Spies: The Rise and Fall of the KGB in America (118 page)

log. Martin Dies statement, Congressional Record, i February 1943, 504-16;
FBI memo, 17 June 1946, serial 1364, FBI Silvermaster file 65-56402.

110. Daily Worker, 17 October 1938. Hottel to Director, 28 February 1947, serial 2437; Memo on Fahy, 17 April 1946, serial 1364, FBI Silvermaster file 65-56402.
Jack Fahy testimony, 8 April 1943, U.S. House Special Committee on Un-American
Activities, Investigation of Un-American Propaganda Activities in the United States
(Washington, D.C.: U.S. Govt. Print. Off., 1940-44), v7, 3453-65; Kerr Commission
report, 14 May 1943, box 856, Clinton Anderson Papers, Library of Congress.
Venona 115 Naval GRU Moscow to Washington, 20 January 1943; Venona 36o Naval
GRU Moscow to Washington, 26 February 1943; Venona 366 Naval GRU Moscow
to Washington, 28 February 1943; Venona 849 Naval GRU Washington to Moscow,
20 April 1943; Venona got Naval GRU Washington to Moscow, 27 April 1943;
Venona 393 Naval GRU Moscow to Washington, 5 March 1943; Venona 427 Naval
GRU Moscow to Washington, ii March 1943.

111. FBI Washington Field Office report, Memo on Joseph Gregg, 11 March
1946, serial 674, FBI Silvermaster file 65-56402.

112. Bentley, Deposition 1945, 45-46.

113. "Mer" message, 12 April 1944, KGB file 70545, PP. 79-80, Vassiliev, White
#2, 3. "Report by `Vadim,' no date (excerpt) (evidently January 1945)," KGB file
45100, v.1, p. 73, Vassiliev, White #3, 74. Zarubin to Merkulov, "Memorandum (on the station's work in the country)," 30 September 1944, KGB file 35112, v.1, p. 405,
Vassiliev, White #1, 7. The blank in the quotation ""Gor" is Joseph ..."' is in the
original document. Leaving the family name blank was a common intelligence agency
security practice to prevent typists from knowing a source's identity. The document
author would then write in the name by hand on the copy sent to the intended recipient, but this was often not done on additional copies and file copies.

114. Bentley, Deposition 1945, 18-28, 34, 40, 45, 52, 56, 74-75, 8o, 91, 94, 1045. "Albert," "Information on Robert," 7 July 1945, KGB file 55298, pp. 253-54, Vassiliev, White #3, 22-23. "George Harrison" was actually Harrison George; reversing
of his family and given names was a common error. For a listing of the numerous deciphered KGB cables regarding Silvermaster, see Appendix A, Haynes and Klehr,
Venona (2000).

115. White is discussed in KGB documents found at Vassiliev, White #1, 5, 14,
26-27, 30, 34, 38, 43-44, 54-56, 65, 67-74, 154; Vassiliev, White #2, 31, 33; Vassiliev,
Yellow #4, 123, 126, 128, 131; Vassiliev, Black, 77, 174-76.

116. Malcolm Hobbs, "Confident Wallace Aides Come Up with Startling Cabinet Notions," Overseas News Service dispatch, 22 April 1948, reprinted in U.S. Senate Internal Security Subcommittee, Interlocking Subversion in Government Departments [Hearings], part 30, 2529-30.

117. Whittaker Chambers, Witness (New York: Random House, 1952), 429-30.
Zarubin to Merkulov, "Memorandum (on the station's work in the country)," 30 September 1944, KGB file 35112, v.1, p. 401; Moscow Center to "Maxim," 26 November 1942, KGB file 35112, v.6, p. 314, Vassiliev, White #1, 5, 38.

118. "Maxim on Mer's first conversation with Pal," circa mid-1944, KGB file
35112, v.4, p. 148, Vassiliev, White #3, 16. Venona 1118-1121 KGB New York to
Moscow, 4-5 August 1944. The "new course" referred to a policy of American accommodation of Soviet foreign policy goals. Venona 1388-1389 KGB New York to
Moscow, i October 1944.

