Early Cold War Spies: The Espionage Trials that Shaped American Politics (Cambridge Essential Histories) Review

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Early Cold War Spies: The Espionage Trials that Shaped American Politics (Cambridge Essential Histories) ReviewRead this for graduate American history course. John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr have collaborated and written the definitive book on six of America's espionage trials of the early Cold War era. The historical authority that this book enjoys is due not only to the use of trial transcripts and to primary and secondary sources, but its real authority comes from three sources that have been unavailable to scholars in some instances for over forty years. To draw an accurate picture of the magnitude of espionage conducted in the United States at the behest of the Soviet Union, the authors have used FBI files on the subject which were only made available in the 1980's. In addition, in 1995 the U.S. government made public about 3,000 decoded messages that were sent between Soviet consulates in the U.S. and Moscow from 1943 to 1946. These were messages that U.S. code breakers deciphered under a project named "Venona." Finally, the authors were able to corroborate much of their information from Soviet intelligence officers who defected and gave information to intelligence services in the West, as well as KGB archives that were made available after the collapse of the Soviet Union. All of this information was used by the authors to write, in a very entertaining style, an accurate account of six espionage trials and how they affected American politics for decades.
Besides the factual accounts of the six espionage trials and information on the unlawful activity of the Communist Party of the United States (CPUSA), in this book the authors illuminated another important lesson, especially for historians. By writing about the conduct, outcome, and historical interpretation of the espionage trials and the "red scare" that swept across the U.S. at the start of the Cold War, the authors astutely showed how historical interpretation of the subject had come full circle in fifty years. Newspaper headlines were replete with reports of Communist spies being ferreted out of government agencies in the late 1940's and early 1950's. Many Americans were riveted by and fearful of two of the more famous cases--the Julius and Ethel Rosenberg atomic spy trial and the Alger Hiss-Whittaker Chambers State Department spy case. Both cases engendered strong reactions from both conservatives who supported the government against the Rosenbergs and supported Chambers against Hiss, and liberals who saw overzealous prosecution by the government especially against Ethel Rosenberg and Hiss. Even after Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed and Hiss was found guilty, public opinion seemed to stay the same until after the Watergate era; a time in which many Americans perceived abuses of power by the American government and doubted the veracity of both the FBI and CIA. In the case of Alger Hiss, he was winning the public's opinion by this time mainly because Richard Nixon, who was instrumental in attacking Hiss in congressional hearings, was discredited by his role in the Watergate cover up and his eventual resignation from the presidency. However, the authors showed how inside of fifty years public opinion came full circle back to recognizing that the Rosenbergs and Hiss were truly Communists who spied on behalf of the Soviets, through the release of the "Venona" messages and information from Soviet intelligence archives released in the 1990's.
Another relevant point that the authors made in their book was in reference to the conduct of the CPUSA. Many Americans came to believe that the CPUSA should have been banned in the U.S. after Senator McCarthy spearheaded the congressional hearings against Americans who were sympathetic to Communism. Although Senator McCarthy would ultimately be accused of conducting a witch-hunt, especially against people in the film industry, the authors prove with the "Venona" messages and Soviet archival documentation that the CPUSA was working at the behest of the Soviet government. The authors conclude their book with an admonition about the CPUSA. "In the late 1940's and early 1950's, the internal threat posed by the American Communist Party, both as a subversive political force and an auxiliary to Soviet espionage, loomed large" (239). Thus, if it were not proper under the constitution to ban the CPUSA, at a minimum, it should have been required to register as an agent of a foreign government.
Another prescient point that the authors made, which is relevant to the current war against terrorism today, was the extraordinary burden the government was under to protect its intelligence-gathering sources while prosecuting espionage cases. Although the government had clear evidence from the "Venona" messages, and illegal FBI wiretap operations that hundreds of Americans were engaged in espionage against the U. S., it was not at liberty to bring most of these traitors to trial. The government was unwilling to divulge the "Venona" source in court, which it would have had to do under the laws at that time to bring others to trial. In addition, illegal wiretaps would obviously be inadmissible in court. The government had to be satisfied that they would be able to interview these people, and if they did not cooperate with the government, they would at least lose their security clearances, resulting in the loss of their government jobs. The authors drew another parallel between the early Cold War era and the conduct of the war against terrorism today. The early Cold War spies were motivated by ideology and not money, just like today's terrorists. They were true believers in the Communist ideology, which is a major reason why so many were unwilling to cooperate with the government by turning over the names of other people they knew were spying for the Soviets in the U.S. Their ideological beliefs made them more dangerous because they were willing to have their lives ruined and go to their graves rather than divulge information. Thus, for all of the aforementioned reasons, Haynes and Klehr's book is a valuable keystone to anyone trying to understand the early Cold War era.
As a graduate student in philosophy and history, I recommended this book for anyone interested in American history, foreign policy, Cold War history.
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