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---
category: "Business & Finance"
tags:
- Person
- Loral
- ChinaSatellites
- Chinagate
- CampaignFinance
- ExportControls
- NewSchool
- Philanthropy
aliases:
- "Bernard L. Schwartz"
- "Bernard Schwartz"
- "Bernard Leon Schwartz"
summary: "Loral's chairman through the 1996 Long March failure and the 1998 Chinasat-8 waiver, Schwartz gave heavily to Democratic committees and endowed programs at the New School and think tanks."
born: 1925-12-13
died: 2024-03-12
location: "New York City"
relations:
- type: head_of
with: "[[Loral Corporation]]"
start: 1972
end: 1996
role: "chairman and chief executive after acquiring the company in 1972"
fn: 1
- type: head_of
with: "[[Loral Space & Communications]]"
end: 2006-03-01
role: "chairman and chief executive until his retirement effective March 1, 2006"
fn: 4
- type: director_of
with: "[[New School for Social Research]]"
start: 2004-09-01
role: "member of the Board of Trustees"
fn: 40
- type: funded
with: "[[New School for Social Research]]"
start: 2001
role: "$1.1 million for the Bernard L. Schwartz Lecture Series and Project in Markets, Equality and Democracy"
fn: 39
- type: funded
with: "[[New School for Social Research]]"
start: 2004
role: "$3.7 million for the Bernard Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis and an endowed professorship"
fn: 41
- type: funded
with: "[[Council on Foreign Relations]]"
start: 2002
role: "Bernard L. Schwartz Senior Fellowship in Business and Foreign Policy"
fn: 42
- type: director_of
with: "[[New America Foundation]]"
start: 2004
end: 2010
role: "board of directors"
fn: 43
- type: funded
with: "[[Brookings Institution]]"
start: 2005
role: "Bernard L. Schwartz Chair in International Economics"
fn: 44
- type: funded
with: "[[Democratic National Committee]]"
start: 1995
end: 1998
role: "non-federal (soft money) receipts itemized by the Federal Election Commission"
fn: 27
- type: investigated
with: "[[Cox Committee]]"
reverse: true
start: 1998-11-21
role: "deposed by the House Select Committee on U.S. National Security and Military/Commercial Concerns with the People's Republic of China"
fn: 5
- type: head_of
with: "[[K & F Industries]]"
start: 2004
role: "chairman, as stated in the October 21, 2004 New School release"
fn: 40
- type: director_of
with: "[[First Data Corporation]]"
start: 2004
role: "board member, as stated in the October 21, 2004 New School release"
fn: 40
created: 2026-10-09
updated: 2026-10-09
---
[[Bernard L. Schwartz]] (December 13, 1925 to March 12, 2024) was a [[Brooklyn]]-born investor who took over the ailing [[Loral Corporation]] in 1972, sold the bulk of it to [[Lockheed Martin]] in 1996, and served as a trustee of the [[New School for Social Research|New School]].[^1]
### Loral Corporation, 1972 to 1996
Schwartz was born in Brooklyn, graduated in finance from [[City College of New York]], and joined a Wall Street accounting firm whose clients included Admiral Plastics, run by his brother Harold. That work led to [[Saul P. Steinberg]] of [[Leasco Data Processing Equipment Corporation]], and Schwartz proposed that Leasco acquire [[Reliance Insurance]], which it did in 1968, taking the Reliance name. As president of the Reliance Group he proposed a takeover of [[Chemical Bank]], which Chemical's management resisted and Reliance abandoned. After four years with Reliance he joined Loral.[^1]
The obituary says that Loral, a maker of electronic weapons, countermeasures and communications systems, was on the brink of bankruptcy when its two founders retired in 1972, and on the verge of going out of business and having its stock delisted when Schwartz acquired it, investing $2 million in the company. It says he had no experience of doing business with the [[Pentagon]], remained chairman and chief executive for 34 years, and recorded 96 straight quarters in which profits surpassed those of the comparable period the year before.[^1] The Cox Committee describes [[Loral Space & Communications]] as the parent company of Loral and reports that a group including it acquired [[Ford Aerospace]] in 1990, renaming the business [[Space Systems/Loral]].[^2]
Schwartz sold the bulk of the company to Lockheed Martin in 1996, when, the obituary says, it had grown in value to $13 billion. The obituary says that when Loral was sold he distributed more than $18 million of his own funds to some 40 people whose jobs were in jeopardy.[^1] A May 1, 1997 profile in [[Mother Jones]] by [[Dave Eisenstadt]] reported that Schwartz was "reportedly pocketing close to $27 million in personal stock gains" from the defense sale, that he had given "a whopping $217,000 since 1993" to the [[Democratic Leadership Council]], that the administration had "actually considered Schwartz as a candidate for the defense post" the previous fall, and that he celebrated his 71st birthday in December 1996 with an "intimate White House dinner with the president."[^3]
On July 15, 2003, Old Loral and certain of its subsidiaries filed for Chapter 11 protection. Schwartz retired from all of his officer and director positions effective March 1, 2006, and [[Michael B. Targoff]] became chief executive on the same date.[^4]
### Export licensing and the Ron Brown meetings, 1993 to 1995
The [[Cox Committee]] reported that Schwartz, chairman and chief executive of Loral Space & Communications, Ltd., the parent of Loral, met directly on at least four occasions after 1993 with [[Ron Brown]], then Secretary of Commerce, and accompanied him on a 1994 trade mission to China.[^5] The committee describes [[C. Michael Armstrong]], the former chairman and chief executive of GM Hughes Electronics, as chairman of President Clinton's Export Council since 1993. On October 6, 1995, Armstrong, Schwartz and [[Daniel Tellep]] of Lockheed Martin sent a letter to the President stating: "Continuing to license export of these technologies under the more stringent and cumbersome Munitions List places American companies at a distinct disadvantage in global markets." The committee wrote of the transfer of export licensing authority from the [[United States Department of State|State Department]] to the Commerce Department that "The changes they advocated were ultimately adopted."[^5][^6]
On June 9, 1995, Space Systems/Loral and the [[China Aerospace Corporation]] signed a Memorandum of Agreement on long-term cooperation, signed by Robert E. Berry for Space Systems/Loral and Zhang Xin-Xia for the Chinese side. The committee's chronology describes it as a ten-year joint technology development program, and its text describes a 1995 agreement under which Loral offered the PRC direct broadcast satellites, regional mobile satellite services systems and the joint development of an advanced high capacity communications satellite.[^7] The State Department's draft charging letter states that Loral Space & Communications and Space Systems/Loral each had agreements with the China Aerospace Corporation providing for long-term cooperation, under which Loral intended to procure up to ten launch vehicles for its [[Globalstar]] satellites.[^8]
The committee counted five satellite projects for which Loral and Hughes obtained waivers or licenses between 1993 and January 3, 1999.[^5] A sidebar in the report states that "Even while under criminal investigation for these transfers, Loral obtained Presidential waivers for another launch in the PRC."[^9]
### The 1996 Long March failure
On February 15, 1996, a Long March 3B rocket carrying the Loral-built [[Intelsat 708]] satellite failed after liftoff from [[Xichang]] in the People's Republic of China.[^10] One passage of the Cox Report, giving the failure determination announced by [[China Great Wall Industry Corporation]] on September 10, 1996, refers to the February 11, 1996 Long March 3B crash.[^11] The State Department's draft charging letter gives February 15, 1996.[^8]
The Chinese side then invited [[Wah Lim]], Loral's senior vice president and general manager of engineering and manufacturing, to chair an Independent Review Committee. The committee met at Loral's offices in [[Palo Alto]], California, on April 22 to 24, 1996.[^12] On May 23, 1996, Loral engaged the Washington law firm [[Feith & Zell]], which on June 17, 1996 submitted a disclosure on Loral's behalf to the State Department.[^12]
The Cox Committee wrote that "In 1996, Loral and Hughes showed the PRC how to improve the design and reliability of the guidance system used in the PRC's newest Long March rocket." It also wrote that "Loral and Hughes acted without the legally required license, although both corporations knew that a license was required."[^13]
The committee quoted a 1997 Defense Department assessment that Loral and Hughes "committed a serious export control violation by virtue of having performed a defense service without a license."[^14] A May 16, 1997 entry in the committee's chronology records a Defense Technology Security Administration recommendation for referral to the [[Justice Department]] for criminal prosecution.[^14] The interagency review team assessed in July 1998 that the true failure mode "may have been discovered more quickly by the PRC as a result of the Independent Review Committee's report."[^15]
### The Chinasat-8 waiver, February 1998
Congress imposed the requirement for a presidential "national interest" determination in 1989. Between 1989 and the beginning of 1998 twelve such determinations were made for launches of commercial communications satellites on PRC rockets. President [[George H. W. Bush]] made three, and President [[Bill Clinton]] made nine, including determinations dated June 23, July 9, November 19 and November 23, 1996.[^16] The most recent, dated February 18, 1998, applied to the Loral-built [[Chinasat-8]] satellite.[^16]
The New York Times reported on June 1, 1998 that Loral's waiver application for Chinasat-8 was submitted in May 1997, the month in which the Pentagon completed its assessment of the Independent Review Committee, and that the Justice Department began its investigation after that assessment. It reported that the first draft of the Presidential memorandum, dated January 13, 1998, recommended action by January 20 because of "severe contractual penalties which Loral will incur if it cannot begin technical discussions with the Chinese by next week," and that a Loral letter in White House files stated that a delay would cost the company at least $6 million and could cost it a $20 million project.[^17]
A January 1998 draft National Security Council memorandum referred to the ongoing review of PRC transfers to Iran of C-802 anti-ship cruise missiles, a point also listed in a State Department memorandum to the NSC. The reference was deleted from the memorandum that was ultimately sent to the President.[^18] A decision memorandum for the President dated February 12, 1998, from [[Samuel Berger]], the national security adviser, [[Larry Stein]] and [[Daniel Tarullo]], argued: "We believe that the advantages of this project outweigh the risk, and that we can effectively rebut criticism of the waiver."[^17][^19] The Times reported that on February 13 White House counsel [[Charles Ruff]] wrote that "the Department had every opportunity to weigh in against the waiver at the highest levels and elected not to do so," and that Justice Department officials said Ruff, in his discussion with [[Robert Litt]], asked only about the impact of the waiver on a possible prosecution. The notes of the National Security Council deputy counsel [[Newell Highsmith]] on a conversation with Ruff read: "Issue is not [underlined twice] impact on DOJ litig(ation)," and, "but whether bilateral U.S.-China concerns and economic factors outweigh risk of political embarrassment."[^17]
A transmittal memorandum dated February 18, 1998 from [[Phil Caplan]] stated that Ruff "notes that there have been extensive discussions with Justice on this matter," and that "The Department [of Justice] realizes the potential adverse impact on a potential criminal prosecution but has chosen not to oppose the waiver."[^20] The same memorandum continued: "Therefore, in balancing national security and criminal justice interests, Chuck agrees that the balance, under these special circumstances, is properly struck by granting the waiver."[^21] In a December 1998 interview with the committee, Litt, a Justice Department official, recalled that "Certainly the Department was put on notice that there was a waiver application," and said that "I didn't believe that we were being asked for our views on whether or not the waiver should be granted as a matter of policy."[^22] The Commerce Department approved the Chinasat-8 license application on March 23, 1998.[^22] The State Department's draft charging letter records that two technical assistance agreements for the Chinasat-8 launch were approved on February 20, 1998.[^8]
On April 13, 1998, the [[New York Times]] reported that the President had approved the waiver despite an ongoing Justice Department criminal investigation of Loral's alleged earlier unauthorized transfer of missile guidance technology to China. The White House released related documents on May 22, 1998.[^23] A June 1, 1998 article by [[Jeff Gerth]] and [[John M. Broder]] reported that Justice Department prosecutors "warned that allowing the deal could jeopardize possible prosecution of the company for an earlier unauthorized technology transfer to Beijing." The article said the February decision "was treated as an urgent matter not because of its importance to the national security, but because the company was facing heavy fines for delay," and that Clinton approved the waiver six days after the February 12 memorandum.[^17] The article also reported that Loral's June 1996 disclosure to the State Department included "an admission that it allowed the Chinese to see its lengthy review of the rocket mishap without prior Federal approval."[^17]
Loral's statement of May 18, 1998 said that Schwartz "was not personally involved in any aspect of this matter." The Times, reporting the statement, described him as "one of the largest individual Democratic Party donors in the last few years."[^24] The statement also said: "No political favors or benefits of any kind were requested or extended, directly or indirectly, by any means whatever."[^25]
Representative [[Henry Waxman]], in a statement placed in the Congressional Record in October 2000, wrote that a February 13, 1998 letter to Berger urging a swift decision on the waiver was written by Loral vice president Thomas B. Ross, citing a New York Times article of May 24, 1998.[^26] The same statement recalls that in May 1998 Representative [[Curt Weldon]] spoke on the House floor about the allegations, describing a "Scandal that is unfolding that I think will dwarf every scandal that we have seen talked about on this floor in the past 6 years" and saying that "This scandal involves potential treason."[^26]
### Campaign contributions
The obituary says that Schwartz was outraged by the war in Vietnam and by the 1970 Kent State killings, considered moving his family to France, and decided instead to remain and work for the Democratic Party, becoming "a top campaign donor."[^1]
Itemized [[Federal Election Commission]] receipts for the contributor name "SCHWARTZ, BERNARD L" (and, on four entries, "SCHWARTZ, BERNARD," three of them with the employer given as Loral Corporation) list the following contributions to the [[Democratic National Committee]]'s non-federal accounts. In 1995: $25,000 on April 24, $75,000 on June 30 and $100,000 on November 28. In 1996: $100,000 on June 10, with the employer given as Loral Corp.; $70,000 on October 18 to the non-federal unincorporated association account; and $6,000 on December 20. In 1997: $100,000 on June 27 and $50,000 on December 23. In 1998: $30,000 on January 21; $25,000 on March 2; $100,000 on April 22; $250,000 on August 11; $50,000 on October 26, with the employer given as Loral Corporation; and $100,000 on November 6 to the party's non-federal corporate account.[^27]
The same index lists non-federal receipts by the [[Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee]] of $40,500 in 1995, $115,000 in 1996 and $110,000 in 1997, and by the [[Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee]] of $20,000 in 1996, $56,000 in 1997 and $100,000 in 1998. The itemized non-federal rows for 1995 through 1998 add to $1,522,500.[^27]
Descriptions of his place in Democratic giving vary by source. The Cox Committee gives the New York Times as its source for calling him "the largest individual donor to the Democratic Party in 1997."[^23] The Congressional Research Service wrote that Loral's chief executive "was reported as the largest personal donor to the Democratic National Committee for the 1996 election."[^28] In its May 1997 ranking of donors, Mother Jones listed him first, with "$661,000 total contributions."[^3] In its November 1998 ranking Mother Jones listed Bernard L. and Irene Schwartz third, with $555,000, and wrote that he "has given Democrats $1.4 million since 1991."[^29] The Times described Loral as "headed by the Democratic Party's largest campaign contributor" and reported that Schwartz "donated $100,000 to the Democratic Party four weeks before the waiver application was approved in early July 1996 by Clinton."[^17] An Associated Press account of January 10, 2002 stated that he "donated nearly $1 million to Democrats from 1995 to 1998."[^30] Senator [[Arlen Specter]] stated on May 2, 2000 that Schwartz had donated $1.5 million to the Democratic National Committee.[^25]
The obituary says that Schwartz "later counted Bill and Hillary Clinton among his well-placed friends."[^1]
### Justice Department review of the donations
In May 1998 the Justice Department began a preliminary inquiry into whether political donations influenced the approval of satellite exports to China.[^25]
Waxman quotes [[Lee Radek]], chief of the Justice Department's public integrity section, as writing in August 1998 that "there is not a scintilla of evidence or information that the President was corruptly influenced by Bernard Schwartz," and quotes [[Charles LaBella]], then head of the department's campaign finance task force, writing on August 12, 1998 that "The Review shares the view expressed in the Interim Report that this was a matter which likely did not merit any investigation."[^26] At a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee hearing on May 2, 2000, Specter referred to LaBella's memorandum to Attorney General [[Janet Reno]] of the summer of 1998, which was reported to recommend that she appoint an independent prosecutor because the allegations of political favors involved the President; Reno denied the recommendations.[^25] An article by William C. Rempel and Alan C. Miller in the Los Angeles Times of May 23, 2000 reported that Specter had suggested the sealed memorandum sought an independent counsel for the Loral matter, and that the memorandum and related documents obtained by the Times showed that by the summer of 1998 the task force had effectively excused Schwartz and Loral from the campaign finance investigation. A former task force investigator told the Times: "There was never a whiff of a scent of a case against him."[^26]
On March 16, 2000, U.S. Ambassador [[Joseph Prueher]] hosted a dinner in Beijing for representatives of Loral, Lockheed Martin, Hughes, the China Aerospace Corporation and ChinaSat, and the embassy denied that an export license for ChinaSat 8 was discussed. On July 17, 2000 the Defense Security Service issued an award for "outstanding security performance and practices" to Loral and 49 other companies, then rescinded Loral's after realizing it remained under investigation. In the summer of 2001 the Bush administration was reported to be negotiating civil settlements with Loral and Hughes rather than criminal charges.[^25]
### Congressional inquiries
The Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs, chaired by [[Fred Thompson]], issued its report S. Rept. 105-167 in six volumes, ordered printed on March 10, 1998. The table of contents of the first volume lists a chapter titled "Johnny Chung and the White House 'Subway.'"[^31]
The House Committee on Government Reform and Oversight, chaired by [[Dan Burton]], issued an interim report on November 5, 1998. Its section on Chung states that "Chung's bank accounts and his record of contributions to the DNC tend to corroborate the account first published by the New York Times," and that Chung "received three wire transfers from Hong Kong totaling $290,000" in July and August 1996.[^32] The Cox Committee's report, H. Rept. 105-851, was issued in classified form on January 3, 1999 and declassified in part on May 25, 1999.[^5]
### Johnny Chung and Chinagate
[[Johnny Chung]], a Democratic fundraiser, disclosed during plea negotiations that he had met [[Liu Chaoying]] and General [[Ji Shengde]] during a trip to Hong Kong in the summer of 1996. According to Chung, he received $300,000 from Liu and Ji as a result of the meeting. The Cox Committee wrote that the FBI confirmed the deposit into Chung's account, and concluded that the payment was an attempt to better position Liu in the United States.[^33]
Liu was a vice-president of China Aerospace International Holdings, which the committee described as the Hong Kong subsidiary of China Aerospace Corporation, the organization that manages the PRC's missile and space industry. The committee also reported that China Aerospace Corporation is a substantial shareholder in the Apstar and APMT projects, which import U.S. satellites to the PRC for launch by China Great Wall Industry Corporation.[^33]
On December 14, 1998, Judge [[Manuel Real]] of the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles sentenced Chung to five years of probation and 3,000 hours of community service. Chung had admitted in March 1998 to an illegal $20,000 contribution to the 1996 Clinton-Gore campaign and an illegal $8,000 contribution to the campaign of Senator [[John Kerry]], and to fraudulently obtaining a loan for his California home; that he had funneled contributions through straw donors; prosecutors recommended probation because he cooperated with their two-year investigation; and Real expressed skepticism at a letter from the Democratic National Committee claiming that Chung had concealed the source of the contributions from party officials.[^34]
### The 2002 consent agreement
The State Department's draft charging letter to [[Eric J. Zahler]], president and chief operating officer of Loral Space & Communications, signed by William Lowell, director of the Office of Defense Trade Controls, states that Space Systems/Loral violated the Arms Export Control Act and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations in connection with its conduct after the February 1996 failed launch carrying Intelsat 708, and that "Sixty-four (64) violations are alleged at this time." Charges 1 to 5 concern Space Systems/Loral's attendance at a failure briefing in Beijing on April 10 to 12, 1996, the charter of the Independent Review Committee, a further Beijing briefing on April 15 to 16 and the first committee meeting in Palo Alto, each without a Defense Department monitor or a license; charges 6 to 29 concern the 24 areas for further technical investigation delineated at that meeting; charges 30 to 61 concern the written summary faxed to China Great Wall on April 25, the second committee meeting in Beijing from April 30 to May 1, the faxed draft of the preliminary committee report on May 7, the final report on May 10, a copy faxed on May 13 to an insurance industry representative in Beijing, and an evaluation of the Long March 3B stage separation system. Charge 62 concerns the October 5, 1995 license application for the Apstar IIR satellite, and charges 63 and 64 concern the May 5 and May 16, 1997 submissions of technical assistance agreements for Chinasat 8, each alleged to have omitted the technical interchanges already held with Chinese authorities. The letter states that civil penalties may not exceed $500,000 per violation.[^8]
On January 9, 2002, the Department of State's Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, acting through its Office of Defense Trade Controls, and Space Systems/Loral entered a consent agreement under the Arms Export Control Act and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations. The agreement refers to a draft charging letter alleging that Space Systems/Loral violated Section 38 of the Act and Section 127 of the regulations.[^35]
The agreement sets a civil penalty of $20,000,000 (twenty million dollars), "comprised of" $2,200,000 payable to the State Department within 10 days of the signing of the Order and $11,800,000 payable in installments of $1,685,714 on each of the first seven anniversaries. A further $6,000,000 is assessed, but its payment is suspended on condition that the company apply it over seven years to remedial compliance measures.[^35] Space Systems/Loral and Loral "neither admit nor deny the allegations in the draft Charging Letter."[^35]
The agreement states that decisions on export licenses for the CHINASAT-8 and APSTAR V spacecraft would be made "without reference to the Department's previously expressed concerns regarding SS/L's reliability."[^35] Loral's Form 8-K for the period reported that the Justice Department had "terminated its investigation of SS/L relating to this matter."[^36] Schwartz said in Loral's announcement of January 9, 2002 that the matter "grew out of the activities of an Independent Review Committee (IRC) set up to inform the insurance industry about the causes of a 1996 Chinese rocket failure" and that a copy of the committee's preliminary report "was mistakenly sent to the Chinese by a Loral employee."[^37] The U.S. Customs Service announced on January 10, 2002 that its investigation, begun in May 1996, had resulted in the $20 million fine, which it called the largest paid by an American company under the Arms Export Control Act.[^38] The obituary says that federal authorities had charged the company with "64 counts of violating rules governing the transfer of sensitive technologies."[^1]
### Gifts to the New School for Social Research
On November 9, 2001, the New School announced a gift of $1.1 million from Schwartz, then chairman and chief executive of Loral Space & Communications, to create the Bernard L. Schwartz Lecture Series and Project in Markets, Equality and Democracy. The four-year project was based at the Graduate Faculty's Center for Economic Policy Analysis.[^39]
On October 21, 2004, the school announced that Schwartz, [[Peggy Brim Bewkes]], [[Eileen Naughton]] and [[Richard Reiss Jr.]] had joined its Board of Trustees on September 1, 2004, and that [[Philip Scaturro]] was chairman of the board. The release lists Schwartz as chairman of [[K & F Industries]] and a member of the board of [[First Data Corporation]], and as a trustee of [[NYU Hospitals Center]], [[Thirteen-WNET]], [[Baruch College]] and the Democratic Leadership Council. It describes him as a member of the advisory council of the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, where he had established a chair in political economy, and says he "established fellowship programs at the Council on Foreign Relations and The New America Foundation."[^40]
On November 4, 2004, the school announced a $10 million grant from the [[Starr Foundation]], which the release calls "the largest foundation gift in the University's history," to establish the [[India China Institute]], led by Provost [[Arjun Appadurai]] and Graduate Faculty dean [[Benjamin Lee]]. The same release announced a $3.7 million gift from Schwartz to establish the [[Bernard Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis]] and endow the Irene and Bernard L. Schwartz Professor of Economics and Policy. The release says the center was established in September 2004 and that it continues to sponsor the Irene and Bernard Schwartz Lecture. Kerrey's quoted remarks attribute the $3.7 million to the [[Bernard and Irene Schwartz Foundation]].[^41]
### Other gifts
On March 20, 2002, the [[Council on Foreign Relations]] announced that [[Bennett Freeman]] had been named the first Bernard L. Schwartz Fellow in Business and Foreign Policy, a post housed in the council's new [[Maurice R. Greenberg Center for Geoeconomic Studies]]. The release states: "This fellowship is funded by Bernard L. Schwartz, Chairman and CEO of Loral Space & Communications Ltd."[^42]
The [[New America Foundation]]'s memorial page says Schwartz served on its board from 2004 to 2010 and was a supporter of its Fellows Program. The page credits 40 Bernard L. Schwartz New America Fellows with six New York Times bestsellers.[^43]
On August 4, 2005, the [[Brookings Institution]] announced that Schwartz had established the Bernard L. Schwartz Chair in International Economics.[^44]
In July 2006 Schwartz was identified as a donor to an alliance of nearly a hundred wealthy donors that had directed more than $50 million in nine months to liberal think tanks and advocacy groups; he said the group offers partners "an array of opportunities that have passed their smell test."[^30]
### Later life
The 2014 memoir took its title from the motto Schwartz used to end disputes. He would listen to opposing views, make up his mind, and tell anyone who persisted to "just say yes."[^1] He married Irene Zanderer, whom he had met at City College of New York; they were married for 63 years, until her death in 2014. He married Denise Jansen in 2018. In 2006 he founded [[BLS Investments]], a private investment firm. He died at his home in Manhattan on March 12, 2024, aged 98.[^1]
Federal Election Commission records list itemized contributions under the name Bernard L. Schwartz with the employer BLS Investments in 2023 and 2024, including $100,000 on September 21, 2023 to the Harris Victory Fund, and $25,000 on February 6, 2024 each to the Harris Victory Fund and to the Democratic National Committee.[^45]
### Footnotes
[^1]: "Bernard Schwartz, antiwar executive who built an arms maker, dies at 98," The New York Times, reprinted by The Boston Globe, March 19, 2024, https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/03/19/metro/bernard-schwartz-antiwar-executive-who-built-an-arms-maker-dies-98
[^2]: U.S. House of Representatives, Select Committee on U.S. National Security and Military/Commercial Concerns with the People's Republic of China, Report (H. Rept. 105-851, issued January 3, 1999, declassified in part May 25, 1999), vol. II, pp. 117 to 118 (Loral Space and Communications, Ltd. as the parent of Loral; the 1990 Ford Aerospace acquisition and renaming as Space Systems/Loral), https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CRPT-105hrpt851/pdf/GPO-CRPT-105hrpt851.pdf
[^3]: Dave Eisenstadt, "Orbiter of Power," Mother Jones, May 1, 1997, https://www.motherjones.com/politics/1997/05/orbiter-power/ Sole source for the $27 million stock-gain figure, the defense-post and White House dinner statements, the Democratic Leadership Council total and the ranking entry ("#1," "Party: Both," "$661,000 total contributions").