119. Venona 328 KGB Moscow to New York, 6 April 1945; Venona 23o KGB
San Francisco to Moscow, 4 May 1945; Venona 235-236 KGB San Francisco to
Moscow, 5 May 1945; Venona 259 KGB San Francisco to Moscow, 13 May 1945.
Moscow Center to KGB New York, 29 May 1945, KGB file 35112, v.9, p. 200, Vassiliev, White #1, 65.

120. KGB New York to Moscow Center, 29 October 1945, KGB file 35112, v.9,
p. 143, Vassiliev, White #1, 73.

121. Bentley, Deposition 1945, 20, 25-27, 55; Moscow Center to "Sergey," 23
November 1945, KGB file 70545, P. 407, Vassiliev, White #2, 31.

122. Testimony of Elizabeth Bentley, 31 July 1948; Testimony of Whittaker
Chambers, 3 August 1948; Testimony of Harry Dexter White, 13 August 1948, U.S.
House Committee on Un-American Activities, Hearings Regarding Communist Espionage in the United States (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Govt. Print. Off., 1948), 50384, 877-906.

123. Berle, "Underground Espionage Agent"; Bentley, Deposition 1945, 20, 25,
43.

124. Lauchlin Currie interview, 31 July 1947, serial 2787, FBI Silvermaster file 65-56402; Lauchlin Currie testimony, 13 August 1948, U.S. House Committee on
Un-American Activities, Hearings Regarding Communist Espionage, 851-77.

125. Robert Louis Benson and Cecil Philips, "History of Venona," unpublished
classified manuscript (Fort George Meade, MD: National Security Agency, 1995),
37-38 (declassified).

126. Venona 928 KGB New York to Moscow, 30 June 1943; Venona 1317 KGB
New York to Moscow, io August 1943; Venona 1431 KGB New York to Moscow, 2
September 1943; Venona goo KGB New York to Moscow, 24 June 1944; Venona
1243 KGB New York to Moscow, 31 August 1944; Venona 1463, KGB New York to
Moscow, 14 October 1944; Venona 1634 KGB New York to Moscow, 20 November
1944; Venona 143 KGB Moscow to New York, 15 February 1945; Venona 253 KGB
Moscow to New York, 20 March 1945.

127. Zarubin to Merkulov, "Memorandum (on the station's work in the country)," 30 September 1944, KGB file 35112, v.i, p. 402, Vassiliev, White #i, 5-6.

128. Venona 1634 KGB New York to Moscow, 20 November 1944; Venona 143
KGB Moscow to New York, 15 February 1945; Venona 253 KGB Moscow to New
York, 20 March 1945. Roger J. Sandilands, The Life and Political Economy of Lauchlin Currie: New Dealer, Presidential Adviser, and Development Economist (Durham,
NC: Duke University Press, 19go); Roger J. Sandilands, "Guilt by Association?
Lauchlin Currie's Alleged Involvement with Washington Economists in Soviet Espionage," History of Political Economy 32, no. 3 (2000): 474-515; James M.
Boughton and Roger J. Sandilands, "Politics and the Attack on FDR's Economists:
From the Grand Alliance to the Cold War," Intelligence and National Security 18,
no. 3 (Autumn 2003). One of the deciphered cables, Venona 1463, had Currie meeting directly with the KGB illegal officer Iskhak Akhmerov, but inasmuch as Vassiliev's notebooks indicate that Akhmerov often presented himself as a covert American Communist linked to the KGB rather than a Soviet officer, Currie may not have
known he was delivering information directly to a KGB operative rather than indirectly via the CPUSA.

129. Lauchlin Currie interview, 31 July 1947, serial 2787, FBI Silvermaster file
65-56402; Report on "L.C.," October 1945, KGB file 61512, v.2, p. 101, Vassiliev,
Yellow #2, 58; "Expense account for Vadim," January 1945," KGB file 43173, v.1,
p. 73, Vassiliev, Black, 49-50.

130. Butkov to Prudnikov, ii April 1941, KGB file 35112, v.1, p. 87; "Polit. and
dip. line of work (Plan)," 6 April 1942, KGB file 43173, v. 1, p. 8, Vassiliev, Black, 43,
175. "Pal" report, 3 November 1941, KGB file 35112, v.4a, p. 637; Moscow Center
to "Maxim," 27 November 1941; Moscow Center to "Maxim," io January 1942, KGB
file 35112, v.6, pp. 8, ioo, Vassiliev, White #i, 27, 30, 34.

