, This Deception. FBI interview with Hede Massing, 7-8 December 1948; Letter to Director, 9 February 1949, no serial, in Tanenhaus, Whittaker
Chambers, 578n.
85. John Danahy and William McCarthy, 1o December 1948 interview with
Laurence Duggan, "Re: Laurence Duggan," FBI file 65-14920, no serial; Whittaker
Chambers testimony, 28 December 1948, U.S. House Committee on Un-American
Activities, unpublished executive session testimony; Weinstein, Perjury, 22, 175;
Tanenhaus, Whittaker Chambers, 334.
86. "Vladimir" to Moscow Center, 25 December 1948, KGB file 43173, v4,
pp. 477-78, Vassiliev, Black, 72.
87. "Excerpt from a report by `Madchen' (Burgess)," January 1937; Excerpt to
"Madchen's" report from a letter from "Man," 29 January 1937; "Madchen's" report
in "Man" to Moscow Center, 16 February 1937, KGB file 58380, v.1, pp. 12, 13, 14,
Vassiliev, White #3, 81.
88. "Madchen's" report in "Man" to Moscow Center, 16 February 1937; "In
April 1937, N. gave us a report," KGB file 58380, v.i, p. 17, Vassiliev, White #3, 11112.
89. "In April 1937, N. gave us a report," KGB file 58380, v.1, pp. 27-32, Vassiliev, White #3, 112.
go. "Stephan" on "Nigel," 9 July 1937; "Stephan" report, KGB file 58380, v.1,
PP. 33-34, 39, Vassiliev, White #3, 114.
91. Moscow Center to "Jung," ii September 1937; Moscow Center to "Jung," 23 October 1937; "Jung" to Moscow Center, 13 November 1937; Moscow Center to
"Jung," circa November 1937; "Jung" to Moscow Center, g November 1937, KGB file
58380, v1, PP. 40, 43-46, Vassiliev, White #3, 115.
92. "Jung" to Moscow Center, 9 November 1937; Moscow Center to "Jung,"
circa November 1937; "$2,ooo were," KGB file 58380, v.1, pp. 46-49, Vassiliev,
White #3, 115-16.
93. Michael Whitney Straight, After Long Silence (New York: W. W. Norton,
1983).
94. Report on Straight with Moscow Center annotation, 18 February 1938;
"Jung" to Moscow Center, 25 January 1938; "Jung" to Moscow Center, 28 June 1938;
"Jung" to Moscow Center, 28 February 1938, KGB file 58380, v.1, pp. 51-53, 7374, Vassiliev, White #3, 116, 118.
95. "Jung" to Moscow Center, 25 January 1938; Moscow Center to "Jung," 26
March 1938; Moscow Center to "Jung," 22 April 1938; "Jung" to Moscow Center, 6
April 1938; "Jung" to Moscow Center, 28 June 1938, KGB file 58380, v.i, pp. 53, 5962, 73, Vassiliev, White #3, ii6-i8.
96. "Jung" to Moscow Center, 24 May 1938; "Jung" to Moscow Center, July
1938; "N. often meets with Yost"; "Jung" to Moscow Center, October 1938; "Jung"
to Moscow Center, i December 1938; "Jung" to Moscow Center, i March 1939;
Moscow Center to "Jung," 29 March 1939; Moscow Center to "Jung," 15 November
1938, KGB file 58380, v.1, pp. 67-68, 71, 81, 86-87, 92-94, 96-97, 113, 117-22,
Vassiliev, White #3, 118-20.
97. "Jung" report, 8 September 1939; "Jung" letter, 5 October 1939; "Jung" to
Moscow Center, 25 October 1939; "Stopped receiving"; "`Chap' met with N.," 15
July 1941, KGB file 58380, v.i, pp. 142-44, 146-48, 165-67, Vassiliev, White #3,
120-22. Moscow Center to Gennady, 9 November 1939, KGB file 35112, v.5a,
P. 395, Vassiliev, Black, 161.
98. Moscow Center to "Maxim," 27 November 1941; Moscow Center to
"Maxim," 1o January 1942, KGB file 35112, v.6, pp. 10, 94-95, Vassiliev, White #1,
30-32.
99. "Mer's" letters to Moscow Center, 1942, KGB file 35112, v.7, pp. io6, 110,
112, Vassiliev, White #1, 45, 47-48.
100. Zarubin to Merkulov, "Memorandum (on the station's work in the country)," 30 September 1944, KGB file 35112, v.1, p. 418, Vassiliev, White #1, 13.
101. "Workwith him," KGB file 43173, v.5, p. 68, Vassiliev, Black, 85; "The magazine," circa 1948, KGB file 14449, v.2, p. 50, Vassiliev, White #2, 70.
102. John Earl Haynes, "Speak No Evil, Michael Straight: After Long Silence,"
Chronicles of Culture 7, no. 11 (1983).
103. Roland Perry, Last of the Cold War Spies: The Life of Michael StraightThe Only American in Britain's Cambridge Spy Ring (Cambridge, MA: Da Capo
Press, 2005), makes the claim that Straight's espionage career extended into the
1970s. There is not only nothing in Vassiliev's notebooks that supports this thesis,
but also the documents cited directly refute it.
104. KGB New York to Moscow Center, 1g April 1940, KGB file 35112, v.5a,
p. 512, Vassiliev, Black, 164.
1o5. Conroy to Headquarters, 16 November 1945, serial 26; memo on Robert
Miller, 26 December 1945, serial 356, FBI Silvermaster file 65-56402.
io6. Fahy and Gregg's espionage activities are discussed in John Earl Haynes
and Harvey Klehr, Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America (New Haven:
Yale University Press, 1999), 111, 113-14, 186-88, 207.
107. Bentley, Deposition 1945, 16-17, 45-46. Ladd to Director, 14 November
1945, serial 21; FBI memo, 26 December 1945, serial 356; Ladd to Director, "Underground Soviet Espionage Organization (NKVD) in Agencies of the United
States Government," 21 February 1946, serial 573; summary memo to Ladd, 21
February 1946, serial 999x; Scheidt to Director, 31 January 1947, serial 1976; Bentley interview, 1o March 1947, serial 2154; FBI Washington Field Office report, 21
April 1947, serial 2349; FBI Washington Field Office to Director, 21 April 1947,
serial 2436; Hottel to Director, 28 February 1947, serial 2437; FBI memo on
Robert Talbott Miller, III, 24 January 1948, serial 3085, FBI Silvermaster file 6556402.
io8. A. Gorsky, "Failures in the USA (1938-48)," December 1948, KGB file
43173, v.2c, p. 53, Vassiliev, Black, 79. KGB New York to Moscow Center, 5 November 1941, KGB file 35112, v.4a. p. 645, Vassiliev, White #1, 27. "M.'s contacts;
list obtained by Vadim in Oct. `44," KGB file 70545, P. 143; "List of M.'s contacts
(prepared by her, 25.1.45)," KGB file 70545, P. 303, Vassiliev, White #2, 9, 19.
Venona 842 KGB New York to Moscow, 3 June 1943; Venona 1179 KGB New York
to Moscow, 20 July 1943; Venona 1625 KGB New York to Moscow, 3 October 1943;
Venona 1681 KGB New York to Moscow, 13 October 1943. In Haynes and Klehr,
Venona (2000), we suggested Charles Page as a possibility for "Mirage," but Vassiliev's notebooks establish "Mirage" as Miller.