[^4]: Loral Space & Communications Ltd., Form 10-K for fiscal year 2005, statements on the July 15, 2003 reorganization filings of Old Loral and certain subsidiaries, the retirement of Bernard L. Schwartz effective March 1, 2006, and the election of Michael B. Targoff as chief executive, https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1006269/000095012306003801/y18173e10vk.htm
[^5]: Cox Report, vol. I, pp. 49 to 50 and notes 112 to 116 (p. 240), covering the meetings with Ron Brown, the 1994 trade mission, the letter to the President co-signed by Armstrong, Schwartz and Tellep, the November 21, 1998 Schwartz deposition, and the count of five satellite projects; declassification date from the report's front matter, https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CRPT-105hrpt851/pdf/GPO-CRPT-105hrpt851.pdf
[^6]: Cox Report, vol. III, ch. 9, p. 61 (letter of October 6, 1995 from Armstrong, Schwartz and Tellep to the President), https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CRPT-105hrpt851/pdf/GPO-CRPT-105hrpt851.pdf
[^7]: Cox Report, vol. I, p. 215 (1995 Memorandum of Agreement between Loral and China Aerospace Corporation), vol. II, p. 178 (chronology entry "June 9 Loral signs Memorandum of Agreement with CASC for a ten-year joint technology development program") and p. 330, note 260 (Memorandum of Agreement "signed on June 9, 1995 by Robert E. Berry and Zhang Xin-Xia"), https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CRPT-105hrpt851/pdf/GPO-CRPT-105hrpt851.pdf
[^8]: U.S. Department of State, Office of Defense Trade Controls, Draft Charging Letter to Space Systems/Loral, Inc. (undated; paragraphs 5 to 22 and charges 1 to 64; note 4 on the agreements with CASC), published by the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls, https://www.pmddtc.state.gov/sys_attachment.do?sys_id=032ef245db15df00d0a370131f96192b
[^9]: Cox Report, vol. I, p. 50, sidebar on Loral's Presidential waivers for another launch in the PRC, https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CRPT-105hrpt851/pdf/GPO-CRPT-105hrpt851.pdf The sentence is the committee's own characterization.
[^10]: Cox Report, vol. II, p. 96 (Chapter 6 summary: failure of the Intelsat 708 launch from Xichang on February 15, 1996), p. 119 (3:00 a.m. local time) and the chronology entry for February 15, 1996, p. 178, https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CRPT-105hrpt851/pdf/GPO-CRPT-105hrpt851.pdf
[^11]: Cox Report, vol. II, p. 157 ("its final failure determination: that the cause of the February 11, 1996 Long March 3B crash was the absence of current output from the servo-loop of the follow-up frame of the inertial guidance platform," announced September 10, 1996), https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CRPT-105hrpt851/pdf/GPO-CRPT-105hrpt851.pdf
[^12]: Cox Report, vol. II, pp. 96 and 108 (Wah Lim invited to chair the Independent Review Committee), p. 109 (meetings at Loral's offices in Palo Alto, April 22 to 24, 1996) and pp. 113 to 114 (Feith & Zell engaged May 23, 1996; disclosure to the State Department June 17, 1996), https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CRPT-105hrpt851/pdf/GPO-CRPT-105hrpt851.pdf
[^13]: Cox Report, Overview, vol. I, pp. xix to xx, https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CRPT-105hrpt851/pdf/GPO-CRPT-105hrpt851.pdf
[^14]: Cox Report, vol. II, p. 98 (quotation of the 1997 Defense Department assessment) and the chronology entry for May 16, 1997, p. 193 (Defense Technology Security Administration recommendation of referral to the Justice Department), https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CRPT-105hrpt851/pdf/GPO-CRPT-105hrpt851.pdf
[^15]: Cox Report, vol. II, p. 98 (July 1998 interagency review team assessment), https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CRPT-105hrpt851/pdf/GPO-CRPT-105hrpt851.pdf
[^16]: Cox Report, vol. III, ch. 9, p. 50 (national-interest determinations from 1989, Bush and Clinton determinations including those of 1996, and the February 18, 1998 determination for the Chinasat-8 satellite built by Loral), https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CRPT-105hrpt851/pdf/GPO-CRPT-105hrpt851.pdf
[^17]: Jeff Gerth and John M. Broder, "The White House Dismissed Warnings on China Satellite Deal," The New York Times, June 1, 1998, reprinted in the Congressional Record, House, June 18, 1998, pp. H4758 to H4760, https://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/china/1998/h980618-prc7.htm The Times version of Berger's memorandum reads "In any case ... we believe that the advantages of this project outweigh this risk"; the Cox Report quotation reads "outweigh the risk."
[^18]: Cox Report, vol. III, ch. 9, pp. 52 to 53 and notes 174 to 176 (January 1998 draft National Security Council memorandum; the C-802 reference, deleted from the memorandum sent to the President), https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CRPT-105hrpt851/pdf/GPO-CRPT-105hrpt851.pdf
[^19]: Cox Report, vol. III, ch. 9, p. 51 (passage quoted from the decision memorandum for the President, released May 22, 1998) and p. 185, note 169 (memorandum of February 12, 1998 from Samuel L. Berger, Larry Stein and Daniel Tarullo; Cox spells the adviser's middle initial "L," and the New York Times spells it "R."), https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CRPT-105hrpt851/pdf/GPO-CRPT-105hrpt851.pdf
[^20]: Cox Report, vol. III, ch. 9, p. 51 (transmittal memorandum dated February 18, 1998 from Phil Caplan, Executive Clerk, Office of the White House, relaying the counsel's note and the Justice Department position), https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CRPT-105hrpt851/pdf/GPO-CRPT-105hrpt851.pdf
[^21]: Cox Report, vol. III, ch. 9, p. 52 (continuation of the Caplan transmittal memorandum, note 170), https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CRPT-105hrpt851/pdf/GPO-CRPT-105hrpt851.pdf
[^22]: Cox Report, vol. III, ch. 9, p. 52 (Robert S. Litt, Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General, recollection of the Justice Department's notice of the application, interview of December 8, 1998, printed in the report's notes as "1988"; Commerce license of March 23, 1998), https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CRPT-105hrpt851/pdf/GPO-CRPT-105hrpt851.pdf
[^23]: Cox Report, vol. III, ch. 9, p. 51 (New York Times report of April 13, 1998; White House release of documents on May 22, 1998; the Times description of Schwartz as "the largest individual donor to the Democratic Party in 1997," cited to the Times in note 168), https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CRPT-105hrpt851/pdf/GPO-CRPT-105hrpt851.pdf
[^24]: The New York Times, May 19, 1998, account of Loral's May 18, 1998 statement, reprinted in the Congressional Record, House, June 18, 1998, https://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/china/1998/h980618-prc6.htm
[^25]: Shirley A. Kan, Congressional Research Service Report 98-485, "China: Possible Missile Technology Transfers Under U.S. Satellite Export Policy: Actions and Chronology," updated March 27, 2003, pp. 7 to 9 and chronology (citing William C. Rempel and Alan C. Miller, "Internal Justice Memo Excuses Loral From Funds Probe," Los Angeles Times, May 23, 2000; David Johnston, "Memo Shows Another Push For Clinton Inquiry," The New York Times, May 3, 2000; Walter Pincus, "Defense Award Rescinded From Firm Being Probed," The Washington Post, July 18, 2000; Andy Pasztor and David Cloud, The Wall Street Journal, August 31, 2001), https://www.everycrsreport.com/files/20030327_98-485_ee468327e241c908e7fe19dc62e4d7f02279db65.html
[^26]: Henry A. Waxman, extension of remarks addressed to Representative Curt Weldon, Congressional Record, October 28, 2000, p. E1991 (quoting memoranda of Lee Radek of August 5, 1998 and Charles LaBella of August 12, 1998, the Los Angeles Times of May 23, 2000 and the New York Times of May 24, 1998), https://www.govinfo.gov/link/crec/146/E/1991 The statement is Waxman's characterization, made in a dispute with Weldon.
[^27]: Federal Election Commission, itemized receipts (Schedule A index, OpenFEC) for contributor names "SCHWARTZ, BERNARD L" and "SCHWARTZ, BERNARD" with New York addresses, two-year periods 1996 and 1998 (covering January 1995 through December 1998), https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/schedules/schedule_a/?contributor_name=SCHWARTZ%2C+BERNARD+L&two_year_transaction_period=1996 The index is incomplete for the earlier period, and the totals given are sums of the itemized rows computed from the index, not totals reported by the committees.
[^28]: Shirley A. Kan, Congressional Research Service Report 98-485, updated August 13, 1998, https://www.everycrsreport.com/files/19980813_98-485_e7cf0f509de870d8e74490ae9a58cfb95a001443.html
[^29]: "The Mother Jones 400," Mother Jones, November 1998, entry No. 3, Bernard L. and Irene Schwartz, https://www.motherjones.com/politics/1998/11/mojo-400-top-ten-0/
[^30]: Daniel McKivergan, "Mi$$ile Man," Washington Examiner, July 17, 2006, quoting a Washington Post article of that day and an Associated Press report of January 10, 2002, https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/1808307/miile-man/
[^31]: U.S. Senate, Committee on Governmental Affairs, S. Rept. 105-167, vol. 1 of 6, ordered printed March 10, 1998, table of contents, https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CRPT-105srpt167/pdf/CRPT-105srpt167-pt1.pdf
[^32]: U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Government Reform and Oversight, H. Rept. 105-829, interim report, vol. 1 of 4, November 5, 1998, section "Overseas Wires and Contributions," https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CRPT-105hrpt829/pdf/CRPT-105hrpt829-vol1.pdf
[^33]: Cox Report, vol. I, pp. 23 to 24 (Chung's plea-negotiation disclosures; the FBI confirmation of the deposit; the committee's conclusion on the payment; Liu's position at China Aerospace International Holdings; the Apstar and APMT shareholding; China Great Wall Industry Corporation), https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CRPT-105hrpt851/pdf/GPO-CRPT-105hrpt851.pdf
[^34]: Mike O'Sullivan, "Fundraiser Sentenced," Voice of America correspondent report, Los Angeles, December 14, 1998, https://irp.fas.org/news/1998/12/981215-chung.htm
[^35]: U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, Office of Defense Trade Controls, consent agreement with Space Systems/Loral, Inc., January 9, 2002 (draft charging letter, civil penalty, neither-admit-nor-deny clause, and the CHINASAT-8 and APSTAR V licensing paragraph), Exhibit 10.1 to Loral's Form 8-K, https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001006269/000095012302000193/y56456ex10-1.txt
[^36]: Loral Space & Communications Ltd., Form 8-K, January 2002, Item 5, https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001006269/000095012302000193/y56456e8-k.txt
[^37]: "Loral and U.S. Government Settle 1996 Chinese Launch Matter," Loral Space & Communications announcement, January 9, 2002, https://spacenews.com/?p=33950
[^38]: U.S. Customs Service news release, "U.S. Customs Probes Into Satellite Manufacturer Results in Record $20 Million Fine," January 10, 2002, as reprinted by the U.S. Department of State, International Information Programs, https://web.archive.org/web/20030114052408/http://usinfo.state.gov/regional/ea/uschina/loralcna.htm
[^39]: New School press release, November 9, 2001, Wayback Machine capture of September 10, 2006, http://www.newschool.edu/pressroom/pressreleases/2001/110901_schwart.html (capture at https://web.archive.org/web/20060910004616/http://www.newschool.edu/pressroom/pressreleases/2001/110901_schwart.html)
[^40]: New School press release, "New School University Announces New Board Members," October 21, 2004, https://www.newschool.edu/pressroom/pressreleases/2004/102104_nsu_members.html (Wayback Machine capture of September 10, 2006: Bewkes, Naughton, Reiss and Schwartz joined September 1, 2004; Philip Scaturro as chairman of the board; Schwartz's listed positions)
[^41]: New School press release, "New School University Receives Major Gifts to Fund Projects Related to Globalization," November 4, 2004, https://www.newschool.edu/pressroom/pressreleases/2004/110404_nsu_gifts.html (Wayback Machine capture of September 10, 2006: the Starr Foundation grant of $10 million, "the largest foundation gift in the University's history"; the $3.7 million gift; the center "established in September 2004"; Kerrey's remarks naming the Bernard and Irene Schwartz Foundation)
[^42]: Council on Foreign Relations, "Bennett Freeman Named First Bernard L. Schwartz Senior Fellow in Business and Foreign Policy," press release dated March 20, 2002, https://www.cfr.org/articles/bennett-freeman-named-first-bernard-l-schwartz-senior-fellow-business-and-foreign
[^43]: "In memory of Bernard L. Schwartz," New America, Wayback Machine capture of March 20, 2024, https://web.archive.org/web/20240320232540/https://www.newamerica.org/fellows/in-memory-of-bernard-l-schwartz/
[^44]: Brookings Institution, "Bernard L. Schwartz Establishes Chair at Brookings," news release, August 4, 2005, https://www.brookings.edu/news-releases/bernard-l-schwartz-establishes-chair-at-brookings/
[^45]: Federal Election Commission, itemized receipts (Schedule A index, OpenFEC) for contributor name "SCHWARTZ, BERNARD L" with employer BLS Investments, two-year periods 2024 and 2022 to 2024, https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/schedules/schedule_a/?contributor_name=SCHWARTZ%2C+BERNARD+L

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---
category: "Scientists & Researchers"
tags:
- Person
- HansSpeier
- PsychologicalWarfare
- PropagandaAnalysis
- NewSchool
- UniversityInExile
- RAND
- FBIS
- OWI
- ProjectTroy
- Quantico
- ColdWar
- RockefellerFoundation
- FordFoundation
aliases:
- Hans Speier
- Speier
- Hans-Heinrich Adolf Ludwig Speier
summary: "German-American sociologist who analyzed Nazi radio at the New School, ran German analysis at the Foreign Broadcast Intelligence Service, and from 1948 to 1960 directed the Social Science Division of the RAND Corporation."
born: 1905-02-03
died: 1990-02-17
location: "Berlin, Germany; New York; Washington, D.C.; Santa Monica, California"
created: 2026-10-09
updated: 2026-10-09
relations:
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Deutsche Hochschule für Politik]]"
role: "lecturer in political sociology"
start: 1931-11
end: 1933-04
fn: 5
- type: member_of
with: "[[New School for Social Research]]"
role: "one of ten founding members of the University in Exile (Graduate Faculty)"
start: 1933
fn: 8
- type: employed_by
with: "[[New School for Social Research]]"
role: "professor of sociology"
start: 1933-09
end: 1948
fn: 8
- type: director_of
with: "[[Research Project on Totalitarian Communication]]"
role: "co-director with Ernst Kris"
start: 1941-04
end: 1943-01
fn: 12
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Foreign Broadcast Intelligence Service]]"
role: "Senior Political Analyst, head of the Central European Section; Principal Political Analyst from November 1942"
start: 1942-03
end: 1944-05
fn: 15
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Office of War Information]]"
role: "head of the German Committee; Propaganda Policy Adviser (Germany) from December 1944"
start: 1944-05
end: 1945-08
fn: 25
- type: employed_by
with: "[[U.S. Department of State]]"
role: "Deputy and Acting Chief, Division for Occupied Areas"
start: 1946-01
end: 1947-09
fn: 26
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Rand Corporation]]"
role: "head of the Social Science Division"
start: 1948-07
end: 1960
fn: 28
- type: participant_in
with: "[[Project Troy]]"
role: "panel member"
start: 1950-10
end: 1951-02
fn: 35
- type: participant_in
with: "[[Quantico I and II]]"
role: "panel member, Quantico Vulnerabilities Panel"
start: 1955-06
end: 1955-06
fn: 41
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Ford Foundation]]"
role: "consultant on the Behavioral Sciences Program"
start: 1951
fn: 39
- type: employed_by
with: "[[University of Massachusetts Amherst]]"
role: "professor of sociology"
start: 1969
fn: 43
---
Hans Speier (February 3, 1905 to February 17, 1990) was a German sociologist who emigrated in 1933, helped found the Graduate Faculty (the University in Exile) at the [[New School for Social Research]], co-directed a Rockefeller-funded study of Nazi radio propaganda, and then moved through the [[Foreign Broadcast Intelligence Service]], the [[Office of War Information]] and the [[U.S. Department of State]] into the [[Rand Corporation]], where he headed the Social Science Division from 1948 to 1960. He sat on the State Department's [[Project Troy]] panel in 1950 and 1951 and on the 1955 [[Quantico I and II|Quantico]] panel convened by [[Nelson Rockefeller]], and he drafted the plan that became the [[Ford Foundation]]'s Behavioral Sciences Program and Stanford's [[Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences]].[^1]
### Berlin and Heidelberg
Hans-Heinrich Adolf Ludwig Speier was born in Berlin to Adolf Speier, an insurance executive, and Anna Persson (spelled Person in one account). He sat the Abitur at the Helmholtz Realgymnasium in Friedenau, worked as a bank apprentice at Sachs, Warschauer and Company, and from 1926 studied economics and sociology at the [[University of Heidelberg]] under [[Emil Lederer]] and [[Karl Mannheim]], becoming a founding member of the Mannheim circle there. Through [[Karl Jaspers]], who advised him in philosophy, he knew [[Hannah Arendt]] and Dolf Sternberger; in 1925 he met the exchange student [[Talcott Parsons]], who later vouched for him to the American government.[^2][^3]
He took his doctorate under Mannheim on April 19, 1928, with a dissertation on the philosophy of history of Ferdinand Lassalle. Lederer placed him as an analyst in the Berlin office of [[Rudolf Hilferding]], then finance minister, and he joined the [[Social Democratic Party of Germany]] in 1928 or 1929. He married the pediatrician Luise (Lisa) Griesbach, who was Jewish, on August 30, 1929; she lost her post in Berlin's welfare office in 1933.[^4]
From October 1928 he edited for the [[Ullstein Verlag]] in Berlin, and from 1931 he lectured in political sociology at the [[Deutsche Hochschule für Politik]] under its director [[Ernst Jäckh]]. He also worked for Lederer as editor of the Archiv für Sozialwissenschaft und Sozialpolitik and lectured to young Social Democrats on the history of the German parties. The Hochschule was financed in part by the [[Rockefeller Foundation]] and the [[Carnegie Corporation]], and colleagues there included [[Sigmund Neumann]], [[Albert Salomon]], [[Hans Simons]] and [[Franz Neumann]].[^5][^6]
### The University in Exile
The Propaganda Ministry seized the Hochschule in April 1933 and dismissed Speier. That summer Lederer, then in London, wrote asking whether he would help create a University in Exile at the New School; Speier carried contracts between London and Berlin to prospective members, reached New York on September 15, 1933, and entered the United States as a non-quota academic immigrant.[^7] [[Alvin Johnson]], the New School's president, had raised $120,000 from the philanthropist Hiram Halle to fund fifteen professorships of $4,000 each. The ten founding members were Karl Brandt, [[Gerhard Colm]], Arthur Feiler, [[Eduard Heimann]], Erich von Hornbostel, Herman Kantorowicz, Lederer, Speier, [[Max Wertheimer]] and Frieda Wunderlich.[^8]
Speier was the first editor of the journal Social Research. With Alfred Kähler he edited the 1939 collection War in Our Time, and the Graduate Faculty produced the first English translation of Hitler's Mein Kampf in 1938 and 1939, the edition later used by the [[Office of Strategic Services]] and the OWI.[^9] He became a US citizen on April 20, 1940.[^10]
### Research Project on Totalitarian Communication
The [[Research Project on Totalitarian Communication]] began work on April 1, 1941, at the Graduate Faculty under the co-directorship of Speier and the Viennese psychoanalyst [[Ernst Kris]], who had run an analysis unit on German broadcasts for the [[BBC]] in London. The preface to its 1944 book states that the project was "supported by one of the large foundations" and was assigned "to develop methods for the study of enemy propaganda and to train American social scientists for prospective government work in this field." It worked from the BBC Monitoring Service's restricted Daily Digest of Foreign Broadcasts and from documents obtained through John Salt, then deputy director of the BBC's New York office, and its research papers went "almost exclusively to government agencies in Washington, London, and Ottawa."[^11]
The Rockefeller Foundation granted the project $15,960 in March 1941 and a further $19,000 in 1942. Alvin Johnson housed the staff in rooms at the New School. The Rockefeller Foundation also funded [[Harold Graves]]'s Princeton Shortwave Listening Center and Harold Lasswell's Experimental Division for the Study of Wartime Communications at the [[Library of Congress]], and the project brought Speier into contact with Lasswell's division and with the Committee for National Morale. The proposal Speier and Kris submitted to the foundation in late 1940 described the project as a way to train "American social scientists for prospective government work in this field." Speier's own chronology describes the project as financed for two years "for training of Rockefeller Research Fellows and study of classified British materials." Kris's papers at the Library of Congress include a Rockefeller Foundation correspondence file for 1940 to 1952 and the project's research papers for 1941 to 1944. The project's roster of twenty-four named staff, its eight research papers and the 1944 book are set out on the project's own page.[^12][^13]
The Graduate Faculty as a whole supplied more than twenty-five government-associated projects. The National Defense Commission asked the New School in the winter of 1939 to 1940 for analyses of the Nazi victories, and Washington organizations used intermediaries at the Rockefeller Foundation to assign projects to Graduate Faculty members who were still foreign nationals. The [[Board of Economic Warfare]], the Foreign Economic Administration and the Social Science Research Council's Public Administration Committee made use of its research, the OSS regarded the New School as the best collection of German left-leaning intellectuals in the United States, and more than two hundred of its former students worked for the government during the war.[^14]
### Foreign Broadcast Intelligence Service
A week after Pearl Harbor Speier sent the project's first report to the FBIS, the civilian unit of the [[Federal Communications Commission]] that monitored foreign radio. Harold Graves, the FBIS senior administrator since March 1941, had directed the Princeton Listening Center, which was launched in November 1939 with Rockefeller Foundation funding and which the service absorbed in June 1941; Graves forwarded Speier's reports and asked for more, and Lloyd Free, the director of the service, and [[Goodwin Watson]], head of its Analysis Division, read his work "with the greatest of interest." Watson offered him the post of Senior Political Analyst, head of the Central European Section, in February 1942. On July 29, 1942, Nelson Rockefeller, then Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs, wrote to the FCC chairman [[James Fly]] asking for a greater volume of verbatim transcripts from the service's Kingsville bureau for use in propaganda promoting hemispheric solidarity.[^15][^16]
The FBI delayed his appointment for months. According to Speier's own letter to [[Kurt Riezler]], investigators suspected him of "having been a dangerously subversive character" because he had published on Marx in Germany and "was not a Jew and yet left Germany in 1933"; a neighbor wrongly told them he travelled often to Germany. The Civil Service Commission informed him on May 26, 1942, two months after he entered the Analysis Division, that he had been rated eligible. His wife Lisa was Jewish.[^17] The Central European Section analyzed all broadcasts from Greater Germany, Scandinavia, Hungary and the Netherlands, and Speier personally examined every German-language broadcast. His section included Alexander George, [[Nathan Leites]] and the psychologist Henry Kellermann; George and Leites later followed him to RAND. In November 1942 Speier became Principal Political Analyst, which made him a vice president of the Analysis Division. Watson wrote of him on November 13, 1943: "I know of nobody in the United States whom I would willingly trade for him." Watson also praised his "extraordinarily good job of analysis" and "uncanny memory," and in July 1943 Speier declined an offer to join the Office of War Information.[^18][^19]
On October 29, 1943, Speier wrote a memorandum predicting the content of Hitler's speech for the anniversary of the Beer Hall Putsch; seventeen of twenty-five predictions proved correct, and an OWI contact, Mark Abrams, passed the memorandum to Representative Joseph Martin and Senator Alexander Wiley, who delivered a radio broadcast taking most of its content from it. In May 1943 Watson sent FBIS director Robert Leigh a list of recruits for the section, all but one of them German exiles, among them Sigmund Neumann, Hans Simons and Arnold Wolfers; Leigh replied that he wanted "scholar[s] trained in American Universities."[^20][^21]
### Dies and Cox
Representative [[Martin Dies]], first chairman of the House Un-American Activities Committee, accused three FBIS employees of "un-American beliefs": Watson, the Soviet specialist Frederick Schuman of Speier's section, and William E. Dodd Jr. of the Report Section. The CIA's staff historian Stephen Mercado writes that Dies may have been provoked by FBIS reports that his statements were being praised in Nazi Germany, which had drawn a public rebuke from Vice President [[Henry Wallace]]. In 1943 Congress, by a rider (Section 304) to the Urgent Deficiency Appropriation Act of 1943, halted the pay of Watson, Dodd and a third employee, Robert Morss Lovett, after a special subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee under [[John H. Kerr]] reported; the Supreme Court held the measure unconstitutional in United States v. Lovett (1946).[^22] Separately, Representative Eugene Cox of Georgia opened hearings against the FCC in January 1943 and charged that FBIS was "a glorified news agency that provided nothing of value to the military"; the Cox-Lea Committee submitted its final report on January 2, 1945, after concluding that the United States could not conduct an intelligent program for counteracting enemy propaganda without accurate knowledge of that propaganda. Schuman, who had joined FBIS from Williams College in October 1942, had resigned and returned to Williams before the 1943 cutoff. Watson and Dodd resigned a few days after the cutoff date of November 15, 1943, and Speier replaced Watson as Acting Chief Analyst, overseeing thirty people.[^23]
In February 1944 the appropriations committee cut 30 percent of the FBIS budget. Leigh's newsletter attributed the cut to Cox's opposition to the FCC and to the Dodd-Watson case, and [[William L. Langer]] of the OSS Research and Analysis Branch intervened for the service without result. By April 1944 most analysts had left the Central European Section, George and Kellermann going to the OSS Research and Analysis Branch, and Speier was left with "four inexperienced assistants." Leigh resigned in the summer of 1944.[^24]
### Office of War Information
Speier transferred from FBIS to the OWI's Overseas Operations Branch on May 22, 1944, under Wallace Carroll, as head of the German Committee of Area One, and in December 1944 became Propaganda Policy Adviser for Germany, responsible for planning psychological warfare against Germany and long-range propaganda to be used inside it after defeat. He sat on the interdepartmental German Propaganda Policy Committee, attended the Overseas Planning Board and belonged to the Review Board, and worked with British officials in Washington. In April 1943 the Analysis Division and the OWI's Bureau of Research and Analysis of the Overseas Operations Branch had agreed that the OWI would use the division for analysis of radio broadcasts, and in May 1943 the division moved to OWI headquarters with Watson as its director, in offices contiguous with the branch Speier later joined. Bessner reports that Speier wrote many of the directives for broadcasts to Germany over the [[Voice of America]], which Carroll signed. A central directive of July 1944, as quoted by Winkler, stated that "our propaganda offensive will run boldly in advance of our military offensive" and that "We shall proceed on the implicit assumption that the German will to resist can be broken and will be broken by next December."[^25]