131. N. Gregory Silvermaster, "Memorandum for General Strong," 9 June 1942;
Report by "Sound," 23 June 1942, KGB file 55298, pp. 83-85, 369 (in the envelope),
Vassiliev, White #3, 6-12. In testimony to the House Committee on Un-American
Activities in 1948 Currie called his intervention "routine" and continued to insist he
had no reason to doubt Silvermaster's denials of Communist links. Lauchlin Currie
testimony, 13 August 1948, U.S. House Committee on Un-American Activities,
Hearings Regarding Communist Espionage, 851-77; File card of Patterson contacts in regard to Silvermaster, Box 203, Robert P. Patterson Papers, Library of Congress;
General Bissell to General Strong, 3 June 1942; Silvermaster reply to Bissell memo,
9 June 1942; Robert P. Patterson to Milo Perkins of BEW, 3 July 1942-all reprinted
in U.S. Senate Internal Security Subcommittee, Interlocking Subversion, part 30,
pp. 2,562-67. On Baldwin's secret Communist allegiances, see John Gates to Joseph
Starobin, undated, Box 1o, folder 2, Philip Jaffe Papers, Emory University, Atlanta,
Georgia.

132. "Maxim" to Moscow Center, i September 1943; "Maxim" to Moscow Center, 9 October 1943, KGB file 35112, v.7, pp. 437, 471a, Vassiliev, White #1, 50, 52.
Ladd to Director, 21 February 1946, serial 573; Silvermaster background memo, serial 464, FBI Silvermaster file 65-56402.

133. Moscow Center to KGB New York, 14 January 1945, KGB file 35112, V.9,
p. 167, Vassiliev, White #1, 64; "Report on L. C.," October 1945, KGB file 61512, v.2,
p. 101, Vassiliev, Yellow #2, 58.

134. Moscow Center to "Vadim," 23 November 1945, KGB file 70545, p. 405,
Vassiliev, White #2, 30.

135. Report by "Ted" on Bela Gold, 15 March 1945, KGB file 40624, v.1, PP. 4446, Vassiliev, Yellow #2, 63-64.

136. Ibid.; Zarubin to Merkulov, "Memorandum (on the station's work in the
country)," 30 September 1944, KGB file 35112, v.1, pp. 402-3, Vassiliev, White #1,
6; Report on Silvermaster, 8 January 1946, KGB file 55298, p. 337, Vassiliev, White
#3, 42.

137. Venona g18 KGB New York to Moscow, 28 June 1944; Venona 12-13-1516 KGB New York to Moscow, 4 January 1945; Venona 18-1g KGB New York to
Moscow, 4 January 1945; Venona 79 KGB New York to Moscow, 18 January 1945.
Report on it meeting with "Aileron," 3 October 1945; Note by "Albert," 12 November 1945, KGB file 55298, pp. 298, 304-5, Vassiliev, White #3, 34, 37-38.

138. Bentley, Deposition 1945, 25, 27-28; Moscow Center to "Vadim," 23 November 1945, KGB file 70545, pp. 405-8, Vassiliev, White #2, 30-31. FBI Washington Field Office report, 21 April 1947, serial 2349; Branigan to Belmont, 19 August 1954, serial 4087, FBI Silvermaster file 65-56402. Testimony of Bela and Sonia
Gold, 13 August 1948, U.S. House Committee on Un-American Activities, Hearings
Regarding Communist Espionage, go6-15.

139. Bentley, Deposition 1945. On Taylor's charges and the FBI response, see
FBI, "`Existing Corroboration of Bentley's Overall Testimony,' 6 May 1955," serial
4201, FBI Silvennaster file 65-56402, and Hayden B. Peake, "Afterword," in Elizabeth Bentley and Hayden B. Peake, Out of Bondage: The Story of Elizabeth Bentley
(New York: Ivy Books, 1988). Moscow Center to KGB New York, 14 January 1945,
KGB file 35112, v.9, p. 169, Vassiliev, White #1, 64; Report on Silvermaster, 8 January 1946, KGB file 55298, P. 337, Vassiliev, White #3, 42; A. Gorsky, "Failures in
the USA (1938-48)," KGB file 43173, V.2C, pp. 51-54, Vassiliev, Black, 78-79; Zarubin to Merkulov, "Memorandum (on the station's work in the country)," 30 September 1944, KGB file 35112, v.1, pp. 381-445, Vassiliev, White #1, 1-15. For a
summary of the Remington trials, see John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr, Early
Cold War Spies: The Espionage Trials That Shaped American Politics (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2oo6), 73-79, 9o. Before the availability of the Vassiliev notebooks, Gary May, Un-American Activities: The Trials of William Reining
ton (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994), suggested that Remington slid give
perjured testimony about his Communist links but was skeptical of his involvement
in espionage.