### Division for Occupied Areas
After the OWI closed, Speier acted as liaison between State and General Robert McClure's Information Control Division of the US military government, and visited Germany in October 1945. At Bad Homburg a weather delay put him in conversation with Assistant Secretary of State [[William Benton]]; an OWI cable of November 20, 1945, relayed Benton's view that Speier was "the best man OWI ever sent to Germany." State offered him a place on the planned Policy Planning Staff; he declined and instead became Acting Deputy Chief of the Division for Occupied Areas in January 1946, and from January 1947 its Associate (Acting) Chief, supervising about twenty-five staff. His paper on licensing political newspapers in the US zone was rejected by General [[Lucius Clay]]. He returned to the New School in September 1947, declining an offer to coordinate all information media for the military government in Berlin.[^26]
### Return to the New School
Back at the New School for 1947 and 1948 he was elected to found a Division of International Studies. He had been in conflict since 1943 with colleagues over the Institute of World Affairs, a research center financed by [[Doris Duke]], and described himself as "used as a pawn in ridiculous faculty politics." The Graduate Faculty extended his leave of absence in 1948, 1949, 1950 and 1951 after he joined RAND.[^27]
### RAND and the Social Science Division
In September 1947 Project RAND held a Conference of Social Scientists in New York to find leaders for its planned Social Science and Economics divisions. A committee of Herbert Goldhamer, Olaf Helmer, Frederick Mosteller, Leo Rosten, W. Allen Wallis, Warren Weaver and Samuel Wilks had begun considering candidates in the summer of 1946. Speier came to RAND's attention through the screenwriter [[Leo Rosten]], whom he had known at the OWI, where Rosten had been the liaison between Washington and Hollywood; he had not heard of RAND and asked State Department colleagues whether it was genuine. The thirty-five participants included RAND's Frank Collbohm, Olaf Helmer and John D. Williams, Charles Dollard of the Carnegie Corporation, Donald Young of the Social Science Research Council, Kris, Franz Neumann, [[Harold Lasswell]], [[Bernard Brodie]], [[Ruth Benedict]], [[Pendleton Herring]] of the Carnegie Corporation, and [[Warren Weaver]] of the Rockefeller Foundation, who told the group that every piece of knowledge in sociology, economics and political science would be forged into "weapons" for the defense of democracy. Collbohm told the group that the Air Force "makes available to RAND information in other fields, intelligence, plans, etc." Speier told the conference that the "fundamental task of American foreign policy [is] to stem Communism anywhere without at the same time playing into the hands of Fascism." Speier consulted for RAND from May 1948 and directed the Social Science Division from July 1948. At his insistence it was based in Washington until 1957.[^28]
RAND became an independent corporation on May 14, 1948. [[H. Rowan Gaither]] and [[Frank Collbohm]] arranged the separation from [[Douglas Aircraft]] with a $100,000 interest-free loan and a $300,000 credit guarantee from [[Henry Ford II]] of the Ford Foundation, later raised to $1,000,000; the Carnegie Corporation, the National Science Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation were among RAND's other early financial supporters.[^29] Speier hired former wartime colleagues, among them [[Alexander George]], Nathan Leites and Phil Davison, recruited the nuclear strategists Bernard Brodie and William Kaufmann, and used Leon Gouré, John Herz and [[Otto Kirchheimer]] as consultants. Speier held a "Q" clearance, the highest nuclear clearance, and visited the North American Air Defense Command and Strategic Air Command headquarters. He opened a RAND office in Wiesbaden. In October 1960 RAND's five divisions were split into eleven departments; [[Herbert Goldhamer]] took over the social science side and Speier joined the Research Council, which he chaired in 1961 and 1962; from 1958 to 1962 he was also a consultant to the USAF Scientific Advisory Board.[^30]
Division publications under Speier included Nathan Leites's The Operational Code of the Politburo (1951) and RM-365, "The Exploitation of Superstitions for Purposes of Psychological Warfare," by Jean M. Hungerford, dated April 14, 1950 (Bessner gives April 15), a Project RAND research memorandum marked as a working paper. It surveys superstition in wartime Germany (astrologers, fortune-tellers, crystal-gazers and chain letters, with a Security Service report of May 21, 1942 on chain letters translated in an appendix), in other belligerent countries and in the postwar Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, and reports Hitler's and Goebbels's reliance on omens and fortune-tellers, Rudolf Hess's interest in the occult, and a file the FBI was said to have kept on wartime astrologers suspected of being Axis agents. Its section on deliberate manipulation records German agents posing as astrologers in France in 1940, Goebbels's 1942 diary entries on counter-horoscopes and on a plan by Berndt for occultist propaganda, the OSS black radio program Operation Hermit, which used astrology and fortune-telling in broadcasts beamed to Nanking, and British Army magicians in Italy. It concludes that attempts to manipulate superstition would probably be most successful against peasants, old people and the less educated workers of the Soviet Union and its satellites, proposes the use of astrology and fortune-telling to predict dire events likely to befall the enemy and of chain letters that would burden the enemy postal system, and lists questions on timing, on word-of-mouth rumors introduced by agents, and on boomerang effects. Its sources included the FCC's weekly reports on Nazi propaganda for 1943 and early 1944, the Central European Analysis reports of the Foreign Broadcast Intelligence Service, and Kris and Speier's German Radio Propaganda; it states that the files of "black" propagandists were not examined.[^31] After the outbreak of the Korean War a group from the division including Goldhamer, George, Davison, Ewald Schnitzer and a Hungerford (Bessner writes "Jay Hungerford"; RM-365 is credited to Jean M. Hungerford, and records found do not establish whether they are the same person) visited Korea; from August 24, 1951, Goldhamer advised the American delegation at the Kaesong armistice talks and circulated Speier's memoranda and Leites's book to the negotiators. Vice Admiral C. Turner Joy was reported to carry the Operational Code on helicopter trips to the conference site.[^32]
Speier also sat on the Human Relations and Morale subcommittee of the Defense Department's Research and Development Board's Committee on Human Resources, the body that influenced which communication studies were funded.[^33]
### Psychological Warfare Reconsidered
Truman announced the "Campaign of Truth" in April 1950, after the senator William Benton had called in March for a "Marshall Plan of Ideas." On April 10, 1950, Speier addressed the State Department's Foreign Service Institute on "Propaganda and Its Setting," warning against what he called "the democratic fallacy in propaganda," the belief that power always resides in the masses. In "Psychological Warfare Reconsidered" (RAND P-196, February 5, 1951, reissued in 1951 as a Foreign Service Institute pamphlet) he defined the aim of psychological warfare as "deviant, politically relevant behavior," meaning action that weakens the ability of elites to govern and command, wrote that the population at large "is no rewarding target of conversion propaganda from abroad," and wrote that political warfare "can therefore attack the cooperation among elite members," which depends on "a modicum of mutual trust." Deception, he wrote, is "aimed at creating erroneous estimates of enemy capabilities or intentions," and desertions of elite members, though rare, "provide great opportunities to political warfare"; he cited the defection of Rudolf Hess, which he wrote the British had not exploited. Bessner reads the first of these papers as a rejection of the Campaign of Truth. In a 1950 essay Speier wrote that "popular opinion should [not] govern the actions of governments" in a crisis.[^34]
### Project Troy
Barrett, head of the State Department's public affairs office, organized a group of experts, Speier among them, in April 1950 to discuss psychological strategy, tactics and organization; Barrett later claimed that he had drawn on the conclusions of that symposium in helping to prepare Truman's Campaign of Truth speech. The State Department then convened Project Troy after RCA chairman [[David Sarnoff]] complained to President [[Harry Truman]] about the Voice of America; State's James Webb then approached MIT's president [[James Killian]] and dean [[John Burchard]] to host a study of Soviet jamming. Speier was among the roughly twenty participants, who met in Washington in October 1950 and in Cambridge, Massachusetts until January 1951 and included [[Lloyd Berkner]], [[Jerome Bruner]], [[Clyde Kluckhohn]], [[Edward Purcell]], [[Merle Tuve]], [[Jerome Wiesner]] and Robert Morison, a physician of the Rockefeller Foundation. The report to Secretary of State [[Dean Acheson]] is dated February 1, 1951, and Bessner records Acheson's receipt of it on February 15. A State Department progress report of March 1951 describes the project as MIT's assembly of "30 of the nation's top scientists and other experts to explore all means" of penetrating the Iron Curtain, conventional and unconventional. Robert Hooker of the Policy Planning Staff told Paul Nitze on March 26, 1951, that the report "deserves the most serious consideration" and recorded its recommendations to stimulate "mutual distrust" among Soviet leaders "by artificial means, bogus letters, etc." and to increase defection. The report was anonymous; Daniel Bessner infers from the similarity to Speier's writings that Speier was a primary author of its sections on psychological warfare against the Soviet Union.[^35]
The project was followed by CENIS, MIT's Center for International Studies, which began operating in the fall of 1951 and whose first director, from February 1952, was Max Millikan, an economist who had spent a year at the CIA.[^36] The Psychological Strategy Board's directive PSB D-31 of November 26, 1952, issued by a panel of State, Defense, CIA and PSB personnel (the board for which Speier would consult), called for increasing suspicion within the communist system "to the point of systematic removal or elimination of personnel in important and effective positions."[^37]
### Psychological Warfare in Germany
At the request of Shepard Stone of the High Commission for Occupied Germany, Speier and Wallace Carroll visited Germany in autumn 1950 as State Department consultants and delivered on December 1, 1950, "Psychological Warfare in Germany," whose primary recommendation was to "destroy Soviet power in Germany." The report called for propaganda to create the belief that an East German resistance movement was ready to fight, and described later phases of "infiltration of selected Soviet zone organizations, ... sabotage, abduction, direct action against selected, high placed functionaries." After Stalin's note of March 1952 the Psychological Strategy Board's directive PSB D-21 (October 9, 1952) set out tasks including disaffection and defection in the Soviet Zone and non-attributable psychological, political and economic harassment; a later implementation report records financial assistance to a West Berlin publisher to distribute 50,000 fake copies of the East German labor paper Tribuene.[^38]
### The Ford Foundation and the Behavioral Sciences Center
Gaither, who chaired the Ford Foundation study committee of 1949 and had arranged RAND's Ford loan, asked Speier and Donald Marquis in late 1950 for advice on the foundation's Program Five. Speier recommended Bernard Berelson as its director; with Marquis and Berelson he presented in December 1951 a plan proposing an institute for advanced training in the behavioral sciences, a research center on international communication and a study of the stability of totalitarian governments. The Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences opened at Stanford in September 1954 under Ralph Tyler. Speier spent 1956 and 1957 there as a fellow.[^39]
For the MIT program, Speier visited Millikan in February 1952, and in the spring of 1952 Ford trustees granted CENIS $875,000 for a research program in international communication. Speier chaired the planning committee (Bruner, Carroll, Lasswell, [[Paul Lazarsfeld]], Edward Shils, [[Ithiel de Sola Pool]]), whose June 1953 report recommended study of "communications to and from the wielders of power and influence"; Pool became the program's research director after Speier declined the position.[^40]
### Quantico I
Nelson Rockefeller, then Eisenhower's Special Assistant for Cold War Planning, invited Speier on May 25, 1955. The Quantico Vulnerabilities Panel met at the Marine Corps Schools from June 5 to 10, 1955, with [[Henry Kissinger]] and members of the State and Defense Departments, the CIA, the Operations Coordinating Board and the National Security Council attending some sessions. Its report lists Speier as of the RAND Corporation. Its chairman was [[Walt Rostow]] of MIT; the other members were Frederick Dunn, [[C. D. Jackson]], Ellis Johnson, Paul Linebarger, Max Millikan, Philip Mosely, George Pettee, Stefan Possony, Speier and Charles A. H. Thomson. On June 13, 1955, Rockefeller sent [[Allen Dulles]] a copy (Copy No. 42), thanking him for the participation of members of his agency in the panel discussions; on July 25, 1955, [[Richard Bissell]], Special Assistant to the Director of Central Intelligence for Planning and Coordination, sent the Assistant Director for National Estimates a memorandum drawing attention to Ellis Johnson's supporting paper on the requirements for the United States and NATO to win the arms race. Its report, stamped Secret, recommends proposals including "a proposed agreement for mutual inspection of military installations, forces, and armaments" and a convention on the right of aircraft to fly over any country. Speier's memorandum for the panel held that the Soviets would use the Geneva summit for advantage in "the international struggle for power" and that the United States should "force them to retreat." Rockefeller handed Eisenhower a note recommending mutual aerial inspection on July 6 and sent him a memorandum, "Psychological Strategy at Geneva," on July 11. On July 21, 1955, Eisenhower proposed Open Skies, and Rockefeller cabled panel members that they "should be reading newspapers tonight with great pride and satisfaction." Speier did not attend Quantico II (September 25 to 29, 1955), because he was in Germany for RAND; Kissinger attended in his place, and Rockefeller became Kissinger's patron. According to Bessner, Speier never again consulted for the executive branch.[^41]
### The Political Game
With Herbert Goldhamer, Speier developed a free-form political simulation, played four times at RAND in 1955 and 1956 and presented to the Social Science Research Council, the Army War College and West Point. Players took national roles, wrote justifications for each move and met random events refereed by staff; State Department officials joined the fourth game. In 1960 CENIS held the game POLEX II, the Joint War Games Agency adopted it, and in September and October 1961 two Berlin crisis games directed by [[Thomas Schelling]] were played by officials including McGeorge Bundy, Alain Enthoven, Carl Kaysen, Henry Kissinger, Robert Komer and John McNaughton's aide Henry Rowen. Kaysen briefed President Kennedy on the results.[^42]
### Later Career
Speier remained in RAND's Research Council until 1968, wrote on West Germany and Berlin (Divided Berlin, 1961), held a Senior Fellowship at the [[Council on Foreign Relations]] in 1964 at the request of [[John J. McCloy]], and left for a professorship in sociology at the [[University of Massachusetts Amherst]] in 1969. He later edited with Lasswell and [[Daniel Lerner]] the three-volume Propaganda and Communication in World History (1979 to 1980), and was named professor emeritus of the New School's Graduate Faculty. He died in Sarasota, Florida.[^43]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Deutsche Biographie, "Speier, Hans" (NDB 24, 2010; entry sfz123260), on the offices held 1933 to 1969 and the death in Sarasota. https://www.deutsche-biographie.de/sfz123260.html
[^2]: Bessner, Daniel M. "The Night Watchman: Hans Speier and the Making of the American National Security State." PhD diss., Duke University, 2013, pp. 33-38 (printed pagination; family, Helmholtz Realgymnasium, apprenticeship at Sachs, Warschauer and Company, Heidelberg from early 1926). Birth date February 3, 1905, p. 33. https://dukespace.lib.duke.edu/items/19152946-8fbb-4b9b-9da0-faca0979e718. Deutsche Biographie, "Speier, Hans" (NDB 24, 2010; sfz123260), https://www.deutsche-biographie.de/sfz123260.html, gives the mother as Anna Persson of Anklam and the start of studies at Heidelberg as 1925; Bessner p. 33 gives "Person" and p. 37 gives early 1926.
[^3]: Bessner, "The Night Watchman," p. 38 and notes 10-12 (Mannheim circle, Jaspers, Arendt and Sternberger, Talcott Parsons in 1925; Speier Papers, University at Albany).
[^4]: Bessner, "The Night Watchman," p. 48 and notes 42-43 (doctorate April 19, 1928; Hilferding; SPD membership in "1928 or 1929--records are unclear"; marriage in August 1929) and p. 80 (Lisa Speier's Judaism and dismissal in 1933). Deutsche Biographie, "Speier, Hans" (NDB 24, 2010; sfz123260), https://www.deutsche-biographie.de/sfz123260.html, gives the marriage as 1929 to Luise (Lisa) Griesbach (1903 to 1965, Jewish) of Erfurt. University at Albany, M. E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives, Hans Speier Papers, 1922-1989 (GER-084), finding aid, chronology and box and folder list (archived copy: https://web.archive.org/web/2022id_/https://library.albany.edu/speccoll/findaids/ger084.htm), gives August 30, 1929.
[^5]: Bessner, "The Night Watchman," pp. 55-57 (Ullstein from October 1928 until June 1932; lectureship at the Hochschule from November 1931 until spring 1933; assistantship with Lederer). Deutsche Biographie, "Speier, Hans" (NDB 24, 2010; sfz123260), https://www.deutsche-biographie.de/sfz123260.html, states that he worked at Ullstein until 1930. University at Albany, M. E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives, Hans Speier Papers, 1922-1989 (GER-084), finding aid, chronology and box and folder list (archived copy: https://web.archive.org/web/2022id_/https://library.albany.edu/speccoll/findaids/ger084.htm), gives 1928 to 1930. The three accounts differ on the Ullstein end date.
[^6]: Bessner, "The Night Watchman," pp. 57-60 (Jäckh; Rockefeller and Carnegie financing of the Hochschule at p. 58; colleagues Sigmund Neumann and Albert Salomon).
[^7]: Bessner, "The Night Watchman," pp. 80-81 (Propaganda Ministry seizure April 1933; Lederer's letter; Speier's trips between London and Berlin; arrival September 15, 1933; non-quota status).
[^8]: Bessner, "The Night Watchman," pp. 85-86 and notes 15-16 (Hiram Halle's $120,000; ten founding members). Deutsche Biographie, "Speier, Hans" (NDB 24, 2010; sfz123260), https://www.deutsche-biographie.de/sfz123260.html, gives the Graduate Faculty's later count of 167 scholars and artists assisted.
[^9]: Bessner, "The Night Watchman," p. 87 (first editor of Social Research), p. 106 note 107 and p. 126 (War in Our Time, ed. Speier and Alfred Kähler, W. W. Norton, 1939), p. 129 note 38 (first English translation of Mein Kampf, 1938 to 1939, Reynal and Hitchcock, 1939; "Possibly through Speier, the New School's edition of Mein Kampf was the one used by the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and the Office of War Information (OWI)").
[^10]: Bessner, "The Night Watchman," p. 134 ("received U.S. citizenship in the spring of 1940"). University at Albany, M. E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives, Hans Speier Papers, 1922-1989 (GER-084), finding aid, chronology and box and folder list (archived copy: https://web.archive.org/web/2022id_/https://library.albany.edu/speccoll/findaids/ger084.htm), chronology: "April 20, became naturalized U.S. citizen."
[^11]: Kris, Ernst, and Hans Speier, with Sidney Axelrad, Hans Herma, Janice Loeb, Heinz Paechter and Howard B. White. German Radio Propaganda: Report on Home Broadcasts during the War. New York: Oxford University Press, 1944, Preface, pp. v-vii. Digital Library of India scan: https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.499058
[^12]: Bessner, "The Night Watchman," pp. 129-131 and notes 39-49 (Kris's BBC unit and John Salt, described there as director of the BBC's European Services; proposal of late 1940; five reports; project ended January 1943). The preface of German Radio Propaganda dates the project's start to April 1, 1941, and states that it was reorganized in May 1942 when Speier went to Washington while remaining co-director. University at Albany, M. E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives, Hans Speier Papers, 1922-1989 (GER-084), finding aid, chronology and box and folder list (archived copy: https://web.archive.org/web/2022id_/https://library.albany.edu/speccoll/findaids/ger084.htm), chronology, 1941-1942 entry. Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, Ernst Kris Papers (MSS84824), register: scope note and container list (Rockefeller Foundation correspondence 1940-1952; Research Project on Totalitarian Communication research papers, 1941-1944). https://web.archive.org/web/20161221192727id_/http://rs5.loc.gov/service/mss/eadxmlmss/eadpdfmss/2006/ms006003.pdf
[^13]: Bessner, "The Night Watchman," p. 131 and notes 46-47 (Rockefeller Foundation grants of $15,960 in March 1941 and $19,000 in 1942; the foundation's other funded projects; staff list). Rockefeller Archive Center, "Rockefeller Foundation Support for Communications Media in the 1930s and 1940s," on the "Study of Totalitarian Communication in Wartime" by Kris and Speier, funding ending in 1943 (RG 1.1, Series 200R). https://resource.rockarch.org/story/rockefeller-foundation-support-for-communications-media-in-the-1930s-and-1940s/
[^14]: Bessner, "The Night Watchman," pp. 138-139 and notes 71-73, drawing on Claus-Dieter Krohn, Intellectuals in Exile: Refugee Scholars and the New School for Social Research (University of Massachusetts Press, 1993), pp. 119, 139-149, 161, 165-168.
[^15]: Bessner, "The Night Watchman," pp. 132-133 and notes 51-55, citing RG 262, Entry 2, General Correspondence Q-Z, Box 66 (Graves to Speier and Kris, December 23 and 26, 1941; Watson to Speier, December 26, 1941; Free to Speier, January 31, 1942) and RG 262, Entry 75, Box 40 (Speier and Watson, February 6 and 10, 1942), National Archives II. Bessner calls Lloyd Free the director of the service.
[^16]: Mercado, Stephen C. "FBIS Against the Axis, 1941-1945." Studies in Intelligence 45, no. 5 (2001): Graves joined as senior administrator in March 1941; the Princeton Listening Center, launched in November 1939 with Rockefeller Foundation funding, was absorbed in June 1941; Speier had been conducting research on German war propaganda under the aegis of the Rockefeller Foundation; Nelson A. Rockefeller to James L. Fly, July 29, 1942 (NARA, RG 262, Entry 68, Box 22). Archived copy: https://web.archive.org/web/2015/https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/kent-csi/vol45no5/html/v45i5a04p.htm
[^17]: Bessner, "The Night Watchman," p. 134 and notes 58-59 (Speier to Riezler, April 12, 1942, Speier Papers Box 4, Folder 57; Civil Service Commission to Speier, May 26, 1942, Box 2, Folder 5), and p. 80 for Lisa Speier. The suspicions are Speier's report of what investigators believed.
[^18]: Bessner, "The Night Watchman," pp. 135-136 and notes 60-62 (RG 262, Entry 74, Box 36; Entry 73, Box 34; Watson to Speier, November 13, 1943, RG 262, Entry 73, Box 31).
[^19]: Bessner, "The Night Watchman," p. 136 and note 65 (Leigh to Speier, July 30, 1943: refusal to join the OWI in July 1943) and p. 137 and note 69 (Principal Political Analyst, November 1942; Watson to Leigh, July 31, 1942, RG 262, Entry 74, Box 36).
[^20]: Bessner, "The Night Watchman," pp. 136-137 and notes 66-68 (Speier, "What Hitler Might Say on November 8," Speier Papers Box 8, Folder 6; Watson to Leigh, November 10, 1943, RG 262, Entry 73, Box 32).
[^21]: Bessner, "The Night Watchman," p. 139 and notes 74-76 (Watson to Leigh, May 12, 1943, and Leigh's reply of May 14, 1943, RG 262, Entry 75, Box 49, Folder "New Personnel-German"). The list also named Kurt Mattusch, Eric Dale, Hans W. Weigert, John H. Herz and the Chicago historian Bernadotte Schmitt.
[^22]: Roop, Part I, p. 193 and note (Section 304 cutoff of November 15, 1943; Watson and Dodd resigned a few days later; Schuman had already resigned and returned to Williams College) and p. 200 (final report of the Lea committee, January 2, 1945), https://archive.org/details/ForeignBroadcastInformationServiceHistoryPart11941-1947; United States v. Lovett, 328 U.S. 303 (1946), on Section 304 and the special subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee; Stephen C. Mercado, "FBIS Against the Axis, 1941-1945," Studies in Intelligence 45, no. 5 (2001), on Schuman's departure from Williams College in October 1942.
[^23]: Bessner, "The Night Watchman," pp. 142-143 and notes 87-90; Mercado, "FBIS Against the Axis," on the Cox hearings of January 1943 and their ending on January 2, 1945 (the Cox-Lea Committee's conclusion), Dies's accusations of "un-American beliefs" against Watson, Schumann and Dodd, Wallace's criticism of Dies, and the Lovett decision. Both texts spell the name Schumann; the person is the political scientist Frederick L. Schuman of Williams College. Bessner p. 138 for Watson's departure and Speier's thirty subordinates.
[^24]: Bessner, "The Night Watchman," p. 143 and notes 91-94 (Leigh's newsletter of February 15, 1944; Newcomb to Leigh, February 9 and April 3, 1944, RG 262, Entry 73, Box 32), quoting Mercado, "FBIS Against the Axis."
[^25]: Bessner, "The Night Watchman," pp. 143-147 and notes 95-110, citing Speier to Carroll, February 2, 1945, RG 208 (OWI), Entry 355, Box 1712, Folder "Wallace Carroll"; Watson to Speier, April 17, 1943, RG 262, Entry 2, Box 66; and Carroll to Bernard, December 4, 1944, Speier Papers Box 2, Folder 3. Allan M. Winkler, The Politics of Propaganda: The Office of War Information, 1942-1945 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1978), p. 132 (the July 1944 central directive). Bessner cites Winkler at p. 146 note 106 in connection with the German directives.
[^26]: Bessner, "The Night Watchman," pp. 148-157 and notes 117-148, including the OWI cable of William Stone and Ferdinand Kuhn, November 20, 1945, RG 208, Entry 358, Box 108 (p. 150 note 124), and Speier to Brecht, August 8, 1947 (p. 157). University at Albany, M. E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives, Hans Speier Papers, 1922-1989 (GER-084), finding aid, chronology and box and folder list (archived copy: https://web.archive.org/web/2022id_/https://library.albany.edu/speccoll/findaids/ger084.htm), chronology (trips to Germany for OWI, October 13 to December 2, 1945; Associate Chief of the Division for Occupied Areas, January 1946 to September 1947).
[^27]: Bessner, "The Night Watchman," pp. 164-170 and notes 1-26 (Institute of World Affairs, "a research center funded by Doris Duke," p. 164; "used as a pawn in ridiculous faculty politics," p. 165; Division of International Studies elected December 17, 1947, p. 169; plans never realized, p. 170).
[^28]: Bessner, "The Night Watchman," pp. 187-195 and notes 76-104, citing U.S. Air Force Project RAND, Conference of Social Scientists, September 14-19, 1947 (RAND R-106, June 9, 1948), pp. 1-8, 95-156, 184, and Speier, The RAND Social Science Program (RAND D-717-PR, February 2, 1950). Participant list at p. 190 note 88; Rosten at pp. 190-191 and note 89.
[^29]: Bessner, "The Night Watchman," p. 187 and note 76 (Ford loan of $100,000, $300,000 credit guarantee, a $150,000 Wells Fargo credit line, extension to $1,000,000 in 1950; other early supporters; RAND became the RAND Corporation on May 14, 1948).
[^30]: Bessner, "The Night Watchman," pp. 194-200 and notes 102-123. University at Albany, M. E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives, Hans Speier Papers, 1922-1989 (GER-084), finding aid, chronology and box and folder list (archived copy: https://web.archive.org/web/2022id_/https://library.albany.edu/speccoll/findaids/ger084.htm), chronology (Research Council 1960 to 1968, chairman 1961 to 1962; consultant to the USAF Scientific Advisory Board 1958 to 1962).
[^31]: Rand Corporation, Research Memorandum RM-365, Jean M. Hungerford, The Exploitation of Superstitions for Purposes of Psychological Warfare (Santa Monica: Project RAND, April 14, 1950; ASTIA Document Number ATI 210637), cover, summary, sections II to V and appendix. Full text at https://archive.org/details/1950-hungerford-exploitation-of-superstitions-for-purposes-of-psychological-warfare (rand.org record: https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_memoranda/RM365.html). Bessner, "The Night Watchman," p. 201 note 128 gives the date as April 15, 1950 and the author as J. Hungerford.
[^32]: Bessner, "The Night Watchman," pp. 205-207 and notes 145-150, citing Goldhamer, The 1951 Korean Armistice Conference: A Personal Memoir, and Robert C. Tucker\'s memoir for the helicopter detail.
[^33]: Bessner, "The Night Watchman," p. 186 note 73, citing Christopher Simpson, Science of Coercion (Oxford University Press, 1994), p. 58.
[^34]: Speier, Hans. Psychological Warfare Reconsidered. RAND P-196, February 5, 1951 (DTIC AD0603909). https://archive.org/details/DTIC_AD0603909. Bessner, "The Night Watchman," pp. 209-210 note 164-165 (quoting Speier, "The Historical Development of Public Opinion," American Journal of Sociology 55, January 1950, p. 378), pp. 229-233 and notes 6-27 (Benton's "Marshall Plan of Ideas," Truman's speech of April 1950, the April 10, 1950 Foreign Service Institute address, Speier Papers Box 9, Folder 35, and P-196 pp. 7, 14-15, 17, 30-32). University at Albany, M. E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives, Hans Speier Papers, 1922-1989 (GER-084), finding aid, chronology and box and folder list (archived copy: https://web.archive.org/web/2022id_/https://library.albany.edu/speccoll/findaids/ger084.htm), Series 4 (the 1951 Foreign Service Institute pamphlet).
[^35]: Bessner, "The Night Watchman," pp. 236-239 and notes 37-50, citing Project Troy, Report to the Secretary of State, Vol. 1, February 1, 1951, RG 59, Lot 52-283, National Archives II. U.S. Department of State, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1950-1955, The Intelligence Community, Document 57 (third progress report on NSC 59/1) and Document 59 (Hooker to Nitze, March 26, 1951). https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1950-55Intel/d57 and https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1950-55Intel/d59. The participant list is at Bessner pp. 237-238 note 41, the April 1950 symposium and Barrett's later claim at p. 236 and p. 237 note 38 (Bessner names the official William Barrett at p. 236 and Edward W. Barrett at p. 230), and Acheson's receipt on February 15 at p. 238 note 41; FRUS Document 57 note states the report was submitted on February 1, 1951. The identification of Speier as primary author of the report's Soviet sections is Bessner's inference.
[^36]: Bessner, "The Night Watchman," p. 256 (CENIS began operating in the fall of 1951; Millikan accepted the directorship in February 1952, an economics professor who had spent a year at the CIA).
[^37]: Foreign Relations of the United States, 1950-1955, The Intelligence Community, Document 139, PSB D-31, "A Strategic Concept for a National Psychological Program with Particular Reference to Cold War Operations under NSC-10/5," November 26, 1952, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1950-55Intel/d139. Bessner, "The Night Watchman," p. 240 and notes 51-53 (Strategic Concept Panel; Speier would consult for the PSB).
[^38]: Bessner, "The Night Watchman," pp. 241-246 and notes 54-76, citing Carroll and Speier, "Psychological Warfare in Germany," December 1, 1950, RG 466, National Archives II, and PSB D-21, FRUS 1952-1954, vol. 7, Document 156; Bessner observes at p. 245 that the appendix tasks echoed the Speier and Carroll report.
[^39]: Bessner, "The Night Watchman," pp. 247-255 and notes 82-104, citing Speier, Marquis and Berelson, "The Ford Foundation Behavioral Sciences Program: Proposed Plan," December 1951 (Ford Foundation Archives, Report 002072). Speier's CASBS year is given as 1956 to 1957 by Bessner (p. 255) and by University at Albany, M. E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives, Hans Speier Papers, 1922-1989 (GER-084), finding aid, chronology and box and folder list (archived copy: https://web.archive.org/web/2022id_/https://library.albany.edu/speccoll/findaids/ger084.htm); Deutsche Biographie, "Speier, Hans," gives 1957 and 1958. University at Albany, M. E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives, Hans Speier Papers, 1922-1989 (GER-084), finding aid, chronology and box and folder list (archived copy: https://web.archive.org/web/2022id_/https://library.albany.edu/speccoll/findaids/ger084.htm), chronology: "1951 Consultant, Ford Foundation."
[^40]: Bessner, "The Night Watchman," pp. 255-258 and notes 106-116 (trustees' grant "in the spring of 1952"; Pool as research director after Speier declined, p. 257 note 110), citing Speier et al., Research in International Communication: An Advisory Report of the Planning Committee (MIT Center for International Studies, June 1953), and Blackmer, Donald L. M., The MIT Center for International Studies: The Founding Years, 1951-1969 (2002).
[^41]: Report of the Quantico Vulnerabilities Panel, June 10, 1955, with Rockefeller's letter to Allen W. Dulles of June 13, 1955 and Richard M. Bissell's memorandum of July 25, 1955 (CIA-RDP86B00269R000800070001-5), CIA Reading Room. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp86b00269r000800070001-5. Bessner, "The Night Watchman," pp. 260-266 and notes 126-148, citing Rockefeller to Speier, May 25, July 21 and August 16, 1955, Rockefeller to Eisenhower, July 11, 1955 (FRUS 1955-1957, vol. 5, Document 154), and Speier, "U.S. Strategy at the Forthcoming Conference," Speier Papers Box 4, Folder 60. University at Albany, M. E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives, Hans Speier Papers, 1922-1989 (GER-084), finding aid, chronology and box and folder list (archived copy: https://web.archive.org/web/2022id_/https://library.albany.edu/speccoll/findaids/ger084.htm), container list (folders for Nelson A. Rockefeller, 1955-1956, and the Rockefeller Foundation, 1944 and 1975, Box 4).
[^42]: Bessner, "The Night Watchman," pp. 266-278 and notes 152-187, citing Goldhamer and Speier, "Some Observations on Political Gaming," World Politics 12, no. 1 (October 1959), and Ghamari-Tabrizi, Sharon, The Worlds of Herman Kahn (Harvard University Press, 2005), chapter 6.
[^43]: Bessner, "The Night Watchman," pp. 283, 303, 307 (Council on Foreign Relations fellowship at McCloy's request; move to the University of Massachusetts in 1969; Propaganda and Communication in World History). Deutsche Biographie, "Speier, Hans" (NDB 24, 2010; sfz123260), https://www.deutsche-biographie.de/sfz123260.html, dates his Amherst teaching 1969 to 1973 and the RAND Research Council 1960 to 1968, and gives the death as February 17, 1990, in Sarasota, Florida; University at Albany, M. E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives, Hans Speier Papers, 1922-1989 (GER-084), finding aid, chronology and box and folder list (archived copy: https://web.archive.org/web/2022id_/https://library.albany.edu/speccoll/findaids/ger084.htm), adds that he died while vacationing there.

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10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Kim Philby.md
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@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
---
created: 2026-05-15
updated: 2026-05-17
updated: 2026-10-09
title: Kim Philby
aliases:
- Kim Philby
@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ tags:
- 1940s
- 1950s
- 1960s
summary: "Kim Philby was the most damaging member of the Cambridge Five, a KGB agent who penetrated MI6 to its anti-Soviet section chief and CIA liaison in Washington, directly causing the death or capture of hundreds of Western agents and precipitating James Angleton's decade-long mole hunt paranoia before defecting to Moscow in January 1963."
summary: "Kim Philby, Cambridge Five member and KGB agent inside MI6, rose to head its anti-Soviet section and serve as CIA liaison in Washington before defecting to Moscow in January 1963."
born: 1912-01-01
died: 1988-05-11
location: "Moscow, Soviet Union"
@ -33,6 +33,8 @@ The Cambridge Five - the group of British agents recruited by Soviet intelligenc
Philby's assignment was long-term penetration of the British intelligence and foreign policy establishment. His cover was carefully constructed: he worked initially as a journalist sympathetic to fascism - including covering the Spanish Civil War from the Nationalist side - to launder his previous left-wing associations before approaching government employment.[^1]
In 1963 [[Michael Whitney Straight]], an American who had been in the same Cambridge circle, told United States authorities that Anthony Blunt had approached him in 1937 to spy. Straight told the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] in June 1963 that he believed Guy Burgess was the person directing Blunt.[^2] In 1981 he said that the FBI passed the details to British security officials and that Blunt confessed in exchange for immunity.[^3] A Cabinet Office minute of January 17, 1983 states that "the lead which led to Anthony Blunt's confession in 1964 was a statement by an American, Mr Michael Whitney Straight, towards the end of 1963."[^4] The National Archives file KV 2/4705 on Blunt covers February 28 to June 19, 1964 and is catalogued as recording that he confessed and was given immunity.[^5] The Vassiliev notebooks, in the Wilson Center translation, quote Burgess ("Madchen") in January and February 1937 reports on Straight to the London station, and a 1942 report on Straight names "Madchen" and "Tony" as the sources through whom he had been recruited.[^6]
### MI6 Career
Philby joined MI6 (the [[Secret Intelligence Service]]) in 1940, recruited partly through personal connections. He rose with unusual speed: by 1941 he headed Section V (counterintelligence), and by 1944 he had been appointed head of the newly created Section IX, tasked specifically with anti-Soviet operations. This position gave him visibility into MI6's entire intelligence collection effort against the USSR and its assets in Eastern Europe.
@ -49,7 +51,7 @@ Philby deliberately delayed the British response, citing bureaucratic complicati
From 1949 to 1951, Philby served as MI6's liaison officer in [[Washington, D.C.]], working alongside the newly established [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]]. This position gave him access to the joint MI6-CIA program of operations against Soviet-occupied states, including Operation Valuable, the 1949-1950 joint effort to insert agents into [[Albania]] to support an anti-Communist resistance movement.
Philby informed Moscow of Operation Valuable's personnel, insertion methods, and timing. The Albanian agents were captured or killed as they arrived. The operation failed completely, with approximately three hundred agents eventually dead or imprisoned. The CIA's [[Frank Wisner]], who ran the program, spent years attributing the failures to bad luck or operational security lapses before the full scope of Philby's betrayal became clear.[^2]
Philby informed Moscow of Operation Valuable's personnel, insertion methods, and timing. The Albanian agents were captured or killed as they arrived. The operation failed completely, with approximately three hundred agents eventually dead or imprisoned. The CIA's [[Frank Wisner]], who ran the program, spent years attributing the failures to bad luck or operational security lapses before the full scope of Philby's betrayal became clear.[^7]
During his Washington posting, Philby also became aware of the [[Venona]] project - the American-British effort to decrypt intercepted Soviet intelligence communications from the 1940s. He informed Moscow of Venona's existence and progress, enabling the KGB to identify which agents might be exposed by the decrypts and to take protective action.
@ -69,9 +71,14 @@ Philby lived in Moscow from 1963 until his death. He was awarded the Order of Le
### Legacy
The cumulative damage of Philby's espionage is difficult to quantify but was among the most severe of any penetration agent in Western intelligence history. Western agents died, operations failed, and intelligence assessments were systematically corrupted throughout the late 1940s and early 1950s. The trust between MI6 and the CIA was severely damaged; CIA counterintelligence chief [[James Angleton]], who had been personally close to Philby in Washington, developed the conspiratorial suspicion of Soviet penetration that paralyzed CIA operations for years afterward.[^2]
The cumulative damage of Philby's espionage is difficult to quantify but was among the most severe of any penetration agent in Western intelligence history. Western agents died, operations failed, and intelligence assessments were systematically corrupted throughout the late 1940s and early 1950s. The trust between MI6 and the CIA was severely damaged; CIA counterintelligence chief [[James Angleton]], who had been personally close to Philby in Washington, developed the conspiratorial suspicion of Soviet penetration that paralyzed CIA operations for years afterward.[^7]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Philby, Kim. *My Silent War.* Granada, 1968 (Philby's own account, selective but valuable for his perspective). Macintyre, Ben. *A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal.* Crown, 2014 (the definitive modern account, drawing on MI5 files and interviews with Philby's contemporaries).
[^2]: Mangold, Tom. *Cold Warrior: James Jesus Angleton, the CIA's Master Spy Hunter.* Simon & Schuster, 1991 (covers Angleton's relationship with Philby and its aftermath for CIA counterintelligence). West, Nigel, and Oleg Tsarev. *The Crown Jewels: The British Secrets at the Heart of the KGB Archives.* Yale University Press, 1999 (uses KGB archive material on the Cambridge Five).
[^2]: Federal Bureau of Investigation, "Straight, Michael W., HQ-1" (FOI/PA 1179375-1), memorandum of June 25, 1963 on the interview of June 18, 1963, https://archive.org/details/StraightMichaelW.HQ1. The belief that Burgess directed Blunt is Straight's own, as recorded by the agents.
[^3]: Joe Ritchie, "Writer Cites Role in Unmasking British Spy," The Washington Post, March 26, 1981, CIA Reading Room copy, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp90-00552r000302750023-1; Daniel F. Gilmore, United Press International, March 26, 1981, https://www.upi.com/Archives/1981/03/26/Michael-W-Straight-former-deputy-chairman-of-the-National/9678354430800/.
[^4]: Sir Robert Armstrong to Mr. Butler, minute ref. A083/0151, January 17, 1983, The National Archives (UK), PREM 19/1951 f208, https://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/244748 (PDF: https://archive.margaretthatcher.org/doc23/830117%20cab%20off%20min%20PREM19-1951%20f208.pdf).
[^5]: The National Archives (UK), file KV 2/4705, "Anthony BLUNT," 1964, Discovery record C19404941, https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C19404941. The catalogue description does not name Straight.
[^6]: Alexander Vassiliev, White Notebook #3 (English translation), pp. 81, 111 to 112 and 122 to 123, Wilson Center Digital Archive, https://digitalarchive.umd.edu/node/88908. Bracketed identifications are Vassiliev's; the posted translation contains errors.
[^7]: Mangold, Tom. *Cold Warrior: James Jesus Angleton, the CIA's Master Spy Hunter.* Simon & Schuster, 1991 (covers Angleton's relationship with Philby and its aftermath for CIA counterintelligence). West, Nigel, and Oleg Tsarev. *The Crown Jewels: The British Secrets at the Heart of the KGB Archives.* Yale University Press, 1999 (uses KGB archive material on the Cambridge Five).

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10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Klara G. Roman.md Normal file
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---
category: "Medicine & Psychology"
tags:
- Person
- Graphology
- Handwriting
- Psychology
- NewSchoolForSocialResearch
- MKULTRA
- HumanEcologyFund
aliases:
- Klara G. Roman
- Klara Roman
- Klara Goldzieher
- Klara Goldzieher-Roman
- Klara G. Roman (1881-1962)
- Karla Roman
summary: "Hungarian-born graphologist who taught at the New School from 1948 until shortly before her death in 1962, and whose Encyclopedia of the Written Word thanks the Human Ecology Fund."
born: 1881
died: 1962
location: "New York, New York"
relations:
- type: employed_by
with: "[[New School for Social Research]]"
role: "graphology course instructor; taught from 1948 until shortly before her death"
start: 1948
end: 1962
fn: 1
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Children's Health Council of the Mid-Peninsula]]"
role: "clinical psychologist and graphologist"
fn: 1
- type: funded
with: "[[Society for the Investigation of Human Ecology]]"
reverse: true
role: "the Human Ecology Fund is thanked in the Encyclopedia of the Written Word as having helped her during the years she worked on it"
fn: 4
- type: funded
with: "[[Project MKUltra]]"
reverse: true
role: "MKULTRA Subproject 137, $2,000 advance of September 11, 1961 toward her graphology lexicon, paid through the Human Ecology Fund; approved by Sidney Gottlieb"
start: 1961
fn: 10
created: 2026-10-09
updated: 2026-10-09
---
Klara G. Roman (1881-1962) was a [[Budapest]]-born graphologist and clinical psychologist who taught graphology at the [[New School for Social Research]] in [[New York City]] from 1948 until shortly before her death. The posthumous Encyclopedia of the Written Word thanks the [[Society for the Investigation of Human Ecology|Human Ecology Fund]] among two foundations that helped her. In 1961 [[Project MKUltra|MKULTRA]] Subproject 137 paid $2,000 through the Fund toward the lexicon, approved under the signature of [[Sidney Gottlieb]]; the CIA's memorandum describes her as "neither cleared nor witting" of the source.
### Budapest and Emigration
Roman was born and raised in Budapest. She graduated in 1928 from the [[Hungarian Royal State Institute for Abnormal Psychology]] and later founded the [[Hungarian Institute of Writing Research]].[^1] The New School Archives state that she suffered severe deprivation and lost her husband to the Nazis during the Second World War, and that she immigrated to the United States in 1947.[^1] The biographical note is drawn from the introduction by Rose Wolfson to her Encyclopedia.[^1]
In the preface to her 1954 book, Roman wrote that she had "the privilege of working for more than two decades on research projects instituted by government agencies and clinical institutions in Europe, notably in Budapest." The preface credits work at [[Michael Reese Hospital]] in [[Chicago]], "to which she was called by Dr. [[Franz Alexander]]," and her students at the New School.[^2]
### Teaching at the New School
Roman was invited to offer a course at the New School in 1948.[^1] The school's archive holds the course "Graphology: A Psychological Method for the Study of Personality," dated 1949 and 1959.[^3] Her 1954 preface credits "her unusually mature students at the New School for Social Research, New York" with "further excellent opportunities for observation and testing."[^2] She continued to teach until shortly before her death and entrusted her classes to a protege, Daniel S. Anthony.[^1] The Encyclopedia's acknowledgments thank Anthony "of The New School."[^4]
Roman served as research consultant to the treatment clinic of the [[Manhattan Criminal Court]] and as clinical psychologist and graphologist for the [[Children's Health Council of the Mid-Peninsula]] in [[Palo Alto]], California.[^1] She invented the "graphodyne," an instrument for measuring writing speed and pressure.[^1]
### Books
*Handwriting: A Key to Personality* appeared in 1952 and was published in London by [[Routledge & Kegan Paul]] in 1954.[^1][^2] Its preface states that the method "rests mainly upon psychometrically and experimentally verified observations."[^2] A further book, *Handwriting, etc.*, is dated 1961.[^1]
*Encyclopedia of the Written Word: A Lexicon for Graphology and Other Aspects of Writing* was "written and compiled by Klara G. Roman" and "edited by Rose Wolfson and Maurice Edwards" (xviii, 550 pages, [[F. Ungar Publishing Company]], New York, 1968).[^5] The New School holds the editors' working files for it, dated 1962 to 1969.[^3] Edwards, a stage actor who had worked for Roman helping to put her lectures and writings into English, edited it after her death.[^1][^6]
### Funding of the Encyclopedia
The Encyclopedia's acknowledgments thank "the two foundations that helped Klara G. Roman during the years she worked on this Encyclopedia: The Handwriting Institute and The Human Ecology Fund," and, among individuals, Huntington Hartford and Dr. Clarence A. Tripp "of The Handwriting Institute," Dr. Walter P. Pasternak "of the Human Ecology Fund," and Daniel S. Anthony "of The New School for Social Research and former assistant to Mrs. Roman."[^4] The editors' account, signed Rose Wolfson, states that "Sometime later, The Human Ecology Fund in New York City contributed research funds for the preparation of this book" and that "From 1959 to the beginning of 1962, Klara Roman labored on it."[^4] A preface in the first person states that The Handwriting Institute subsidized Roman for the work and retained an editor to help her with it.[^4] The preface also states that when she died the Encyclopedia was about eighty-five per cent finished.[^4]
Pasternak is listed as technical writer in the 1957 annual report of the Society for the Investigation of Human Ecology, which was renamed the Human Ecology Fund in 1961.[^7][^8]
### Death
The New School Archives date her death to 1962.[^1] Wolfson's account in the Encyclopedia says she found a letter from Roman dated July 31, in which Roman wrote "I have lost my way," and that Roman "had died on August 9"; the same passage places the year at 1962.[^4] A memorial edition of the periodical [[Handwriting Analysts News]], titled for her, appeared in 1963, and the school holds a copy.[^3]
### MKULTRA Subproject 137
A file in the [[John R. Everett]] records at the New School, labeled "Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), 1977-1978," describes "two projects conducted at the New School in 1962 that received funding through MKUltra," the second of which "concerned graphology and psychopathologies."[^9]
The [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]]'s released file for MKULTRA Subproject 137 names no contractor. Its memorandum of August 24, 1961 states that the purpose of the subproject was "to support the work of Dr." [redacted], whose institution is also redacted, "in completing a psycholexicon on handwriting." It continues: "Dr." [redacted] "has an international reputation for her work in graphology and speech. She is advanced in years and her health is failing. It is important that her manuscript, now eighty percent complete, be finished in order not to waste many tedious years of effort." The memorandum describes the Technical Services Division's "general requirement to further the Agency's capability for the indirect assessment of personality," states that the project "will be funded through the" [redacted] "for security and cover purposes," and states that the investigator was "neither cleared nor witting of Agency sponsorship."[^10]
The attached proposal, "A Proposal for Support to Complete the Manuscript of a Psycholexicon on Writing and the Written Word," requests $2,000, of which $1,750 was for a half-time research assistant-secretary and $250 for photographic services, with no salary for the principal investigator. It states that "no compendium of terms exists for student or layman which deals with the history and evolution of handwriting, its psychology and psychopathology," that the manuscript was "presently 80 per cent complete," and that twelve more months were needed.[^10] The curriculum vitae attached to the proposal has the name redacted. Its entries are set beside her recorded biography below.
| Subproject 137 curriculum vitae (name redacted) | Roman record |
|---|---|
| "clinical psychologist, specializing in the psychology of speech, reading, and handwriting" | Graphologist and clinical psychologist[^1] |
| 1928, diploma from a redacted institution | Graduated 1928 from the Hungarian Royal State Institute for Abnormal Psychology[^1] |
| 1930, constructed a measuring device, the Graphodyne, an apparatus for writing speed and pressure; 1955, perfected the first all-electronic Graphodyne | Invented the "graphodyne," an instrument to measure writing speed and pressure[^1] |
| 1948, research appointment at the "Institute for Psychosomatic and Psychiatric Research and Training," "in conjunction with" a redacted "Institute for Psychoanalysis" | Called to Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago by Franz Alexander[^2] |
| 1949, member of the faculty of a redacted institution | Invited to teach at the New School in 1948; course on file for 1949[^1][^3] |
| Official handwriting expert to courts and for juvenile delinquents, 1932 to 1947 | Research consultant to the Manhattan Criminal Court treatment clinic[^1] |
The invoice for Subproject 137 shows a $2,000 treasurer's check, number 185479, dated September 11, 1961, payable to a redacted institution, with a receipt dated October 4, 1961. The accounting memorandum of February 1963 states: "Dr." [redacted] "died in 1962 and did not send in an accounting." It records that she had "four editorial assistants during the period," that "We have two letters from Dr." [redacted] "acknowledging receipt of the money and a letter from her brother stating that the manuscript is almost finished," and that "The Fund will receive its usual acknowledgement in the publication of the manuscript." Two men whose names are redacted "concur that no further accounting is possible." A certification states that the recipient "died in 1962 without rendering an accounting" and that "a manuscript has been published and value received." The accounting form for the $2,000 advance of September 11, 1961 was approved on March 10, 1964 over the signature of Sidney Gottlieb, marked "DC/TSD."[^10] The F. Ungar Publishing Company published the Encyclopedia of the Written Word in 1968.[^5]
The Human Ecology Fund's 1961-1963 report, as tabulated by anthropologist David H. Price, lists a grant of $2,000 for "Book: The Psychology of Writing" to "Roman, Klara G." in the field of psychology.[^11]
The investigator of Subproject 137 was Roman. The released file redacts her name, but its curriculum vitae matches her record entry for entry, the Everett file places the graphology project at the New School in 1962, the Human Ecology Fund's report lists the $2,000 under her name, and her Encyclopedia thanks the Fund and its technical writer. The 1961 memorandum states that she was neither cleared nor witting of Agency sponsorship.
### Footnotes
[^1]: New School Archives and Special Collections, Maurice Edwards papers documenting the work of graphologist Klara G. Roman (NA-0010-01), biographical note (source cited there: introduction by Rose Wolfson to the *Encyclopedia of the Written Word*). https://findingaids.archives.newschool.edu/repositories/3/resources/284
[^2]: Klara G. Roman, *Handwriting: A Key to Personality* (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1954), preface, pp. v-vi. University of Ghana digital repository copy: https://ugspace.ug.edu.gh/bitstreams/a2528ff1-0d2f-4ccc-ad93-b6b7e13b1c37/download
[^3]: New School Archives and Special Collections, Roman, Klara G. archival objects: course "Graphology: A Psychological Method for the Study of Personality," 1949, 1959, Series 6, Box 6, Folder 31, https://findingaids.archives.newschool.edu/repositories/3/archival_objects/19951 ; *Encyclopedia of the Written Word*, 1962-1969, Box 1, Folder 4, https://findingaids.archives.newschool.edu/repositories/3/archival_objects/32418 ; *Handwriting Analysts News*, Klara G. Roman Memorial Edition, 1963, Box 1, Folder 13, https://findingaids.archives.newschool.edu/repositories/3/archival_objects/32422
[^4]: *Encyclopedia of the Written Word* (New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., 1968), acknowledgments, preface and editors' account signed by Rose Wolfson.
[^5]: Library of Congress catalog record (LCCN 68-12124), "Encyclopedia of the written word; a lexicon for graphology and other aspects of writing, written and compiled by Klara G. Roman. Edited by Rose Wolfson and Maurice Edwards. New York, F. Ungar Pub. Co. [1968], xviii, 550 p.," as reproduced in the Internet Archive MARC record, https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofwr0000roma
[^6]: New School Archives and Special Collections, Maurice Edwards papers (NA-0010-01), biographical note on Edwards. https://findingaids.archives.newschool.edu/repositories/3/resources/284
[^7]: Society for the Investigation of Human Ecology, *1957 Annual Report*, officers and staff ("Walter P. Pasternak, Technical Writer"). Wayback Machine capture of https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/21090820/1957-annual-report-society-human-ecology.pdf
[^8]: John D. Marks, *The Search for the Manchurian Candidate* (New York: Times Books, 1979), chapter 9, p. 149 n. ("In 1961 the Society changed its name to the Human Ecology Fund").