140. Zarubin to Merkulov, "Memorandum (on the station's work in the country)," 30 September 1944, KGB file 35112, v.i, pp. 381-445, Vassiliev, White #1, 115.

141. On the Perlo group, see Bentley, Deposition 1945, 40, 51-57, 78-80, 105;
Klehr, Haynes, and Firsov, Secret World, 312-15; Appendix A, Haynes and Klehr,
17('11011(l (2000).

142. "Biography of V. Perlo," via "Vadim," 29 December 1944, KGB file 45100,
v-1, PP. 44-45, Vassiliev, White #3, 72-73.

143. Victor Perlo testimony, 9 August 1948, U.S. House Committee on UnAmerican Activities, Hearings Regarding Communist Espionage, 677-89, 693-701;
Victor Perlo, "Imperialism-New Features," Political Affairs, May 1981, 3.

144. Klehr, Haynes, and Firsov, Secret World, 312-15; Bentley, Deposition
194.5-52, 55-57; Chambers, Witness, 430. Venona 1195 KGB New York to Moscow,
21 July 1943; Venona 1206 KGB New York to Moscow, 22 July 1943; Venona 588
KGB New York to Moscow, 29 April 1944; Venona 769 and 771 KGB New York to
Moscow, 30 May 1944; Venona 79 KGB New York to Moscow, 18 January 1945;
Venona 179-18o KGB Moscow to New York, 25 February 1945; Verona 1759 KGB
Washington to Moscow, 28 March 1945; Venona 3598 KGB Washington to Moscow,
21 June 1945; Venona 3600 KGB Washington to Moscow, 21 June 1945; Venona
3645 KGB Washington to Moscow, 23 June 1945; Venona 3688 KGB Washington to
Moscow, 28 June 1945.

145. "Ruble"/Harold Glasser's biography, circa December 1944; Faye Glasser biography, KGB file 43072, v.i, pp. 49-51, Vassiliev, White #3, 47-49. Vassiliev's notes
indicate that Harold Glasser's original autobiography was handwritten in English
and was located in KGB file 43072, v. i, at p. 53, but that his notes were taken from
a Russian translation found at pp. 49-50.

146. "Ruble" biography, December 1944, KGB file 43072, v.1, p. 50, Vassiliev,
White #3, 48-49. Transcripts of Glasser's promotions and job rating forms signed by
Coe, Ullmann, and White, U.S. Senate Internal Security Subcommittee, Interlocking Subversion, part 2,81-82,98-99; Hottel to Hoover, 14 January 1947, serial zoz8,
FBI Silvermaster file 6,5-,56402.

147. Report, 27 February 1943; "Mer" to "Maxim," 5 January 1944; " Vardo" report on "Ruble," 11 November 1944, KGB file 43072, v.1, pp. 11, 21, 36, Vassiliev,
White #3, 44-45. Venona 116g GRU New York to Moscow, 1g July 1943; Venona
1258-1259 GRU New York to Moscow, 31 July 1943; Venona 1350 GRU New York
to Moscow, 17 August 1943.

148. Moscow Center to "Vadim," 16 December 1944; "Vadim" to Moscow Center, 24 December 1944; "Vadim" to Moscow Center, 31 December 1944, KGB file
43072, V. 1, PP. 39,54,57-6o, Vassiliev, White #3, 47, 49, 51-52•

149. "Albert" note, 16 January 1945, Moscow Center to "Vadim," 3 January 1945; "Vadim" letter, 6 March 1945, KGB file 43072, v.1, pp. 62-63, 66, 76, Vassiliev,
White #3, 52-53, 56.