[^9]: New School Archives and Special Collections, John R. Everett records (NS-01-01-02), Series 3, Subject files, File "Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), 1977-1978," Box 7, Folder 29. https://findingaids.archives.newschool.edu/repositories/3/archival_objects/34220
[^10]: MKULTRA Subproject 137, Central Intelligence Agency release DOC_0000017396 (19 pages): memorandum for the record, August 24, 1961; proposal, budget and curriculum vitae; obligation memorandum, August 28, 1961; invoice and receipt for check no. 185479 (September 11 and October 4, 1961); accounting memorandum, February 1963; accounting by individual for advance, approved March 10, 1964. https://archive.org/details/DOC_0000017396 ; https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/00017396 . The contractor, institution and most signatories are redacted in the release.
[^11]: David H. Price, "Buying a piece of anthropology, Part 1: Human Ecology and unwitting anthropological research for the CIA," *Anthropology Today* 23(3), June 2007, fig. 4 (source given there: Human Ecology Fund, *Report*, 1963, pp. 13-42). https://archive.org/details/human_ecology_torture_suicide

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---
aliases:
- Kurt Riezler
- Riezler
- Kurt Karl Joseph Siegmund Riezler
- Curt Riezler
- J. J. Ruedorffer
- J. J. Ruedorfer
- Kurt Ruedorfer
category: "Intelligence & Government"
tags:
- Person
- KurtRiezler
- BethmannHollweg
- JulyCrisis1914
- Parvus
- Stockholm1917
- Mirbach
- Moscow1918
- Weimar
- NewSchool
- LeoStrauss
- FischerControversy
- FrankfurtSchool
- UniversityInExile
summary: "German diplomat and adviser to Chancellor Bethmann Hollweg, head of the Russian section at Stockholm in 1917, acting head of the Moscow mission after the Mirbach assassination, and New School professor from 1939."
born: 1882-02-11
died: 1955-09-05
location: "Munich; Berlin; Stockholm; Moscow; Frankfurt; New York"
relations:
- type: employed_by
with: "[[German Foreign Office]]"
start: 1906
end: 1919
fn: 1
- type: reported_to
with: "[[Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg]]"
start: 1914
end: 1917
fn: 1
- type: participant_in
with: "[[German wartime support for the Russian revolutionary movement]]"
role: "official who passed the funds"
start: 1915
end: 1918
fn: 11
- type: head_of
with: "[[German Legation in Stockholm]]"
role: "head of the Russian section"
start: 1917
end: 1918
fn: 22
- type: head_of
with: "[[German Embassy in Moscow]]"
role: "acting head of the mission"
start: 1918-07
end: 1918-08
fn: 47
- type: head_of
with: "[[Office of the President of Germany]]"
role: "head of the president's office"
start: 1919
end: 1920
fn: 1
- type: appointed
with: "[[University of Frankfurt]]"
role: "honorary professor and managing chairman of the board of curators"
start: 1928
fn: 1
- type: spouse_of
with: "[[Käthe Liebermann]]"
start: 1915
fn: 55
- type: relative_of
with: "[[Max Liebermann]]"
role: "father-in-law"
fn: 55
- type: relative_of
with: "[[Howard B. D. White]]"
role: "son-in-law"
fn: 1
- type: employed_by
with: "[[New School for Social Research]]"
role: "professor of philosophy, Graduate Faculty"
start: 1939
end: 1952
fn: 58
- type: member_of
with: "[[Institute of World Affairs]]"
role: "member of the Study Group on Germany; listed among its researchers"
fn: 61
created: 2026-10-09
updated: 2026-10-09
---
Kurt Riezler (February 11, 1882 to September 5, 1955) was a German diplomat, political adviser and philosopher of history. He served as secretary and adviser to Chancellor [[Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg]] during the First World War, headed the Russian section of the German legation in [[Stockholm]] in 1917, acted as head of the German mission in [[Moscow]] after the murder of Count [[Wilhelm von Mirbach-Harff]] in 1918, and after emigrating in 1938 taught at the [[New School for Social Research]] in [[New York]].[^1][^2]
### Adviser to the Chancellor
Riezler entered the Foreign Office press department in 1906 and became a legation councillor in 1910. In August 1914 he followed Bethmann Hollweg to the Great Headquarters, and in January 1915 he was attached to the Imperial Chancellery.[^1] The catalogue of German war aims that Bethmann Hollweg sent to State Secretary [[Clemens von Delbrück]] on September 9, 1914, known as the September Program, was developed by Riezler. The [[Neue Deutsche Biographie]] states that no direct influence of Riezler on Bethmann's decisions can be shown, but that he had a considerable share in conceiving imperialist expansion and in giving German war aims their system.[^1]
His prewar books were *Die Erforderlichkeit des Unmöglichen* and, under the pseudonym J. J. Ruedorffer, *Grundzüge der Weltpolitik in der Gegenwart* (1914). The NDB dates the first book to 1913; [[Holger Afflerbach]] dates it to 1912.[^1][^2] The second argued that the threat of mutual destruction had made war between the great powers irrational, while a skilful bluff could exploit the fear of such a war to win limited gains.[^2] Afflerbach notes that the chancellor's own papers were destroyed, so that Riezler's notes are the only direct access to Bethmann Hollweg's thinking in the July crisis.[^2]
### The Diaries and the Fischer Controversy
Riezler's diaries and war writings for 1910 to 1919 were published in 1972 as *Tagebücher, Aufsätze, Dokumente*, edited by [[Karl Dietrich Erdmann]] for the [[Historische Kommission]] of the [[Bavarian Academy of Sciences]]. The heirs gave permission only after long hesitation.[^2][^3] The edition went out of print, and a second edition in 2008 reprinted the 1972 text photomechanically with a new introduction by Afflerbach.[^2]
[[Fritz Fischer]]'s *Griff nach der Weltmacht* (1961) had argued that German policy in the First World War was directed at expansionist aims.[^2] After 1964 the diary entries for July 1914 became the central text of the Fischer controversy, in which historians argued over whether the notes confirmed or qualified Fischer's thesis on German responsibility for the war.[^1] Fischer and others doubted that the entries from July 7 to August 14, 1914 reproduced the original diary.[^4]
[[Bernd Sösemann]] carried out the most substantial criticism of the edition. Afflerbach writes that the papers had been closed to use by Riezler's heirs, and that Sösemann compared the printed text with the papers in the [[Federal Archives]] at Koblenz after he finally obtained permission to use them. He found extensive deletions in the original August 1914 diary that the edition did not mention. Erdmann later supplied a plausible explanation for them, but doubts about the edition's reliability remained for a long time.[^2] The Riezler papers at Koblenz (Bundesarchiv, N 1584) comprise ten numbered items dated 1910 to 1983, catalogued as diaries and notes together with investigation documents on the authenticity of the diaries.[^5] Sösemann's study of the manuscripts' authenticity and of the edition appeared in [[Historische Zeitschrift]] in 1983.[^1] Erdmann replied in the same journal that year.[^1] Sösemann returned to the July entries in 2014 with a critical edition.[^6] The NDB summarizes his source-critical findings as doubts about the reliability of the edition and the authenticity of some notes, and it calls the value of the July 1914 volume questionable.[^1]
The historian [[Volker Ullrich]] wrote in 1997 that the doubts about the authenticity of the July 1914 notes raised in the 1980s had largely proven unfounded, and that the source remained central to the question of German war guilt.[^2]
[[Andreas Hillgruber]] took up Riezler's prewar idea of calculated risk in a 1966 article in *Historische Zeitschrift* and asked whether the July crisis could be explained as a calculation of this kind.[^1][^2] Afflerbach regards Hillgruber's reading and Erdmann's reading of Bethmann's fatalism as correct and complementary.[^2]
Afflerbach also cites the historian [[Fritz Stern]], who wrote in 1967 that the diaries are most burdened by what they omit, namely the passages that would have documented Bethmann's efforts for peace.[^2] He cites [[Wolfgang J. Mommsen]]'s short study of Riezler, which found the importance of the diaries in their devastating criticism of the political traditions of the German upper classes.[^2][^7]
### Parvus and the Lenin Transport, 1915 to 1917
A telegram of January 13, 1915, sent by State Secretary [[Gottlieb von Jagow]] from General Headquarters, said that Riezler was to meet the Russian revolutionary [[Parvus]] (Alexander Helphand) in Berlin, and that "Parvus must not know that Riezler comes from General Headquarters."[^8] [[Z.A.B. Zeman]] and [[W. B. Scharlau]] write that Riezler "was sent over from the General Headquarters to Berlin 'with more detailed instructions'" before Helphand's reception at the Wilhelmstrasse.[^9] Erdmann writes that Parvus had turned to the Reich government in January 1915 through the German embassy in [[Constantinople]], offering the overthrow of tsarism and the division of Russia into smaller states, that he was called to [[Berlin]], and that Riezler, who was to negotiate with him, seemed unconvinced that the revolutionizing of Russia had so far been pursued from Germany with particular skill.[^10] The dates of the meeting differ across the sources. [[Otto Wenzel|Wenzel]] places Riezler at a late February 1915 meeting between Jagow and Parvus, at which Parvus proposed a plan for taking Germany out of the war by promoting revolution in Russia, asked for two million marks, and received one million at once.[^11] [[Wayne C. Thompson]] gives March 6, 1915 for Riezler's discreet meeting with Parvus in Berlin, and writes that there is no record of what they discussed.[^12] Erdmann treats a memorandum by Parvus dated March 9, 1915 as the outcome of his conversations with Riezler in Berlin.[^10] [[Stefan T. Possony]] wrote that Parvus was received by the German State Secretary, had long discussions with Riezler, and was given one million marks and later another 500,000.[^13] Wenzel attributes the two-million figure to [[Elisabeth Heresch]]'s 2000 book.[^14] Zeman and Scharlau write that Helphand's revolutionary programme was presented to the Foreign Ministry in March 1915, that "at the end of March he received, from the Foreign Ministry, the first payment of one million marks for these purposes," and that at his request the money was transferred, "exclusive of losses incurred in exchange," to Bucharest, Zurich and Copenhagen.[^15]
[[Semion Lyandres]] notes that after the Germans put a first million rubles at Parvus's disposal in 1915, he set up an organization in [[Copenhagen]] with agents in Russia who gave financial help to revolutionary groups. He adds that no direct evidence has been found that these agents financed the Bolsheviks.[^16]
On April 9, 1917 the German minister in Copenhagen telegraphed that Parvus had asked to be told at once when the Russian emigrants travelling from Switzerland through Germany reached [[Malmö]] or [[Sassnitz]], because he wished to meet them in Malmö. The Foreign Ministry replied on April 10 that they would arrive at Sassnitz at noon on Wednesday. The editorial note in Z.A.B. Zeman's collection quotes [[Karl Radek]] (1924) that in Stockholm Parvus tried to see [[Vladimir Lenin]] in the name of the Central Committee of the German Social Democrats and that Lenin refused, asking Radek, [[Vorovsky]] and [[Jakub Fürstenberg]] (Hanecki) to record the attempt.[^17] Erdmann reads Riezler's diary note of April 13, 1917, that Russia would be ready for larger concessions in a few weeks, as probably connected with Lenin's return to Russia.[^18]
Erdmann writes that the transport of the Russian revolutionaries, which left [[Zürich]] on April 9 and reached [[Petrograd]] on April 16, was carried out by the Foreign Office and military offices on the order of the [[Oberste Heeresleitung|Supreme Army Command]], on an instruction from Bethmann Hollweg that he reported to [[Wilhelm II|the Kaiser]] by telegram on April 11. Erdmann presumes that Riezler took part in the preliminary deliberations given his area of work, though he appears to have had no official responsibility, and notes that the files, which document the journey in bureaucratic detail, do not show his name. According to several of his friends, Riezler nevertheless felt politically co-responsible for Lenin's return. [[Arnold Brecht]] wrote to Erdmann on September 8, 1970 that it was established, from Riezler's own statements to friends, that Riezler had accompanied the transport; in his memoirs Brecht wrote that Riezler was not the originator of the plan but had carried out an assignment given to him. [[Kurt von Fritz]] confirmed the fact of a Lenin adventure without details.[^18]
Erdmann also reports an episode that he calls not fully illuminated, the unscheduled stop of many hours in Berlin, where a deliberate missing of the connection to the Sassnitz ferry has some probability in his view. Possony, in *Lenin: The Compulsive Revolutionary* (Chicago, 1964; German edition 1965), wrote that it was conceivable that Lenin conferred with German officials in Berlin and, if so, possible that he saw Riezler, adding that Riezler later told a friend that he had sent an emissary to the train but that the talk took place only on the ferry between Germany and Sweden.[^19] Erdmann reports that on Possony's reading Riezler's note of April 13 might go back directly to an impression of a conversation with Lenin, and judges this speculation probably absurd, because Lenin wished not to compromise himself and the diary places Riezler in Berlin on April 10 and 11, although he may have gone to the train on the 11th or accompanied it to the ferry port.[^18] Thompson writes that the train had a layover of twelve to twenty hours in Berlin, that no documentary evidence or diary entry supports a meeting with a German official, that Riezler was in Berlin at the time, and that it was unlikely he would have boarded the train; he gives the same account of what Riezler told a friend.[^20] Erdmann also reports that [[Karl Rheindorf]], a former professor of history at [[Frankfurt]] and a friend of Riezler, had the impression after the war that Lenin and [[Leon Trotsky]] were a memory that weighed on Riezler in his last years.[^18]
### Stockholm and the Russian Desk, 1917
After Bethmann Hollweg's fall Riezler returned to the Foreign Office.[^1] Erdmann gives August 5, 1917 as the date he re-entered the service, and records a memorandum by Legationsrat [[Rudolf Nadolny]] of September 24, 1917 and a decree of Chancellor [[Georg Michaelis]] of September 29 that outlined his task. Nadolny proposed sending a politically trained official to Stockholm to set up a Russian section, so to speak Germany's representative stationed there for Russia, working independently with his reports countersigned by the minister, [[Hellmuth Lucius von Stoedten]].[^21] Erdmann has Riezler beginning the work on October 3, 1917 and officially installed on November 1. The editorial note in Zeman's documentary collection says that he went to the legation in Stockholm in September 1917 as counsellor to run the newly created Russian section, and that he was recalled to Berlin in April 1918. The NDB dates his assignment to lead the section to November 1917.[^1][^21][^22]
Erdmann quotes Riezler's diary entry of October 3, 1917 that peace in the East depended on a wonder in the form of a man appearing. The diary has no entries from October 3, 1917 to January 14, 1918, and the entry of January 14, 1918 described Lenin's seizure of power as a miracle for Germany's rescue.[^21] Thompson writes that Riezler gave no information in the diary on his activities in support of the Bolshevik Revolution, that no documents in the Foreign Office archives show how he helped the Bolsheviks in October, and that it is certain he was charged with funding Bolshevik operations. Thompson adds that on October 25, 1917 one hundred thousand Swiss francs were sent by courier from Germany to the Bolsheviks in Russia, and that with this money German agents were able to continue buying rifles and machine guns from Russian soldiers for the Bolshevik Red Guards.[^23]
Wenzel describes Riezler as the most important intermediary between the German government and Lenin's agents in 1917, to whom he handed aid from the so-called Riezler-Fonds for Russia.[^11] Wenzel cites [[Richard Pipes]]'s German edition of *The Russian Revolution* for that sentence.[^24] Erdmann's editorial note reports that after Riezler had gone to Moscow, State Secretary [[Richard von Kühlmann]] spoke occasionally of a "Riezlerfonds", citing a document in Zeman's collection.[^25]
Zeman and Scharlau write that when Helphand arrived in Stockholm in November 1917 he was received by Counsellor Kurt Riezler, whom he had first met in March 1915, when Helphand presented his revolutionary programme to the Foreign Ministry. They write that Riezler "abbreviated the address so that the message should reach the majority socialists only," in connection with the Bolshevik declaration of November 17 and 18, 1917; that "to his utter dismay, Riezler found that Helphand's ideas were supported by Vorovski"; and that "Riezler did his best to discredit both Helphand and Erzberger in the eyes of the Bolsheviks."[^26]
The paper trail for the money runs through Zeman's collection of documents from the German Foreign Ministry. On November 8, 1917 Riezler's telegram, sent through the minister in Stockholm, asked for two million from the War Loan to be forwarded for agreed purposes.[^27] On November 10 the under state secretary replied that half the sum would be taken by courier that Sunday and the remainder on the Tuesday, and that further sums were available if necessary.[^28] Zeman and Scharlau write that on November 9, 1917 the Treasury allowed a further fifteen million marks for political purposes in Russia, that the Foreign Ministry knew the Bolshevik government had to struggle "with great financial difficulties," and that "a further two million for known purposes" were transferred for the same reason.[^29] Erdmann describes the request as one for two million marks from the war loan, made the day after the revolution, granted at once with further funds promised, and writes that the sums that went through Riezler to Petrograd cannot be established.[^21] Possony reads the same documents as a request for two million in war bonds and a shipment on November 10 of one million rubles; Thompson writes that the document of November 10 indicates that Riezler had dispensed millions of rubles for use in Russia.[^30][^31]
On December 3, 1917 the State Secretary telegraphed the Foreign Ministry liaison officer at General Headquarters that the disruption of the Entente was the most important war aim of German diplomacy and that the subversive activity carried out in Russia behind the front had been, "in the first place promotion of separatist tendencies and support of the Bolsheviks." The telegram continues: "It was not until the Bolsheviks had received from us a steady flow of funds through various channels and under different labels that they were in a position to be able to build up their main organ, Pravda, to conduct energetic propaganda and appreciably to extend the originally narrow basis of their party."[^32]
Lyandres does not name Riezler. His study of the July 1917 charges argues that the Provisional Government's accusation, that German money reached Lenin through Helphand's business and its Petrograd agents, was never substantiated. He nonetheless holds that German Foreign Ministry documents show substantial funds allocated to Bolshevik anti-war activity in 1917, and that these did not travel through the business channel alleged. The one documented pre-revolutionary transfer he identifies is a contribution then valued at 230,000 German marks that the Bolshevik Foreign Bureau in Stockholm received from the Swiss socialist [[Carl Moor]] in summer 1917, after the published minutes of the Central Committee had recorded that the offer was declined. Lyandres writes that the Bureau used the sum to finance the Third [[Zimmerwald Conference]], which met in Stockholm in September 1917, that it never reached the organization in Petrograd, and that Moor worked independently of Parvus.[^33]
Wenzel reports that Riezler's telegram to the Chancellor of November 12, 1917 stated that Lenin and Trotsky were said to hold very great personal authority among their followers and would probably be able to keep order in their party and to obtain and keep dictatorial power. In a letter of November 25 to Minister [[Diego von Bergen|Diego Bergen]], Wenzel writes, Riezler said that the Bolsheviks would not be dissuaded from the idea of international revolution even after a peace, so that the best case was a most strange peace without regular intercourse between the two peoples, while assuming that their rule would be short.[^34] Wenzel adds that Riezler found the Soviet representative in Scandinavia, Vorovsky, reasonable and educated, and that Riezler was told six weeks later that Vorovsky had said on hearing of the Vienna strikes of January 1918 that the international revolution was beginning.[^34] Erdmann records that Riezler's main interlocutor in Stockholm was Vorovsky, who made on him an honest and reasonable impression.[^35]
### Parvus, Radek and the Funds
Zeman's introduction states that Helphand, known as Parvus, played the most important part in Germany's relations with the Russian revolutionary movement from the spring of 1915 until November 1917, when he parted company with the German government.[^22] Erdmann's introduction records that shortly after the October Revolution Parvus agreed, in personal talks with [[Friedrich Ebert]] and [[Philipp Scheidemann]] in Berlin and with Radek and Vorovsky in Stockholm, an exchange of declarations of sympathy, to be expressed in mass meetings and in a resolution for an immediate armistice.[^36]
Erdmann writes that Riezler's dealings in Stockholm were mainly with three Bolsheviks of Polish origin. Riezler called Radek the most active and gifted, completely unscrupulous but extremely skilful and a gifted writer, and described Fürstenberg-Hanecki as enjoying Lenin's particular trust but under fire in the party for his political and business relations with Parvus.[^35] According to Zeman's editorial note, Radek and Hanecki were the two closest contacts of Parvus's among the Bolsheviks.[^17] The December 1917 correspondence shows the friction. On December 18 Riezler telegraphed that Parvus wished to stay in Stockholm over Christmas to talk with Radek and Fürstenberg, who were returning from Petrograd.[^37] The reply from Berlin on December 19 said it seemed expedient to keep Parvus away from Stockholm while the preliminary peace negotiations began.[^38]
On December 24, 1917 Riezler wrote to Minister Bergen enclosing a secret memorandum on Parvus's recent role. He advised Bergen to consult Parvus in Berlin on the Rumanian question and wrote: "It may well be that we shall soon feel that it would be an advantage to base our position in Russia on wider circles than those around Lenin." He wrote that the Radeks "are apparently spinning some international revolutionary web of their own." The memorandum says that Parvus had overestimated the confidence that Vorovsky and Radek placed in him, and that Riezler had "had to eliminate him from all questions concerned with methods for negotiation."[^39]
Wenzel reports that on January 24, 1918 Riezler sent the Chancellor a bleak description of the situation in Russia, proposing that German policy place its hope in Ukraine, and that on March 8 Riezler wrote that a fall of the Bolsheviks before a general peace seemed to him contrary to German interests, with the reservation that if a countermovement would win in any case, an early understanding with it was called for, and the Treaty of [[Brest-Litovsk]] should then be treated as liquidation assets.[^34]
### Moscow and the Mirbach Assassination, 1918
Riezler went to Moscow as counsellor of embassy after the peace with Russia of April 7, 1918.[^1] Wenzel describes him as number two in the mission under Mirbach, who arrived in Moscow on April 23 or 24, 1918 at the head of a mission that finally numbered 120 persons. Wenzel records that the army representative on the mission, Major Karl von Bothmer, kept a diary marked by antisemitism and had an antipathy to Riezler, among other reasons because Riezler read the [[Frankfurter Zeitung]] and was married to the daughter of the Jewish painter [[Max Liebermann]]; Wenzel cites Erdmann for this.[^40] On April 29 Riezler chaired a meeting of ten members of the mission on financial questions, which concluded that the Bolsheviks' economic policy stood in glaring contradiction to the economic provisions of the Brest-Litovsk treaty.[^41]
On May 16, 1918 the minister in Moscow telegraphed that he was still trying to counter the efforts of the Entente and to support the Bolsheviks, and asked for instructions on whether the overall situation justified larger sums and which trend to support if the Bolsheviks could not hold out.[^42] On May 18, 1918 State Secretary Kühlmann replied that it was greatly in German interests that the Bolsheviks should survive, and added: "Riezler's funds at your disposal." The telegram goes on that it was very difficult to say which trend to support if the Bolsheviks fell, that left-wing Social Revolutionaries would fall with them, and that Germany had no interest in supporting Monarchist ideas, which would reunite Russia: "On the contrary, we must try to prevent Russian consolidation as far as possible and, from this point of view, we must therefore support the parties furthest to the left."[^43]
Wenzel reports that on June 4 Riezler telegraphed Bergen personally that the physical means of the Bolsheviks were running out and that Germany should prepare a future government of understanding and revise the Brest peace against economic hegemony in all Russia. He also reports a note of June 5 by Legationsrat Trautmann for the Reich Treasury state secretary [[Siegfried von Rödern]], stating that Mirbach needed three million marks a month to counter the Entente's efforts with the Soviet executive committee and a fund of forty million to secure a safe transition in the event of the Bolsheviks' fall, and that Kühlmann wrote privately to Rödern, who agreed on June 11, 1918. Thompson, citing no date for the approval, writes that on June 8 Riezler was granted forty million marks.[^44][^45] Wenzel also writes that on June 2 Mirbach sent the Chancellor a memorandum by Legationsrat Count Bassewitz and advised preparing, at first only cautiously, for a possible regrouping, that Kühlmann noted in the margin "Einverstanden, aber sehr behutsam" (agreed, but very cautiously), and that Mirbach reported on June 20 three conversations Riezler had held with a group formed by the former agriculture minister [[Alexander Krivoshein]].[^44]
Mirbach was assassinated on July 6, 1918. According to Thompson, who draws on Riezler's recollection, two Russians, Jacob Blyumkin and N. Andreyev, came to the embassy at about 2:30 p.m. with identification signed by [[Felix Dzerzhinsky]], head of the [[Cheka]]; Riezler, who had been ordered to see all visitors, spoke with them first, and was seated with Mirbach and the translator when the shooting began; neither Riezler nor the translator was hit.[^46] Thompson writes that actual guilt for the murder "remains far from clear."[^46] Riezler's telegram to Berlin on July 7 attributed the attack to two [[Left Socialist Revolutionaries]] who were members of the Cheka.[^47] Wenzel identifies the assassin as [[Yakov Blumkin]], who was responsible for counter-intelligence and for infiltrating the German mission.[^47] The NDB states that after the murder Riezler took over the mission and developed ideas for the overthrow of the Bolsheviks by a German counter-revolution.[^1] Riezler then led the mission until [[Karl Helfferich]] arrived as Mirbach's successor. Helfferich was ordered to Berlin to report on the ninth day after his arrival in Moscow, and Riezler ran the mission again until its move to Petrograd, after which he was sent to [[Pskov]] behind the front line.[^48]
Wenzel writes that [[Georgy Chicherin]], [[Lev Karakhan]], Dzerzhinsky and Radek (then head of the department for Central European affairs in the Foreign Commissariat) came to the legation to condole, that Lenin stayed in the Kremlin until Riezler insisted that he appear in person and give a statement and an apology, and he quotes Pipes that this was a wholly unusual demand of a foreign diplomat toward a head of state, but that German influence was then so great that Lenin had to comply.[^49] In a 1952 account Riezler gave to [[Hans von Saucken]], whose memorandum of the account is dated New York, September 29, 1952, Riezler described a meeting with Lenin after the murder. Lenin offered a correct but icy apology and promised that the guilty would be punished. Riezler told him that Blumkin and his accomplice had been admitted to the mission only on a letter of introduction from Dzerzhinsky. Dzerzhinsky, Wenzel reports, said to Lenin in Russian that he now knew who was behind the affair, and declared his signature forged.[^50] Wenzel's note adds that Saucken confused the Left Socialist Revolutionaries with the [[Mensheviks]], which was corrected in an addendum of October 31, 1952.[^50]
Wenzel reports that on July 8 Riezler telegraphed, marked very secret, about a conversation with Karakhan, who had raised in strict confidence the Bolsheviks' knowledge of the mission's counter-revolutionary connections; Riezler answered that the Bolsheviks had every reason to be grateful if the mission helped them divide the bourgeois elements and prevent a united counter-revolutionary front.[^49] On July 14 Riezler wrote to the Foreign Office that he had won over [[Mikhail Muraviev|Murav'ev]], the commander of the Bolshevik front against the [[Czechoslovak Legion]], with considerable funds for energetic action. Wenzel adds that Murav'ev, certainly bought with higher sums by the Entente as Chicherin later admitted, defected in early July 1918, issued a declaration of war against Germany, and was killed by his own men a few days later.[^49] On July 19 Riezler told Radek and Vorovsky that the whole world condemned the shooting of the Tsar.[^49]
On July 19 Riezler wrote to the Chancellor that the Bolsheviks were finished, and proposed that a German-oriented government in Moscow and Petrograd could sweep away the Entente's counter-revolutionary structure. On July 20 he forwarded a report from Russian monarchist circles.[^49] On July 23 he reported a meeting with an emissary of the Siberian government in [[Omsk]], who was to leave for Omsk the day before and return in about three and a half weeks with Admiral [[Aleksandr Kolchak]] in disguise; Riezler answered the question whether money was necessary in the affirmative, provided the legation bought goods at real prices.[^49]
In a diary entry of September 12, 1918, written at [[Oberstdorf]], Riezler called German policy in the East a field of rubble without a unified plan.[^48] He was back in Berlin by late August, and on October 7, 1918 he became chief of the cabinet of the new State Secretary [[Wilhelm Solf]] under Prince [[Max of Baden]].[^1]
### Weimar: The President's Office and Frankfurt
During the Munich council republic of 1919 Riezler served the Reich government as its permanent representative to the Bavarian government in [[Bamberg]], and he supported the military action to conquer [[Munich]].[^1] His last political office, held in 1919 and 1920, was head of the office of President Friedrich Ebert with the rank of envoy.[^1]
In 1928 Riezler became an honorary professor of the philosophy of history at the [[University of Frankfurt]] and managing chairman of the university's board of curators. Thompson writes that his terms were accepted on April 5, 1928 after much delay, and that among the appointments he successfully made were those of [[Max Wertheimer]], [[Karl Mannheim]], [[Max Horkheimer]], [[Ernst Kantorowicz]], [[Paul Tillich]] and the economist [[Adolph Löwe]].[^51] The NDB states that his teaching licence was withdrawn in 1934 under the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service.[^1] Thompson writes that on April 1, 1933 an SA unit occupied the university, that Riezler was driven from the lecture podium, put in protective custody, and released only on consenting to a temporary resignation as curator, and that his permanent separation came with the Law of April 7, 1933.[^52]
A chronology of Mannheim's Frankfurt years records that on August 14, 1929 the board offered additional funds for Mannheim's teaching assignment, that on November 8 Riezler passed the faculty's objections to the Prussian minister [[Carl Heinrich Becker|Becker]] in Berlin and asked the ministry to win both [[Hans Kelsen]] and Mannheim for Frankfurt, and that on December 17 Mannheim set Riezler six conditions for his future chair. On December 21 Riezler told a ministry official that the conditions were justified. Mannheim was appointed professor of sociology on January 27, 1930 and took up the post on April 1.[^53]
[[Amalia Barboza]]'s study of Mannheim's sociological seminar and the [[Institute for Social Research]] records that Riezler wanted the university to become a centre of interdisciplinary research, and that Löwe was appointed in spring 1931 partly for that purpose.[^54] Barboza states that the cooperation between the neighbours which Riezler had hoped for did not come about. She cites meetings in Riezler's and Tillich's homes, where Mannheim and members of the institute met.[^54] On June 27, 1931 a discussion on secular civilization and the mission of Christianity was held at Tillich's house, with Horkheimer, [[Friedrich Pollock]], Mannheim, Theodor Wiesengrund ([[Theodor Adorno]]) and Riezler among the participants.[^53][^54]
### Family
Riezler married [[Käthe Liebermann]], the only child of Max Liebermann and Martha Marckwald. The Liebermann Villa in Berlin gives the wedding date as May 11, 1915, at the registry office in Berlin-Mitte, and Thompson gives the same date; the NDB gives 1916.[^1][^55][^56] Their only child, Maria (Mary), was born in 1917 and married [[Howard B. D. White]], a professor at the New School.[^1][^55] The NDB gives Käthe's dates as 1885 to 1952. The [[Deutsches Literaturarchiv Marbach]] authority record gives 1885 to 1955.[^1][^57]
### Emigration and the New School
After his removal from the Frankfurt posts, Riezler emigrated to the United States at the end of 1938, where he took a professorship at the New School for Social Research and a visiting professorship at the [[University of Chicago]].[^1] Thompson gives December 1938 as the month the family travelled, bringing Max Liebermann's art collection and furniture.[^56] The Editors' Note in the 1956 memorial issue of [[Social Research]] states that Riezler was Professor of Philosophy in the Graduate Faculty of the New School from 1939 to 1952, when he became Professor Emeritus; Thompson likewise writes that he retired from the New School in 1952 and received the title of professor emeritus.[^58][^59] The Marbach record lists his affiliation with the New School as circa 1939 to 1954, and the NDB states that he returned to [[Rome]] in 1954 and later to Munich, where he died in 1955.[^1][^57] The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek authority record, in the Kalliope catalogue, adds that he was expatriated in 1944.[^60]
The New School's finding aid for the [[Institute of World Affairs]] states that the Institute, established in 1942 as an independent unit of the New School, developed from two divisions of the Graduate Faculty: a Study Group on Germany, attended by [[Eduard Heimann]], [[Erich Hula]], [[Karl Mayer]], [[Albert Salomon]], Riezler, [[Leo Strauss]], [[Horace Kallen]] and [[Felix Kaufmann]], and the Totalitarian Communication Project organized by [[Hans Speier]] and [[Ernst Kris]]. It lists Riezler among the researchers associated with the "University-in-Exile", and notes among the Institute's studies those done in conjunction with, or on the commission of, U.S. war offices.[^61] The finding aid for the papers of the philosopher Reuben Abel lists Riezler among the lecturers whose New School lectures Abel attended.[^62] Thompson writes that Riezler took part in joint seminars with [[Karen Horney]], Speier and Wertheimer, in seminars on Aristotle and Plato with Kurt von Fritz at [[Columbia University]], and in the weekly General Seminars; that he argued with the dean, [[Hans Staudinger]], over faculty appointments; and that he spent long periods at the University of Chicago.[^56]
Leo Strauss first met Riezler in 1938, at the New School, when Riezler was already well into his fifties. Strauss describes a relationship of colleagues that became a simple and firm friendship over several years. Strauss left for Chicago in 1949 and after that saw Riezler only at long intervals.[^63]
Riezler and Strauss shared an interest in the foundations of the social sciences and taught a couple of courses together in the mid-1940s, one on Aristotle's *De anima* and Descartes's *Passions of the Soul* with [[Solomon Asch]], and one on Plato's *Theaetetus* with [[Alexandre Koyré]].[^64] In 1945 Riezler published "Some Critical Remarks on Man's Science of Man" in *Social Research*.[^65] Strauss's paper from about the same time states that its objections "are based on full agreement with what Riezler says or implies about the present state of affairs," and then argues that Riezler's demand for one science of man rests on "quite specific, and by no means self-evident, presuppositions."[^64]
The New School Archives hold a faculty vertical file for Riezler (Box 10, Folder 18, collection NS-08-02-02).[^66] Strauss's eulogy for Riezler appeared in *Social Research* in 1956, and was reprinted in *What Is Political Philosophy?* in 1959. In it Strauss wrote that "[t]he term 'professor' does not designate anything of him, but the term 'gentleman' does."[^63] [[Theodor Heuss]]'s memorial article appeared in the same issue of *Social Research*.[^67]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Becker, Bert, "Riezler, Kurt Karl Joseph Siegmund (Pseudonym J. J. Ruedorffer)," *Neue Deutsche Biographie* 21 (2003), pp. 618-619, the biographical article on Riezler, including its literature list. https://www.deutsche-biographie.de/gnd118601008.html
[^2]: Afflerbach, Holger, "Ein Fukuyama seiner Zeit? Kurt Riezler und der Erste Weltkrieg," *Akademie Aktuell* 4 (2008), pp. 20-23, on the destroyed Bethmann papers (p. 20), the 1914 books (the first dated 1912) and the Rothfels reading (p. 21), the heirs' hesitation and closure of the papers (pp. 20-21), the edition's reception (pp. 20-21), Sösemann's collation (p. 21), Ullrich (p. 21), Stern (p. 22) and Mommsen (p. 23). https://badw.de/fileadmin/pub/akademieAktuell/2008/27/07_Afflerbach.pdf
[^3]: Erdmann, Karl Dietrich, ed., *Kurt Riezler: Tagebücher, Aufsätze, Dokumente* (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1972), series Deutsche Geschichtsquellen des 19. und 20. Jahrhunderts, vol. 48, editor's introduction and notes.
[^4]: Fischer, Fritz, *Juli 1914: Wir sind nicht hineingeschlittert. Das Staatsgeheimnis um die Riezler-Tagebücher* (Reinbek, 1983), pp. 48, 61 and 79ff, and Schulte, Bernd F., *Die Verfälschung der Riezler-Tagebücher* (Frankfurt am Main, 1985), pp. 58ff, both as cited in Wenzel, "Auf verlorenem Posten," *Zeitschrift des Forschungsverbundes SED-Staat* 25 (2009), p. 159, note 9.
[^5]: Kalliope-Verbund, finding-aid record DE-611-BF-114654, Bundesarchiv (Koblenz), "Nachlass Riezler, Kurt," Signatur N 1584, "1910-1983. - 10 Nummern," remark "Tagebücher und Aufzeichnungen, Untersuchungsdokumente zur Echtheit der Tagebücher Riezlers." http://kalliope-verbund.info/DE-611-BF-114654
[^6]: Sösemann, Bernd, "Die 'Juli-Krise' im Riezler-Tagebuch. Eine kritische Edition (7. Juli bis 15. August 1914)," *Historische Zeitschrift* 298, no. 3 (2014), pp. 686-707, published online June 1, 2014 by De Gruyter Oldenbourg. DOI https://doi.org/10.1515/hzhz-2014-0219
[^7]: Mommsen, Wolfgang J., a short study of Riezler in *Geschichte in Wissenschaft und Unterricht* (1974), pp. 193-209, as listed in NDB and quoted in Afflerbach, "Ein Fukuyama seiner Zeit?," p. 23.
[^8]: Zeman, Z. A. B., ed., *Germany and the Revolution in Russia 1915-1918: Documents from the Archives of the German Foreign Ministry* (London: Oxford University Press, 1958), telegram No. 40, State Secretary at General Headquarters to the Foreign Ministry, January 13, 1915, with note 1 giving Riezler's career.
[^9]: Z. A. B. Zeman and W. B. Scharlau, *The Merchant of Revolution: The Life of Alexander Israel Helphand (Parvus), 1867-1924* (London: Oxford University Press, 1965), p. 145 (Jagow's agreement of January 10, 1915 to Helphand's reception; Riezler sent from General Headquarters). Page numbers are those of the archive.org lending copy merchantofrevolu0000zabz.
[^10]: Erdmann, *Tagebücher, Aufsätze, Dokumente*, editor's introduction, p. 83 and note 3 (Parvus's approach through Constantinople, Riezler's doubts, the Helphand memorandum of March 9, 1915, text in Scharlau and Zeman).
[^11]: Wenzel, Otto, "Auf verlorenem Posten. Legationsrat Kurt Riezler an der Deutschen Gesandtschaft Moskau im Jahre 1918," *Zeitschrift des Forschungsverbundes SED-Staat* 25 (2009), pp. 159-160, on Riezler's career, the late February 1915 meeting of Jagow and Parvus (note 10) and the Riezler-Fonds (note 11). https://www.zeitschrift-fsed.fu-berlin.de/index.php/zfsed/article/download/309/293/594
[^12]: Thompson, Wayne C., *In the Eye of the Storm: Kurt Riezler and the Crises of Modern Germany* (Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1980), pp. 130-131, on the referral of Parvus by Ambassador Wangenheim on January 8, 1915 and Riezler's meeting with him on March 6, 1915.
[^13]: Possony, Stefan T., *Lenin: The Compulsive Revolutionary* (Chicago: Henry Regnery, 1964), chapter "Revolutionizing," on Parvus's plan, his reception by the German State Secretary, his discussions with Riezler and the sums of one million and 500,000 marks.
[^14]: Heresch, Elisabeth, *Geheimakte Parvus: Die gekaufte Revolution* (Munich, 2000), pp. 117-129 and 379-392, as cited in Wenzel, "Auf verlorenem Posten," p. 160, note 10.
[^15]: Zeman and Scharlau, *The Merchant of Revolution*, p. 152 (first payment of one million marks at the end of March 1915; transfer to Bucharest, Zurich and Copenhagen).
[^16]: Lyandres, Semion, "The Bolsheviks' 'German Gold' Revisited: An Inquiry into the 1917 Accusations," *Carl Beck Papers in Russian and East European Studies*, no. 1106 (Pittsburgh: Center for Russian and East European Studies, February 1995), conclusion, pp. 102-103, on the first million rubles, the Copenhagen organization and its agents. DOI https://doi.org/10.5195/cbp.1995.63. https://carlbeckpapers.pitt.edu/ojs/cbp/article/view/63 Lyandres gives the 1915 sum in rubles; Wenzel and Possony give marks.
[^17]: Zeman, *Germany and the Revolution in Russia*, document 36, telegram No. 560, Minister in Copenhagen to the Foreign Ministry, April 9, 1917, with note 1 (reply of April 10 from Zimmermann; Radek's account in Platten's pamphlet *Die Reise Lenins durch Deutschland*, Berlin, 1924, p. 66; Radek and Hanecki as Helphand's two closest contacts among the Bolsheviks).
[^18]: Erdmann, *Tagebücher, Aufsätze, Dokumente*, editor's introduction, pp. 84-85 and the note on Brecht, Kurt von Fritz and Rheindorf (Brecht's letter to Erdmann of September 8, 1970; Brecht, *Aus nächster Nähe: Lebenserinnerungen 1884-1927*, Stuttgart, 1966, p. 325), including the passage on the Berlin stop and Possony's speculation (Possony, *Lenin. Eine Biographie*, German edition 1965, pp. 262ff). Sole source for the Brecht, von Fritz and Rheindorf statements.
[^19]: Possony, *Lenin: The Compulsive Revolutionary*, chapter "The Sealed Car," on the delay of the train in Berlin and Riezler. Possony gives no source for what Riezler told a friend.
[^20]: Thompson, *In the Eye of the Storm*, p. 137, on the Berlin layover and Riezler's statement to a friend.
[^21]: Erdmann, *Tagebücher, Aufsätze, Dokumente*, editor's introduction, pp. 85-87 and notes 47, 52, 53 and 54 (re-entry into the Foreign Office on August 5, 1917; the Nadolny memorandum of September 24 and the Michaelis decree of September 29, 1917; the diary entries of October 3, 1917 and January 14, 1918; the request of two million marks, Zeman documents 72 and 78).
[^22]: Zeman, *Germany and the Revolution in Russia*, introduction, pp. viii-ix, and the editorial note to telegram No. 40 (January 13, 1915), note 1, giving Riezler's career.
[^23]: Thompson, *In the Eye of the Storm*, pp. 138-139 and note 32, which cites Riezler's diary (pp. 453-454), Zeman documents 72, 75, 78-79 and 94, and Possony's *Lenin* (pp. 192, 241-242, 248, 255). Sole source for the passage on October 25, 1917 and the Swiss francs.
[^24]: Pipes, Richard, *Die Russische Revolution*, vol. 2 (Berlin, 1992), p. 467, as cited in Wenzel, "Auf verlorenem Posten," p. 160, note 11.
[^25]: Erdmann, *Tagebücher, Aufsätze, Dokumente*, editor's introduction, p. 87, note 54, citing Zeman, document 129 for the term "Riezlerfonds".
[^26]: Zeman and Scharlau, *The Merchant of Revolution*, pp. 240-243 (Helphand received by Riezler in Stockholm; the abbreviated address; Vorovski; the discrediting of Helphand and Erzberger).
[^27]: Zeman, *Germany and the Revolution in Russia*, doc. 72, telegram No. 1796, Minister in Stockholm to the Foreign Ministry, November 8, 1917, signed "Riezler. T".
[^28]: Zeman, *Germany and the Revolution in Russia*, doc. 78, telegram No. 1526, under state secretary to the minister in Stockholm, November 10, 1917, "For Riezler."
[^29]: Zeman and Scharlau, *The Merchant of Revolution*, pp. 235-236 (the Treasury's allowance of November 9, 1917 and "a further two million for known purposes").
[^30]: Possony, *Lenin: The Compulsive Revolutionary*, chapter "The Armed Uprising," on the requests of November 8 and 10, 1917.
[^31]: Thompson, *In the Eye of the Storm*, p. 139.
[^32]: Zeman, *Germany and the Revolution in Russia*, doc. 94, telegram No. 1925, State Secretary to the Foreign Ministry Liaison Officer at General Headquarters, December 3, 1917, pp. 94-95.
[^33]: Lyandres, "The Bolsheviks' 'German Gold' Revisited," pp. 102-104 and note 150 (the Moor contribution of summer 1917, the Central Committee minutes, the Third Zimmerwald Conference). DOI https://doi.org/10.5195/cbp.1995.63
[^34]: Wenzel, "Auf verlorenem Posten," pp. 160-162, quoting the Riezler diary edition, pp. 683, 685, 687-688, 691, 694, 696-698 and 701-708 (telegram of November 12, 1917; letter of November 25; Vorovsky; the report of January 24, 1918; the letter of March 8, 1918).
[^35]: Erdmann, *Tagebücher, Aufsätze, Dokumente*, editor's introduction, pp. 86-87 (Riezler's diary characterizations of Radek, Fürstenberg-Hanecki and Vorovsky-Orlovsky; Riezler to the Foreign Office, Stockholm, December 8, 1917, Zeman document 100).
[^36]: Erdmann, *Tagebücher, Aufsätze, Dokumente*, editor's introduction, pp. 88-89 (Parvus's talks with Ebert, Scheidemann, Radek and Vorovsky).
[^37]: Zeman, *Germany and the Revolution in Russia*, doc. 109, telegram No. 2065, Minister in Stockholm to the Foreign Ministry, December 18, 1917, signed "Riezler. T".
[^38]: Zeman, *Germany and the Revolution in Russia*, doc. 110, telegram No. 1750, under state secretary to the minister in Stockholm, December 19, 1917, "For Riezler."
[^39]: Zeman, *Germany and the Revolution in Russia*, doc. 111, letter from the counsellor of legation in Stockholm to Minister Diego Bergen, December 24, 1917, with enclosed "Secret Memorandum."
[^40]: Wenzel, "Auf verlorenem Posten," p. 162, and note 25 citing Erdmann, *Tagebücher, Aufsätze, Dokumente*, p. 103. Wenzel gives Mirbach's arrival as April 24, 1918 in his introduction (p. 159) and April 23 in the main text (p. 162).
[^41]: Wenzel, "Auf verlorenem Posten," pp. 163-164, citing Mirbach's transmission of the minutes of April 29, 1918.
[^42]: Zeman, *Germany and the Revolution in Russia*, doc. 128, telegram No. 122, Minister in Moscow to the Foreign Ministry, dispatched May 17, 1918.
[^43]: Zeman, *Germany and the Revolution in Russia*, doc. 129, telegram No. 121, State Secretary to the minister in Moscow, May 18, 1918, signed Kühlmann.
[^44]: Wenzel, "Auf verlorenem Posten," pp. 165-166 (June 2 letter, note 42; June funds, note 44; June 4 telegram, note 45; June 20 report, notes 46-48), citing PAAA R 2062, Deutschland 131 secr., vol. 18, Bl. 149f. and 157; PAAA R 2003, Deutschland 131, vol. 40, Bl. 78ff.; the Riezler diary edition, pp. 709-710; and a copy of Rödern's reply in Heresch, *Geheimakte Parvus*, p. 358. Wenzel himself refers to the Bolsheviks as having come to power with German money, citing a Spiegel TV broadcast of 2007 and Heresch.
[^45]: Thompson, *In the Eye of the Storm*, p. 155.
[^46]: Thompson, *In the Eye of the Storm*, pp. 152-154, on the visit of July 6, 1918.
[^47]: Wenzel, "Auf verlorenem Posten," p. 167, citing PAAA R 22316, Russland 31k, vol. 1 (Riezler's telegram of July 7, 1918) and Volkogonov, *Lenin. Utopie und Terror* (Düsseldorf, 1993), p. 180.
[^48]: Wenzel, "Auf verlorenem Posten," pp. 173-176, on Helfferich's recall on the ninth day, the move to Petrograd and Pskov (arrival August 23, 1918), the diary entry of September 12, 1918 and the appointment of October 7, 1918.
[^49]: Wenzel, "Auf verlorenem Posten," pp. 167-171, citing among others Pipes, *Die Russische Revolution* 2, p. 507, the Riezler diary edition, pp. 717 and 719-720, and PAAA R 22316 and R 10109.
[^50]: Wenzel, "Auf verlorenem Posten," p. 168 and note 61, citing Hans von Saucken's memorandum of Riezler's oral account, New York, September 29, 1952, and its addendum of October 31, 1952, printed in Erdmann, *Tagebücher, Aufsätze, Dokumente*, pp. 713ff. Sole source for the passages so cited.
[^51]: Thompson, *In the Eye of the Storm*, pp. 211-213.
[^52]: Thompson, *In the Eye of the Storm*, pp. 214-215.
[^53]: Koolwaay, Jens, "Chronik zu Karl Mannheims Frankfurter Zeit," version 0.3 (July 2, 2007), entries for August 14, 1929, November 8, 1929, December 17 and 21, 1929, January 27 and April 1, 1930, and June 27, 1931. https://wiki.studiumdigitale.uni-frankfurt.de/SOZFRA/images/archive/b/b3/20070723092823%21Chronik.pdf
[^54]: Barboza, Amalia, "Die verpassten Chancen einer Kooperation zwischen der 'Frankfurter Schule' und Karl Mannheims Soziologischem Seminar" (PDF), on Riezler's aims and the Löwe appointment (citing Löwe 2004, p. 93), the neighbouring institute, the meetings in Riezler's and Tillich's homes, and the June 27, 1931 meeting (citing Tillich 1983). https://wiki.studiumdigitale.uni-frankfurt.de/SOZFRA/images/8/85/BarbozaFrankfurt.pdf
[^55]: Liebermann Villa Berlin, "Women in focus," audio guide, on the marriage on May 11, 1915, the birth of Maria Martha Margarethe Riezler on March 27, 1917, and Käthe Liebermann's dates. https://liebermann-villa.de/en/audioguide/women-in-focus/
[^56]: Thompson, *In the Eye of the Storm*, p. 217 (December 1938 departure), pp. 227-228 (New School, joint seminars, Staudinger, Chicago), and the note on the marriage of May 11, 1915.
[^57]: Deutsches Literaturarchiv Marbach, Normdaten record PE00079064, "Riezler, Kurt (1882-1955)," affiliations ("New School for Social Research <New York, NY> (1919-1997) (ca. 1939-1954)") and relations ("Liebermann, Käthe (1885-1955), Ehefrau 1915"). https://www.dla-marbach.de/en/catalogue/find/opac/id/PE00079064/
[^58]: Editors' Note, *Social Research* 23, no. 1 (Spring 1956), p. 233 (footnote to Leo Strauss, "Kurt Riezler, 1882-1955"): "Kurt Riezler was Professor of Philosophy in the Graduate Faculty of the New School from 1939 to 1952, when he became Professor Emeritus."
[^59]: Thompson, *In the Eye of the Storm*, p. 232.
[^60]: Kalliope-Verbund, authority record for Riezler, Kurt (1882-1955), GND 118601008, biographical notes (including "1934 Schutzhaft und Versetzung in den Ruhestand" and "1944 Ausbürgerung"). http://kalliope-verbund.info/gnd/118601008
[^61]: The New School Archives and Special Collections, "Institute of World Affairs records," record group NS-02-16-01, historical note and scope and contents. https://findingaids.archives.newschool.edu/repositories/3/resources/235
[^62]: The New School Archives and Special Collections, "Reuben Abel papers," collection NA-0003-01, scope and contents (list of lecturers). https://findingaids.archives.newschool.edu/repositories/3/resources/165
[^63]: Strauss, Leo, "Kurt Riezler (1882-1955)," *Social Research* 23 (1956), pp. 233-258, reprinted in *What Is Political Philosophy? And Other Studies* (1959).
[^64]: Colen, José A., and Svetozar Minkov, "Leo Strauss on Social and Natural Science: Two Previously Unpublished Papers," *The Review of Politics* 76, no. 4 (2014), pp. 619-633, introduction, and Strauss's paper "The frame of reference in the social sciences" (Leo Strauss Papers, Box 14, Folder 10). DOI https://doi.org/10.1017/S003467051400059X
[^65]: Riezler, Kurt, "Some Critical Remarks on Man's Science of Man," *Social Research* 12, no. 4 (1945), pp. 481-505, as listed in Colen and Minkov.
[^66]: The New School Archives and Special Collections, "Riezler, Kurt," File, Box 10, Folder 18, New School faculty vertical files collection (NS-08-02-02). https://findingaids.archives.newschool.edu/repositories/3/archival_objects/43221
[^67]: Heuss, Theodor, "A Word in Memory of Kurt Riezler," *Social Research* 23, no. 1 (Spring 1956), opening article of the issue.

54
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Leo Strauss.md
View file

@ -10,12 +10,19 @@ tags:
- Esotericism
- Neoconservatism
- PeterThiel
summary: "Leo Strauss was a German-American political philosopher at the University of Chicago whose doctrine of esoteric writing, critique of liberal modernity, and revival of the ancients shaped American neoconservatism and supplied one of the three pillars of Peter Thiel's 2007 essay 'The Straussian Moment.'"
summary: "Leo Strauss was a German-American political philosopher at the University of Chicago whose doctrine of esoteric writing and critique of liberal modernity shaped American neoconservatism and Peter Thiel's 2007 essay 'The Straussian Moment.'"
born: 1899-09-20
died: 1973-10-18
location: "Kirchhain, Germany; Chicago, Illinois"
created: 2026-06-20
updated: 2026-06-20
updated: 2026-10-09
relations:
- type: employed_by
with: "[[New School for Social Research]]"
start: 1938
end: 1948
role: "Graduate Faculty member"
fn: 1
---
Leo Strauss (September 20, 1899 to October 18, 1973) was a German-born political philosopher who taught for nearly two decades at the [[University of Chicago]] and who founded the school of interpretation known as Straussianism. His central claims were that the great philosophers of the past practiced esoteric writing, concealing a dangerous teaching beneath a salutary surface; that modern liberal philosophy represents a decline from classical political philosophy; and that the conflict between reason and revelation, which he called the theological-political problem, is the permanent theme of Western thought. His students and their students became a recognizable presence in American conservatism, and his name attaches to the intellectual genealogy of [[Neoconservatism|neoconservatism]]. [[Peter Thiel]] titled his 2007 essay "The Straussian Moment" after him.[^1][^2]
@ -26,42 +33,49 @@ Strauss was born in Kirchhain, in Hesse, into an observant Jewish family, and st
In 1932 a Rockefeller Foundation fellowship took Strauss out of Germany to France and then England, and he never returned; the rise of the Nazi regime in 1933 made his exile permanent. He completed *The Political Philosophy of Hobbes* in England, emigrated to the United States in 1937, and from 1938 to 1948 taught at the [[New School for Social Research]] in New York. In 1949 he joined the University of Chicago, where he was Robert Maynard Hutchins Distinguished Service Professor and taught until 1967, the period in which he trained the bulk of his students and produced his major interpretive works. He spent a year at Claremont Men's College in 1968 and then moved to [[St. John's College]] in Annapolis as scholar in residence, where he died in 1973.[^1][^3]
The Rockefeller Foundation and [[Harold Laski]] of the [[London School of Economics]] recommended Strauss to [[Alvin Johnson]] for a post at the New School.[^4] There Strauss met [[Kurt Riezler]] in 1938, when Riezler was in his fifties; Strauss describes a relationship of colleagues that became a simple and firm friendship over several years.[^5] In the mid-1940s the two taught two courses together, one on De anima and the Passions of the Soul with [[Solomon Asch]] and one on the Theaetetus with [[Alexandre Koyré]].[^6] In 1945 Riezler published "Some Critical Remarks on Man's Science of Man" in Social Research; Strauss's paper "The frame of reference in the social sciences" (Leo Strauss Papers, Box 14, Folder 10) agrees with Riezler's account of the present state of affairs and then objects that his demand for one science of man rests on specific presuppositions.[^6][^7] The finding aid for the Institute of World Affairs lists Strauss among the members of the New School Study Group on Germany from which the Institute developed, alongside Riezler, [[Eduard Heimann]], [[Erich Hula]], [[Karl Mayer]], [[Albert Salomon]], [[Horace Kallen]] and [[Felix Kaufmann]].[^8] Strauss left for Chicago in 1949 and afterwards saw Riezler only at long intervals. His eulogy for Riezler, first given as a talk to the Graduate Faculty's General Seminar, appeared in Social Research in 1956 and was reprinted in What Is Political Philosophy? (1959); it says that "the term 'professor' does not designate anything of him, but the term 'gentleman' does."[^5]
### Esoteric Writing and Persecution
Strauss's most distinctive doctrine, set out in *Persecution and the Art of Writing* (1952), holds that under conditions of persecution philosophers learned to write on two levels at once. The surface, or exoteric, teaching conformed to the moral and religious opinions of the city and protected the author from reprisal, while a hidden, or esoteric, teaching, addressed to careful readers and signaled by deliberate contradictions, omissions, and errors, communicated the philosopher's real and potentially subversive thought. Strauss developed the reading through studies of [[Maimonides]], Judah Halevi, and Spinoza, arguing that modern scholars had lost the very art of reading "between the lines" that earlier readers took for granted.[^4][^5]
Strauss's most distinctive doctrine, set out in *Persecution and the Art of Writing* (1952), holds that under conditions of persecution philosophers learned to write on two levels at once. The surface, or exoteric, teaching conformed to the moral and religious opinions of the city and protected the author from reprisal, while a hidden, or esoteric, teaching, addressed to careful readers and signaled by deliberate contradictions, omissions, and errors, communicated the philosopher's real and potentially subversive thought. Strauss developed the reading through studies of [[Maimonides]], Judah Halevi, and Spinoza, arguing that modern scholars had lost the very art of reading "between the lines" that earlier readers took for granted.[^9][^10]
Behind the contingent fact of persecution Strauss placed a permanent tension between philosophy and the political community. Philosophy questions the authoritative opinions on which any society rests, and so the pursuit of truth is always potentially corrosive of the beliefs that hold a city together. The classical solution, in Strauss's account, was a politic reticence: the philosopher tempers the public expression of the truth and grants the city the salutary myths it requires, a posture connected to the Platonic notion of the noble lie, the gennaion pseudos of the *Republic*, the medicinal falsehood the rulers tell for the good of the whole. Critics, notably Shadia Drury in *The Political Ideas of Leo Strauss* (1988), read this as an esoteric endorsement of rule by a deceiving elite, a reading Strauss's defenders dispute.[^4][^6]
Behind the contingent fact of persecution Strauss placed a permanent tension between philosophy and the political community. Philosophy questions the authoritative opinions on which any society rests, and so the pursuit of truth is always potentially corrosive of the beliefs that hold a city together. The classical solution, in Strauss's account, was a politic reticence: the philosopher tempers the public expression of the truth and grants the city the salutary myths it requires, a posture connected to the Platonic notion of the noble lie, the gennaion pseudos of the *Republic*, the medicinal falsehood the rulers tell for the good of the whole. Critics, notably Shadia Drury in *The Political Ideas of Leo Strauss* (1988), read this as an esoteric endorsement of rule by a deceiving elite, a reading Strauss's defenders dispute.[^9][^11]
### The Critique of Modernity
Strauss argued that classical political philosophy, oriented by an idea of the naturally best regime and the question of how one ought to live, was abandoned by modern thought in favor of lower but supposedly more solid foundations. In *Natural Right and History* (1953) he traced the collapse of the classical doctrine of natural right into modern natural rights and then into the historicism and value-relativism he regarded as the characteristic disease of the twentieth century, a relativism he thought left liberal democracy defenseless against its enemies. He described modernity as unfolding in "three waves," the first beginning with [[Niccolo Machiavelli|Machiavelli]] and [[Thomas Hobbes|Hobbes]], the second with [[Jean-Jacques Rousseau|Rousseau]], the third with [[Friedrich Nietzsche|Nietzsche]], each lowering the horizon further until thought arrived at the nihilism he associated with Heidegger.[^2][^7]
Strauss argued that classical political philosophy, oriented by an idea of the naturally best regime and the question of how one ought to live, was abandoned by modern thought in favor of lower but supposedly more solid foundations. In *Natural Right and History* (1953) he traced the collapse of the classical doctrine of natural right into modern natural rights and then into the historicism and value-relativism he regarded as the characteristic disease of the twentieth century, a relativism he thought left liberal democracy defenseless against its enemies. He described modernity as unfolding in "three waves," the first beginning with [[Niccolo Machiavelli|Machiavelli]] and [[Thomas Hobbes|Hobbes]], the second with [[Jean-Jacques Rousseau|Rousseau]], the third with [[Friedrich Nietzsche|Nietzsche]], each lowering the horizon further until thought arrived at the nihilism he associated with Heidegger.[^2][^12]
The recovery he proposed was a return to the ancients, achieved by reading Plato, Aristotle, Xenophon, and the medieval Islamic and Jewish philosophers on their own terms rather than through the assumptions of progress. Works such as *On Tyranny* (1948), a commentary on Xenophon's *Hiero* that occasioned his published exchange with the Hegelian [[Alexandre Kojeve]], *Thoughts on Machiavelli* (1958), and *The City and Man* (1964) enacted this return. Underlying all of it was what Strauss called the theological-political problem, the unresolved quarrel between the claims of reason ("Athens") and the claims of revelation ("Jerusalem"), which he held no philosophy had ever refuted and which he treated as the animating tension of the Western tradition.[^7][^8]
The recovery he proposed was a return to the ancients, achieved by reading Plato, Aristotle, Xenophon, and the medieval Islamic and Jewish philosophers on their own terms rather than through the assumptions of progress. Works such as *On Tyranny* (1948), a commentary on Xenophon's *Hiero* that occasioned his published exchange with the Hegelian [[Alexandre Kojeve]], *Thoughts on Machiavelli* (1958), and *The City and Man* (1964) enacted this return. Underlying all of it was what Strauss called the theological-political problem, the unresolved quarrel between the claims of reason ("Athens") and the claims of revelation ("Jerusalem"), which he held no philosophy had ever refuted and which he treated as the animating tension of the Western tradition.[^12][^13]
### The Schmitt Exchange
In 1932 Strauss published "Notes on Carl Schmitt, The Concept of the Political," a close and critical review of the jurist [[Carl Schmitt]]'s book. Strauss argued that Schmitt, in seeking to ground the political in the friend-enemy distinction and to escape the liberalism he attacked, in fact remained within the liberal horizon he wished to overcome, because he could give no positive account of why the political was worth affirming. Schmitt privately praised the review as the one penetrating response his book had received, revised passages of the third edition in light of it, and supplied a recommendation that supported Strauss's Rockefeller fellowship.[^9]
In 1932 Strauss published "Notes on Carl Schmitt, The Concept of the Political," a close and critical review of the jurist [[Carl Schmitt]]'s book. Strauss argued that Schmitt, in seeking to ground the political in the friend-enemy distinction and to escape the liberalism he attacked, in fact remained within the liberal horizon he wished to overcome, because he could give no positive account of why the political was worth affirming. Schmitt privately praised the review as the one penetrating response his book had received, revised passages of the third edition in light of it, and supplied a recommendation that supported Strauss's Rockefeller fellowship.[^14]
The German scholar [[Heinrich Meier]] reconstructed this episode in *Carl Schmitt and Leo Strauss: The Hidden Dialogue* (German 1988, English 1995), arguing that the exchange concerned, beneath its ostensible subject, the deeper quarrel between political philosophy and political theology. Thiel set the two thinkers' names side by side in "The Straussian Moment."[^9][^10]
The German scholar [[Heinrich Meier]] reconstructed this episode in *Carl Schmitt and Leo Strauss: The Hidden Dialogue* (German 1988, English 1995), arguing that the exchange concerned, beneath its ostensible subject, the deeper quarrel between political philosophy and political theology. Thiel set the two thinkers' names side by side in "The Straussian Moment."[^14][^15]
### Students, Neoconservatism, and the Straussian Moment
Strauss trained a large cohort of students at Chicago, among them Allan Bloom, Harvey Mansfield (at Harvard), Harry Jaffa, and Walter Berns, and a later generation including the analyst [[Paul Wolfowitz]] and the journalist William Kristol moved into government and the policy press, which is why commentators traced a line from Strauss to the foreign policy of the [[George W. Bush]] administration, though the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy notes that Strauss's own writing addressed no policy questions. The "Straussian" reading also split into rival camps, an East Coast school around Mansfield and an interpretively bolder West Coast school around Jaffa and the [[Claremont Institute]], which became influential on the [[Trump]]-era right.[^2][^11]
Strauss trained a large cohort of students at Chicago, among them Allan Bloom, Harvey Mansfield (at Harvard), Harry Jaffa, and Walter Berns, and a later generation including the analyst [[Paul Wolfowitz]] and the journalist William Kristol moved into government and the policy press, which is why commentators traced a line from Strauss to the foreign policy of the [[George W. Bush]] administration, though the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy notes that Strauss's own writing addressed no policy questions. The "Straussian" reading also split into rival camps, an East Coast school around Mansfield and an interpretively bolder West Coast school around Jaffa and the [[Claremont Institute]], which became influential on the [[Trump]]-era right.[^2][^16]
Thiel's "The Straussian Moment," published in *Politics and Apocalypse* (2007), takes Strauss as one of three twentieth-century thinkers, with Schmitt and [[Rene Girard]], who saw past the optimistic anthropology of Enlightenment liberalism. Thiel reads the [[September 11 attacks]] as evidence that the Hobbesian and Lockean account of human beings as fearful, economically motivated, and threatened only by recognized states had failed, and he invokes Strauss's distinction between the exoteric surface and the esoteric core to argue that the modern state conceals its hardest necessities, a logic he extends to covert intelligence and to the surveillance work of his company [[Palantir]]. The essay treats the Straussian recovery of the ancients as possibly the last and best resource of the West while voicing the suspicion, drawn from Girard, that even the Straussian moment of triumph may prove brief.[^12][^13]
Thiel's "The Straussian Moment," published in *Politics and Apocalypse* (2007), takes Strauss as one of three twentieth-century thinkers, with Schmitt and [[Rene Girard]], who saw past the optimistic anthropology of Enlightenment liberalism. Thiel reads the [[September 11 attacks]] as evidence that the Hobbesian and Lockean account of human beings as fearful, economically motivated, and threatened only by recognized states had failed, and he invokes Strauss's distinction between the exoteric surface and the esoteric core to argue that the modern state conceals its hardest necessities, a logic he extends to covert intelligence and to the surveillance work of his company [[Palantir]]. The essay treats the Straussian recovery of the ancients as possibly the last and best resource of the West while voicing the suspicion, drawn from Girard, that even the Straussian moment of triumph may prove brief.[^17][^18]
### Footnotes
[^1]: "Leo Strauss," *Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy,* on the Kirchhain birth, the 1921 Hamburg doctorate under Ernst Cassirer, Husserl and Heidegger, the Berlin and New School years, and the Chicago career. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/strauss-leo/
[^2]: "Leo Strauss," *Encyclopædia Britannica,* on Straussianism, the critique of modernity, and the disputed line to neoconservatism. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Leo-Strauss
[^3]: Strauss, Leo. *Spinoza's Critique of Religion* (1930); *The Political Philosophy of Hobbes* (1936).
[^4]: Strauss, Leo. *Persecution and the Art of Writing.* Free Press, 1952.
[^5]: "Morality, Nature, and Esotericism in Leo Strauss's Persecution and the Art of Writing," *The Review of Politics,* Cambridge, on the strong and weak accounts of esotericism. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/review-of-politics/article/abs/morality-nature-and-esotericism-in-leo-strausss-persecution-and-the-art-of-writing/AE252D909A9FE588A1ADED672DFA6C0F
[^6]: Drury, Shadia B. *The Political Ideas of Leo Strauss.* St. Martin's Press, 1988. See also Drury, "The Esoteric Philosophy of Leo Strauss," *Political Theory* 13, no. 3 (1985).
[^7]: Strauss, Leo. *Natural Right and History.* University of Chicago Press, 1953; and "The Three Waves of Modernity," in *An Introduction to Political Philosophy* (1989).
[^8]: Strauss, Leo. *On Tyranny* (1948, rev. ed. with the Kojève exchange 1963); *Thoughts on Machiavelli* (1958); *The City and Man* (1964).
[^9]: Strauss, Leo. "Notes on Carl Schmitt, The Concept of the Political" (1932), reprinted in *Spinoza's Critique of Religion* and in Meier's volume below; on Schmitt's June 1932 praise and the third-edition revisions. https://contemporarythinkers.org/leo-strauss/essay/notes-on-carl-schmitt-the-concept-of-the-political/
[^10]: Meier, Heinrich. *Carl Schmitt and Leo Strauss: The Hidden Dialogue,* trans. J. Harvey Lomax. University of Chicago Press, 1995.
[^11]: "Leo Strauss," *Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy,* rejecting the claim that Strauss is responsible for Iraq-war policy and noting his work "does not concern policy issues of any sort." https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/strauss-leo/
[^12]: Thiel, Peter. "The Straussian Moment," in *Politics and Apocalypse,* ed. Robert Hamerton-Kelly, Michigan State University Press, 2007, pp. 189 to 218.
[^13]: "Peter Thiel's The Straussian Moment Explained," summary of the essay's use of Strauss, Schmitt, and Girard, the September 11 framing, and the esoteric concealment argument. https://vistasofinsight.substack.com/p/peter-thiels-the-straussian-moment
[^4]: Peter M. Rutkoff and William B. Scott, New School: A History of The New School for Social Research (New York: Free Press, 1986), p. 146: "The Rockefeller Foundation and Harold Laski of the London School of Economics recommended Strauss to Alvin Johnson."
[^5]: Strauss, Leo, "Kurt Riezler (1882-1955)," *Social Research* 23 (1956), pp. 233-258, reprinted in *What Is Political Philosophy? And Other Studies* (1959).
[^6]: Colen, José A., and Svetozar Minkov, "Leo Strauss on Social and Natural Science: Two Previously Unpublished Papers," *The Review of Politics* 76, no. 4 (2014), pp. 619-633, introduction, and Strauss's paper "The frame of reference in the social sciences" (Leo Strauss Papers, Box 14, Folder 10). DOI https://doi.org/10.1017/S003467051400059X
[^7]: Riezler, Kurt, "Some Critical Remarks on Man's Science of Man," *Social Research* 12, no. 4 (1945), pp. 481-505, as listed in Colen and Minkov.
[^8]: The New School Archives and Special Collections, "Institute of World Affairs records," record group NS-02-16-01, historical note and scope and contents. https://findingaids.archives.newschool.edu/repositories/3/resources/235
[^9]: Strauss, Leo. *Persecution and the Art of Writing.* Free Press, 1952.
[^10]: "Morality, Nature, and Esotericism in Leo Strauss's Persecution and the Art of Writing," *The Review of Politics,* Cambridge, on the strong and weak accounts of esotericism. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/review-of-politics/article/abs/morality-nature-and-esotericism-in-leo-strausss-persecution-and-the-art-of-writing/AE252D909A9FE588A1ADED672DFA6C0F
[^11]: Drury, Shadia B. *The Political Ideas of Leo Strauss.* St. Martin's Press, 1988. See also Drury, "The Esoteric Philosophy of Leo Strauss," *Political Theory* 13, no. 3 (1985).
[^12]: Strauss, Leo. *Natural Right and History.* University of Chicago Press, 1953; and "The Three Waves of Modernity," in *An Introduction to Political Philosophy* (1989).
[^13]: Strauss, Leo. *On Tyranny* (1948, rev. ed. with the Kojève exchange 1963); *Thoughts on Machiavelli* (1958); *The City and Man* (1964).
[^14]: Strauss, Leo. "Notes on Carl Schmitt, The Concept of the Political" (1932), reprinted in *Spinoza's Critique of Religion* and in Meier's volume below; on Schmitt's June 1932 praise and the third-edition revisions. https://contemporarythinkers.org/leo-strauss/essay/notes-on-carl-schmitt-the-concept-of-the-political/
[^15]: Meier, Heinrich. *Carl Schmitt and Leo Strauss: The Hidden Dialogue,* trans. J. Harvey Lomax. University of Chicago Press, 1995.
[^16]: "Leo Strauss," *Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy,* rejecting the claim that Strauss is responsible for Iraq-war policy and noting his work "does not concern policy issues of any sort." https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/strauss-leo/
[^17]: Thiel, Peter. "The Straussian Moment," in *Politics and Apocalypse,* ed. Robert Hamerton-Kelly, Michigan State University Press, 2007, pp. 189 to 218.
[^18]: "Peter Thiel's The Straussian Moment Explained," summary of the essay's use of Strauss, Schmitt, and Girard, the September 11 framing, and the esoteric concealment argument. https://vistasofinsight.substack.com/p/peter-thiels-the-straussian-moment

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---
created: 2026-10-09
updated: 2026-10-09
title: Michael Whitney Straight
aliases:
- Michael Whitney Straight
- Michael W. Straight
- Michael Straight
- M. W. Straight
- Nigel
category: "Authors & Journalists"
tags:
- Person
- Whitney
- NewRepublic
- CambridgeFive
- CambridgeApostles
- KGB
- FBI
- NationalEndowmentForTheArts
- VassilievNotebooks
- ColdWar
- 1930s
- 1960s
summary: "Michael Whitney Straight was a Whitney heir and New Republic editor whom Anthony Blunt recruited for Soviet intelligence at Cambridge, and whose 1963 disclosure to the Kennedy administration led to Blunt's confession."
born: 1916-09-01
died: 2004-01-04
location: "New York City; Washington, D.C.; Chicago, Illinois"
relations:
- type: relative_of
with: "[[Dorothy Payne Whitney]]"
role: mother
fn: 1
- type: relative_of
with: "[[Willard Straight]]"
role: father
fn: 1
- type: relative_of
with: "[[Whitney Straight]]"
role: brother
fn: 1
- type: relative_of
with: "[[Beatrice Straight]]"
role: sister
fn: 1
- type: employed_by
with: "[[The New Republic]]"
start: 1941
role: Washington correspondent, then editor and publisher
fn: 29
- type: head_of
with: "[[William C. Whitney Foundation]]"
start: 1937
role: president
fn: 41
- type: employed_by
with: "[[National Endowment for the Arts]]"
start: 1969
end: 1977
role: deputy chairman
fn: 38
- type: member_of
with: "[[Cambridge Apostles]]"
start: 1935
fn: 2
- type: investigated
with: "[[Federal Bureau of Investigation]]"
reverse: true
start: 1941
fn: 31
- type: participant_in
with: "[[KGB]]"
start: 1937
end: 1943
fn: 22
- type: spouse_of
with: "[[Belinda Crompton]]"
start: 1939
end: 1969
fn: 50
---
Michael Whitney Straight (September 1, 1916 to January 4, 2004) was a magazine publisher, novelist and arts administrator from the [[Whitney family]], the son of [[Willard Straight]] and [[Dorothy Payne Whitney]]. While an undergraduate at [[Trinity College, Cambridge]] he was recruited for Soviet intelligence by [[Anthony Blunt]]; the Soviet file on him carried the cover name "Nigel." In 1963 he disclosed that recruitment to the [[United States]] government, which passed it to British security.[^1]
### Parents and Childhood
His father was an investment banker with [[JPMorgan Chase|J. P. Morgan & Company]], who died of septic pneumonia while serving with the American Expeditionary Forces in France in 1918. His mother, an heiress, had started [[The New Republic]] with her husband in 1914. In 1925 she married [[Leonard Knight Elmhirst]], and the couple ran [[Dartington Hall]], the progressive school in [[Devon]]. Michael was the third and youngest child; his brother [[Whitney Straight]] became a racing driver and head of the [[British Overseas Airways Corporation]], and his sister [[Beatrice Straight]] an actress.[^1] The [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] recorded his birth as September 1, 1916, at [[Southampton, Long Island|Southampton]], [[Long Island]], while the [[The New York Times|New York Times]] gave [[New York City]].[^1][^2] He attended the [[Lincoln School]] in New York and Dartington Hall, then spent a year at the [[London School of Economics]] before going on to Cambridge in 1934.[^1] He told the FBI in 1963 that his father died two years after his birth, that he was taken to [[England]] and raised there, and that his early life was that of an orphan who lacked no material thing.[^2] An FBI summary of his military record lists the London School of Economics in 1934 and [[Cambridge University]] from 1934 to 1937.[^3]
### Cambridge and the Apostles
Straight told the FBI that he entered Cambridge in the fall of 1934 and was domiciled at Trinity College. He described a warm and lasting friendship with [[John Cornford]], two years his senior, a confirmed Communist who was killed in [[Spain]] in late 1936. In his second year Straight joined a student Communist group of about twenty-five members, which he said was headed by Cornford and by [[James Klugmann]]. He was also admitted to the [[Cambridge Apostles]], the secret discussion society whose members included [[Guy Burgess]] and Blunt.[^2] The Times reported that he joined the Communist Party, as he said in his memoir, in sympathy with its Popular Front aims, and became part of the circle around [[John Maynard Keynes]].[^1] Straight told the FBI that he took part in the student march of May Day 1936, that he made unsolicited gifts of about $2,000 to the [[Daily Worker]] in 1936, and that he gave money directly to [[Harry Pollitt]], then secretary of the [[Communist Party of Great Britain]]. In August 1936 he took part in a student tour of the [[Soviet Union]] organized by [[John Madge]], on which, he said, Blunt also travelled.[^4] The abstract of his 1982 oral history lists him as president of the Socialist Society.[^5]
### Recruitment by Anthony Blunt
Straight told the FBI that after Cornford's death became known, Blunt invited him to his rooms and suggested that Straight make a comparable sacrifice. Blunt asked him to give up Communist work in England and turn to the international field, and said the [[Communist International]] wanted a man at Morgan and Company to supply economic reports. Straight protested that he was not cut out to be a banker; about three weeks later Blunt told him that his protests had been rejected, and he sailed for the United States, where he wrote a further letter of protest to Blunt from the ship. Before he left, Blunt tore a small ink drawing of Straight's sweetheart in half and kept one piece. Straight could not recall whether an oral parole was also arranged. He told the FBI that he believed Burgess was the person directing Blunt, although Blunt declined to say so.[^6]
In a 1981 telephone interview with [[United Press International]], Straight placed Blunt's approach in February 1937 and said: "Blunt tried to recruit me as a Soviet agent and have me return to United States and join the J.P. Morgan company." He added: "I flatly refused. I said I didn't want any part."[^7] [[The [[Washington, D.C.|Washington]] Post]] reported the same month that Blunt had tried to recruit him at Cambridge in 1937, and quoted him that "they" had decided to accelerate their timetable "because of the death of my closest friend."[^8] [[The Washington Star]] reported on March 28, 1981 that the approach came less than two weeks after Cornford's death and that Blunt wanted him to "infiltrate" Wall Street.[^9] In a January 1983 radio interview he described the instruction in nearly the same terms: "What they wanted me to do was not to go into government, but to go to Wall Street, go back to my father's old firm, J.P. Morgan & Company."[^10]
### Contact with Michael Green
In December 1937, Straight told the FBI, an unknown man telephoned him and identified himself as Michael Green. Straight was certain the call had originated with Blunt. The two had a couple of meetings in New York City, where Green appeared to be testing Straight's opinions rather than making demands, and later three or four meetings in Washington at intervals of about a month, including two lunches. Green disapproved of Straight's friendships with two White Russian drama teachers and with [[Roger Baldwin]] of the [[American Civil Liberties Union]].[^11]
Straight described Green as about thirty-five to forty years old in 1937, five feet ten inches tall, with thick black hair, who spoke good English but was not a native American; Straight believed him to be Russian. Straight said Green's wife, whom he met once at Longchamps restaurant, was introduced as Helen Green and appeared American. In 1963 the FBI showed Straight photographs, and he identified one of [[William Grienke]] as the man he had known as Green. A confidential source of known reliability identified the same photograph as [[Iskhak Akhmerov]], a former Soviet intelligence officer whom the source had first known in [[Moscow]] in 1931. Grienke entered the United States in August 1935 on a fraudulent passport, with an affidavit from [[Alexander Koral]] as identifying witness.[^12] Straight said Green once told him that if he needed to reach Green he could do so through Koral, whose address in Brooklyn he could not remember; shown photographs of Koral and Koral's wife Helen, he identified neither.[^13]
The Wilson Center's concordance to the [[Alexander Vassiliev|Vassiliev]] notebooks and the [[Venona]] decrypts lists "Green, Michael" and "Greinke, William" as pseudonyms of Akhmerov, with references to Vassiliev's White Notebook #3 (pp. 75 to 76) and Yellow Notebook #2 (p. 83).[^14] [[Allen Weinstein]] wrote in 1997 that Akhmerov's dispatches concerned Straight, "who was then involved with Akhmerov and the NKVD."[^15]
### The Nigel File in the Vassiliev Notebooks
Alexander Vassiliev, who took notes in the archives of the Russian foreign intelligence service in the 1990s, copied passages from the Soviet file on Straight, "File 58380 v.1 'Nigel'." The Wilson Center concordance lists "Nigel" as the cover name of Straight in the Black Notebook, White Notebooks #1 to #3 and Yellow Notebook #2.[^14] The passages below are Vassiliev's summaries and quotations as published in English translation; bracketed comments are his.[^16]
An excerpt from a report by "Madchen" (identified in the notes as Burgess) dated January 1937 described Straight as one of the leaders of the Party at Cambridge, "an extremely devoted member of the Party and completely dependable"; a February 1937 report put his support of the Daily Worker at "nearly 1,500 pounds a year." A letter from "Man" (spelled "Mally") to the Center of January 29, 1937 stated: "Let me direct your attention to Michael Straight." A letter of February 16, 1937 reporting Burgess's account carries Vassiliev's bracketed note that Burgess recruited Straight through Anthony Blunt and that the cover name "Nigel" had already been given. The same report stated that Cornford's death was "the one circumstance in our favor" for removing Straight from open Party work, and described a plan, proposed by "A.B.," under which Straight would appear crushed by the death, withdraw from Cambridge politics, and go to the United States, and leave the Party under a pretext.[^17]
On March 24, 1937 "Man" reported that "Nigel" had gone to America on vacation and "wants to work with us very much." A report from "Stephan" dated July 9, 1937, after two meetings with Straight, described a very inexperienced young man who "thinks he works for the Comintern, and it is necessary to keep him in this illusion for the time being." The notes record that Straight left for the United States on August 8, 1937, after giving 500 pounds for the Communist newspaper, with instructions for a first meeting in New York at his mother's apartment at 1172 Park Avenue, to be introduced by a letter signed "Anthony" and the greeting "I am here from Anthony. He says hello". On September 11, 1937 the Center wrote to "Jung" (the notes identify Jung as Akhmerov's cover name in the 1930s) to contact "Nigel."[^18]
Reports from "Jung" in late 1937 and 1938 describe regular meetings with Straight in New York and Washington. They record that Straight gave "Jung" $2,000 as quarterly Party dues; that he offered $10,000 to $12,000 of spare money, which the Center ordered "Jung" to collect; that in January 1938 he had joined the State Department and was preparing a report on armaments from ambassadors' reports; and that on March 26, 1938 the Center wrote that he "could be a very valuable source" and should be "EDUCATED." A "Jung" report of June 28, 1938 stated that through his job Straight had made contact with [[Alger Hiss|Hiss]], whom he described as "an interesting employee with a senior post" and "very ideologically progressive."[^19] Straight later wrote to the [[The New York Review of Books|New York Review of Books]] that he did not offer to recruit Hiss; Weinstein replied that the passage in his book should have read that Straight "identified and described Hiss to Itzhak Akhmerov."[^15]
The notes record that in February 1938 "[[Solomon Adler|Adler]] from Treasury" approached Straight to draw him into the American Communist apparatus, that Straight "categorically denied" being a Communist, and that the Center ordered that he not be connected with it. Straight told the FBI of a summer 1938 telephone call from a man calling himself Solomon who said he worked for the [[United States Department of the Treasury|Treasury Department]]; he identified Solomon Adler from photographs.[^19][^20]
In March 1939 the Center wrote that "Nigel has the potential to be a major agent." In a 1939 passage, "Jung" reported that Straight had delivered $1,700, part of it for the Communist Party of the United States and part for Spain, and had obtained from a State Department colleague named Coe a 102-page report on the Munich Conference. After the Nazi-Soviet pact of August 1939 "Jung" reported that Straight openly criticized Soviet policy and stayed away from meetings for a month; on October 25, 1939 he wrote that he had "managed to straighten N-l out." The notes record that "Jung" left for the Soviet Union at the end of 1939, that the legal station kept up the connection with virtually no work, that a Center cable of November 9, 1939 directed that "Nigel" be passed to "Igor" because of his "recent hesitation," that on July 15, 1941 "Chap" met Straight, who said he had resigned from the State Department and had not received the appointment to the London embassy he had counted on, and that a report of February 26, 1942 stated that if "Madchen" and "Tony" were British intelligence agents, the "recruiting" of Straight "could also have been a cunning maneuver by Eng. Intelligence," after which, in Vassiliev's bracketed words, the decision was made to continue work with him, and that a report of June 3, 1942 attributed to "Maxim" the view that Straight had been "ideologically corrupted" and recorded the anti-Soviet influence of [[Louis Dolivet|Dolivet]], "who is married to N's sister."[^21]
A report of August 10, 1942 from the New York station recorded that after repeated missed meetings contact with "Nigel" had finally been established, that he "has an excellent understanding" of the attention given him, and that he was "very busy with his book"; the same passage records his recommendation of a friend, William Sherwood, as someone who could be "very useful." A later report summarized in White Notebook #1 states: "In 1943 he was drafted into the army and there has been no communication with him since then." A Yellow Notebook entry of March 2, 1943 states that "the army recruit 'Nigel'" would report his location by telephone or mail.[^22][^23] A Black Notebook entry on the most valuable agents in the United States in 1940 and 1941 describes "Nigel" as "son of an American millionaire," who "Gave valuable materials from the State Department" and was "Deactivated." A plan approved on December 16, 1943 directs: "Deactivate agents without future prospects (Zero, Informator, Liza, Nigel)." A cable of July 10, 1947 records that "Oleg" learned that "the wealthy economist Michael Straight is in [[Henry A. Wallace|Wallace]]'s inner circle." A list of agents with whom the Washington station was asked to renew contact in 1948 to 1950 includes "'Nigel' M. Straight. Publisher of the 'New Republic.' Connection was not renewed."[^23] Straight told the FBI in 1963 that his relationship with Green ended in the autumn of 1942 and that he was never afterward approached by anyone representing Soviet intelligence.[^24]
### Government Service, 1938 to 1941
Straight told the FBI that [[Thomas Corcoran]] arranged a post for him at the [[United States Department of the Interior]], where he wrote speeches for members of the Cabinet. In 1938 he worked without salary in the State Department under an economic adviser whom the memorandum names as Herbert Pels (the Vassiliev notes name his superior as "Herbert Feis or Feiz"), preparing a report on the economic consequences of European rearmament for [[Cordell Hull]]. He said that [[Eleanor Roosevelt]] helped him obtain the assignment.[^13][^19] He told the FBI he gave Green two official State Department documents, one on trade with Italy and one a mimeographed "Political Summary" for Foreign Service personnel, which Green took to have copied; he described them as unimportant and possibly marked "Confidential." He said he wrote a memorandum for Green on the Nazi-Soviet pact urging the Soviets not to undermine France and Great Britain.[^25] The New York Times, summarizing the memoir in 2004, reported that Straight insisted the only papers he passed to the Soviet agent he knew as Green were political and economic analyses written by himself.[^1] In 1981 he told UPI that in the United States a Soviet agent approached him in 1938 and "I gave him six to eight political articles of my own, many critical of the Soviet Union."[^7]
Straight told the FBI that on August 27, 1940 [[James Dunn]] appointed him division assistant in the Division of European Affairs, a post he held until May 21, 1941. The Bureau's military-record summary of 1968 gives State Department service from January 1, 1938 to March 9, 1939 and from September 28, 1940 to February 28, 1941, Interior from March 1939 to September 1940, and "Editorial Publications Incorporated, Publishers" in New York from March 1941 to February 1943; a September 1969 field report from St. Louis gives the Public Works Administration from May 1, 1939 to March 15, 1940, Interior from March 16 to August 27, 1940, and State from August 27, 1940 to May 21, 1941.[^3][^13][^26]
Straight told the FBI that Burgess came to Washington in about 1940, telephoned him, and lunched with him at the Little Garden Tea House. Burgess said he was completely out of touch with his friends and asked whether Straight could put him back in touch. Straight said he made no comment and changed the subject, did not report the meeting to any authority, and did not believe he told Green about it; Burgess had supper at his house that night, which Straight recalled as tense.[^27]
### Wartime Service and the New Republic
Straight enlisted in the Enlisted Reserve Corps of the [[United States Army Air Forces]] on November 24, 1942, reported for active duty on February 2, 1943, was discharged as an aviation cadet on March 11, 1944 to accept a commission, and was relieved from active duty on October 28, 1945, according to a 1968 summary of his record; his occupation was listed as pilot with over 1,000 flying hours. The record contains recommendation letters from [[Abe Fortas]], then Under Secretary of the Interior (October 21, 1942), from William S. Youngman Jr., president of China Defense Supplies (October 17, 1942), and from Major General Frank Ross McCoy, president of the [[Foreign Policy Association]] (October 9, 1942).[^3]
His book [[Make This the Last War]] was published by Harcourt, Brace; the Bureau's 1963 memorandum gives the end of 1942 and its records of the [[Library of Congress]] give 1943. Straight told the FBI that he had discussed it with [[Maxim Litvinov]], then the Soviet ambassador in Washington, and prepared a memorandum on it for Green, that the publisher gave a book party to which [[Earl Browder]] was invited, and that Green had wanted him to meet Browder.[^24][^28] He told the FBI that he did not hear from Green between May 1941 and the autumn of 1942, when Green called him shortly before he enlisted; they met at the Jamaica, New York railroad station, and at his last meetings he told Green that he was going into the Air Corps and that their relationship was at an end. He said he never afterward saw or heard from Green or was approached by anyone representing the Communist underground or Soviet intelligence.[^24]
The Bureau's records give differing accounts of his New Republic work. A December 1957 memorandum states that he resigned from government service in 1941, became Washington correspondent of the magazine, and in June 1943 became its editor, and that in October 1946 he hired Henry A. Wallace as editor.[^29] A records brief lists "1941 - 43 an editor, New Republic." A 1969 summary describes him as a contributing editor until about 1956 and as president of the [[William C. Whitney Foundation]], and a 1969 memorandum states that he was editor and publisher after the war.[^30][^31] He was described as editor and publisher, and "after his mother's withdrawal of support of the magazine he enlisted new patrons and gradually ended his connection." A New Republic publisher interviewed in 1969 told the Bureau that Straight's parents had set up a fund that founded the magazine in 1914 and that it was used until 1954, when [[Gilbert A. Harrison]] bought a controlling interest.[^1][^32]
Straight told the FBI that in England in about 1946 he attended a meeting of the Apostles at which Burgess spoke, and that Burgess and Blunt asked to see him at a club where Burgess was a member; a bitter argument followed in which he expressed his disillusionment with everything Russian and Communist. On the same trip he discussed the American proposal to share atomic energy with Pollitt, after speaking to [[Margot Heinemann]], who had been Cornford's girlfriend. In early 1947, he said, he lunched with Burgess at the Savoy; Burgess said he was working as secretary to [[Hector McNeil]], and asked whether he could pass on to his "friends" Straight's statement that America was approaching complete frustration with the Soviets. Straight told the FBI that he said he could.[^27] In the 1940s Straight's wife [[Belinda Crompton|Belinda]] gave the names of Blunt and Burgess to her analyst, Dr. Jennie Welderhall, wife of a British Embassy official, so that they could be passed to the British government.[^27]
### Burgess, 1951 and the British Embassy
Straight told the FBI that in 1951 or 1952, as he left the British Embassy in Washington, he met Burgess, who said he was connected with the Embassy on special work, and that he told Burgess to resign from British government service within three months or he would report him; shortly afterward Burgess fled. The New York Times reported the same encounter as occurring on a Washington street corner in 1951, with Straight assuming that Burgess was running a spy ring out of the Embassy and warning him to stop or be exposed; Burgess then defected with [[Donald Maclean]].[^1][^27] Asked by the FBI why he had not reported Burgess earlier, Straight said that he had considered it many times but was afraid, mindful of [[Whittaker Chambers]] and [[Elizabeth Bentley]] and of the publicity of hearings and trials with injury to his wife and five children; he said he had once gone to the British Information Service and said he knew Burgess, but the man on duty told him many witnesses knew Burgess and Straight left without giving pertinent facts.[^33] In 1981 he told UPI that after Burgess defected he went to the British Embassy in Washington to tell them about Blunt's recruitment effort, "but was turned away."[^7]
### The 1963 Disclosure and Who Sent Him to the FBI
Straight was interviewed by FBI agents in Washington on June 18, 1963, and the Bureau's memorandum of June 25 sets out his account; he told the agents that he was glad to have divulged the information.[^33] Accounts of how he came to the Bureau differ.
[[Cartha DeLoach]] of the Bureau recorded that on September 17, 1969 he told [[Egil Krogh]], who had telephoned from [[John Ehrlichman]]'s office at the [[White House]], that "Bobby Kennedy had sent this man over to the FBI in June of 1963 to be interviewed relative to his questionable background." The memorandum adds that the effort of [[Robert Kennedy]], then attorney general, "was merely an attempt to get this man's record straightened out." On October 15, 1969 DeLoach wrote that the first time the Bureau talked to Straight was in June 1963 "when Bobby Kennedy sent him to the FBI."[^31]
In a 1981 telephone interview Straight told UPI that in 1963 he went to [[Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.]], then a White House aide, because President [[John F. Kennedy]] had asked him to serve on the [[National Endowment for the Arts]] and he wanted to ensure his record was clear; UPI reported that "Schlesinger sent him to the FBI, which in turn notified the British Secret Service."[^7] In an interview with the Washington Post the same month he said he had revealed his knowledge about Blunt to attorney general Robert Kennedy in 1963 after learning that the president planned to name him to the newly formed Endowment for the Arts, adding that he "had ruled myself out for the job" because of what government security checks were likely to disclose.[^8]
In a radio interview on January 26, 1983 the host, Fred Fiske, put the sequence as follows, and Straight assented. Straight said that the arts council appointment "triggered it, when President Kennedy asked me to do that," adding that it "would have become the Endowment." Fiske said that Straight had "confided in Arthur Schlesinger about it, and he sent you to Bobby Kennedy." Straight: "Robert Kennedy. Right." Fiske: "Who sent you to the FBI." Straight: "Correct."[^10]
The New York Times obituary in 2004 stated that Straight, offered a top arts post in the Kennedy administration and "fearing a background check," went to Schlesinger, "who in turn directed him to the Justice Department," and that his talks with the FBI and British intelligence led to the unmasking of Blunt. It reported that Straight turned down the Kennedy post.[^1] Straight's 1982 oral history for Columbia University lists "decision to refuse chairmanship" and "cooperation with Federal Bureau of Investigation and British Intelligence, 1964" among its topics.[^5] Critics on the right, the Times reported, accused him of "confessing to the F.B.I. only to clear his career path."[^1]
On January 17, 1983, Sir Robert Armstrong of the Cabinet Office minuted the prime minister's office that "the lead which led to Anthony Blunt's confession in 1964 was a statement by an American, Mr Michael Whitney Straight, towards the end of 1963 that he had been recruited by Mr Blunt as an agent of the KGB when he was at Cambridge before the war." The minute states that the Security Service had seen the manuscript of Straight's autobiography, that it contained "no information which is not already known to the Security Service or which might be regarded as particularly damaging to the interests of the Security Service," and that it was to be serialised in the Observer. The prime minister's private secretary noted on January 18 that the prime minister had seen the minute.[^34]
Straight told UPI in 1981 that the FBI notified the British Secret Service, that the British had already been questioning Blunt, that he agreed to confront Blunt in their presence, and that Blunt asked to see him alone for fifteen minutes first. He said he went to Blunt's apartment in April 1964 and Blunt said: "Thank God you did this. I couldn't do it myself." In return for confessing, the Washington Post reported him as saying, Blunt received immunity from prosecution.[^7][^8] The Washington Star's account, of an interview with Straight the day before, was that he had offered to go to England and confront Blunt personally and, if need be, take him to court.[^9] In the 1983 interview Fiske said that Blunt had "told you that he was relieved," and Straight answered: "Yes." Fiske added that Straight had a fifteen-minute private meeting with Blunt before the British intelligence officers came in.[^10] Blunt's confession and immunity are dated 1964 in the catalogue of the [[National Archives (United Kingdom)|United Kingdom National Archives]], whose file KV 2/4705, on Blunt, covers February 28 to June 19, 1964 and describes him as having been given immunity from prosecution in exchange for information about fellow agents; the catalogue description does not name Straight.[^35] Blunt lost his knighthood after Prime Minister [[Margaret Thatcher]] disclosed his past to Parliament in November 1979.[^8] In a 1983 interview Straight said: "I've named all the ones I know to the FBI and to British intelligence."[^10]
### Deputy Chairmanship of the National Endowment for the Arts, 1969
The White House's request for an investigation of Straight, received by the Bureau on August 27, 1969, concerned a presidential appointment whose position was not stated.[^36] On September 3, 1969 President [[Richard Nixon]] announced the appointment of [[Nancy Hanks]] as chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts and added: "I anticipate that soon she will be joined by a deputy of equal stature." Hanks was confirmed by the Senate on October 2 and sworn in on October 6, 1969.[^37][^38] The Bureau's special inquiry was sent to Ehrlichman under a letter from [[J. Edgar Hoover]] on September 11, 1969. The summary memorandum of September 10 describes his service on the boards of the [[American Veterans Committee]], [[Amnesty International]] of the United States, the National Parks Association, the Washington Theater Club and the Washington chapter of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund; his divorce; and reports from interviews, including Senators [[Jacob Javits]] and [[Charles Goodell]], who recommended him.[^30]
On September 17, 1969 Krogh asked DeLoach whether Straight had been an FBI employee, so that the White House could consider him for the deputy chairmanship of the [[National Council on the Arts]]. DeLoach told Krogh that Straight had never been employed by the Bureau. His memorandum records that Krogh said he "planned to recommend to Ehrlichman that this man not be hired." On October 15, 1969 [[Leonard Garment]], special consultant to the president, told DeLoach that the White House was still weighing the appointment; that Straight had told the White House he had "cooperated fully with the FBI" since 1963; that Peter M. Flanagan had discussed the appointment with Senators [[Karl Mundt]] and [[Gordon Allott]], and that Mundt had reservations; and asked whether the Bureau would talk to Mundt. DeLoach replied that the Bureau would furnish nothing without White House instructions. DeLoach told Garment that the Bureau had contacted Straight a number of times since 1963 to fill out his admissions, and that Straight had contacted the Bureau once in 1969 to say he planned a short trip to the Soviet Union and was concerned that the KGB might approach him.[^31] A newspaper clipping in the Bureau's file of November 1969 states that Straight "will play a major role in the Arts Council under Miss Hanks' direction" and "is being spoken of as a possible deputy."[^39] The Endowment's staff list of January 1970 names Straight as deputy chairman.[^38]
The New York Times reported that he served "in the Nixon and Ford administrations" as deputy chairman, from 1969 to 1977; a listing of his book *Twigs for an Eagle's Nest: Government and the Arts, 1965-1978* gives 1969 to 1978. His 1982 oral history lists his role as deputy chairman and as acting chairman of the Endowment in 1977.[^1][^5][^40] The Washington Post identified him as a former deputy chairman in 1981.[^8]
### William C. Whitney Foundation
The FBI's 1969 summary describes Straight as president of the William C. Whitney Foundation, a charitable organization that "concerns itself with the arts, having made many grants in the fields of music, dance, theater, and painting."[^30] [[Milton C. Rose]], senior partner of [[Mudge, Rose, Guthrie and Alexander]], told the Bureau that the foundation was a client of the firm, was "created by Mr. Straight's parents in memory of his grandfather" [[William C. Whitney]], and that Straight had been its president "since its inception in 1937."[^41] [[Herbert Faber]], an associate of the firm, said Straight was a client and that the firm handled the foundation's legal transactions. [[Harriett K. Evison]] told the Bureau she had been Dorothy's social secretary and later assistant secretary-treasurer of the foundation. Dr. Shelton Siegel, a vice president of the [[Population Council]], said he had contacted Straight about possible grants to the council and that Straight had been cooperative.[^41]
The 1969 summary also records a December 6, 1952 article in the Washington Times-Herald reporting that Straight was questioned before a special House committee investigating tax-exempt foundations about $19,000 in grants by the foundation to organizations "cited as subversive or communist fronts." The clipping states that Straight contended that none of the organizations was known to be a Communist front when the grants were made and that they were cut off when so listed.[^42] In 1955 "Michael Straight, Publisher, The 'New Republic,'" signed a petition to the President on amnesty for Smith Act defendants, and he was national chairman of the American Veterans Committee from 1952 to 1954.[^30]
### Family and Associates
An FBI investigation of an unidentified Soviet subject known as "Dan," conducted in 1968, examined Straight. The Bureau's memoranda record that his military record tended to eliminate him as a suspect, and they asked for information on his brother, Whitney Straight. They also considered Louis Dolivet, who had been married to Straight's sister Beatrice, and noted that Dolivet had tried to interest [[Nelson Rockefeller]] and [[John Hay Whitney]] in a [[United Nations]] journal. The memoranda concluded that Dolivet could not be considered a good suspect.[^43] The 1969 summary gives the marriage of Beatrice and Dolivet as February 21, 1941; the 1968 memoranda give February 21, 1942. It records that informants "who have furnished reliable information in the past" said Dolivet was in early 1930 an active international Communist agent in Europe and a close associate of [[Willi Münzenberg]], that his employers recommended him as pro-American and anti-Soviet, and that other informants thought him "an inactive, but highly placed, Soviet Agent." The Bureau reported in September 1969 that Straight had not associated with Dolivet in over twenty years.[^30][^44] The Vassiliev concordance lists Dolivet as Straight's brother-in-law with references in White Notebooks #2 and #3.[^14] The National Archives' MI5 file KV 2/4366 (December 18, 1937 to March 22, 1951) is on Dolivet and is catalogued as describing a secret Communist who moved to the United States in 1941.[^45]
An FBI index entry records that Whitney Straight was chief executive of the British Overseas Airways Corporation in 1948 and joined the board of Rolls-Royce in 1955; Straight told the FBI in 1963 that his brother was executive vice president of Rolls-Royce and that during a visit to Moscow about February 1963 he talked with Burgess, who sent Michael his regards.[^27][^29] The 1969 inquiry recorded that his son David had applied to the [[National Security Agency]] and the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] and that his son Michael Willard Straight was a naval officer.[^46] It also records that his daughter Susan was one of three persons observed on September 19, 1967 placing handbills on cars in the Pentagon parking lot that read "Exorcise the Pentagon, 10/21-22."[^30]
### After Long Silence
Straight published his account as *After Long Silence* in 1983, serialised in the Observer.[^34] The New York Times summarized the book as a confession in which Straight said he was reluctant to spy when Blunt ordered him to in 1937. It reported that critics on the right accused him of confessing to the FBI "only to clear his career path" and speculated whether blowing the whistle sooner might not have saved lives, and that "gentler reviewers" accused him of "sentimentality and narcissism."[^1] In the January 1983 radio interview, asked who was criticizing him when Blunt had thanked him, Straight answered that he was being "hit very hard" for one line in the book saying that he remained a liberal, and said: "I've had a lot of criticism for writing the story."[^10] In a 1995 letter to the London Review of Books he wrote: "I was not a spy in the accepted usage of that word."[^1]
His papers are at [[Cornell University]] (collection #4465, 21 cubic feet, 1890 to 1992), including FBI files requested under the Freedom of Information Act, files on the National Endowment for the Arts and Nancy Hanks, clippings and letters relating to Blunt, and notes on *The Haunted Wood*.[^47]
### Contested Accounts
[[Roland Perry]]'s biography, *The Last of the Cold War Spies: The Life of Michael Straight* (2005), argues that Straight's involvement in Soviet espionage continued after the break he dated to 1942. A [[PopMatters]] review summarized Perry's case as follows. Perry argued that Straight's 1963 confession was false. Perry also argued that Straight's later civil liberties work and his involvement with Amnesty International served Soviet interests. Perry further held that Straight worked near the agent handling [[Walter Krivitsky]], who was found dead in 1941, and left his government post three days after the death to edit the New Republic. The review recorded that Perry lacked hard evidence, and that the surviving documents generally supported Straight's account.[^48] The sources give State Department end dates of February 28, 1941 and May 21, 1941; the Vassiliev notes record Straight's resignation as reported to a KGB contact on July 15, 1941.[^3][^13][^21]
On the Hiss question, Allen Weinstein's book [[Perjury: The Hiss-Chambers Case]] asserted that Straight tried to recruit Alger Hiss. Straight wrote to The New York Review of Books in December 1997 that in the June 1938 dispatch published by Weinstein, Akhmerov noted only that Straight "mentioned" Hiss as "a very progressive man," and that Weinstein had asserted that he "tried to recruit" Hiss. Weinstein replied that the book's line should read that Straight, code-named "Nigel," "identified and described Hiss to Itzhak Akhmerov," and that it would read that way in any future edition.[^15] In the 1983 radio interview Straight said he had one or two encounters with Hiss, and that on the day Chambers named Hiss he telephoned Hiss, who answered quietly and deliberately that it was an effort to undermine the Carnegie Endowment for World Peace, of which he was president; Straight said he reasoned from the calm that "he's been preparing himself for this day for quite a while."[^10] The CIA's selected Venona messages, published as *[[Venona Part II]]*, do not name Straight or "Nigel"; the Wilson Center concordance lists "Nigel" as a cover name in the Vassiliev notebooks only.[^14][^49]
### Death
Straight died at home in [[Chicago]] on January 4, 2004, aged 87, of pancreatic cancer, according to his lawyer, [[Arthur Mahon]].[^1] He had married Belinda Crompton on September 10, 1939. A court in Washoe County granted her a divorce from him in [[Reno, Nevada]] on August 27, 1969, on grounds of incompatibility.[^50]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, "Michael Straight, Who Wrote of Connection to Spy Ring, Is Dead at 87," *The New York Times*, January 5, 2004, https://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/05/nyregion/michael-straight-who-wrote-of-connection-to-spy-ring-is-dead-at-87.html (Internet Archive copy, https://web.archive.org/web/2016id_/https://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/05/nyregion/michael-straight-who-wrote-of-connection-to-spy-ring-is-dead-at-87.html).
[^2]: Federal Bureau of Investigation, "Straight, Michael W., HQ-1" (FOI/PA 1179375-1), https://archive.org/details/StraightMichaelW.HQ1, memorandum of June 25, 1963 on the interview of June 18, 1963, opening passages (birth, Cambridge, the Communist group, the Conversazione Society).
[^3]: Federal Bureau of Investigation, memorandum of August 1, 1968 from the St. Louis office summarizing the military personnel record of Michael Whitney Straight (Army serial numbers 13 105 244 and 0-825 321), in "Straight, Michael W., HQ-1" (FOI/PA 1179375-1), https://archive.org/details/StraightMichaelW.HQ1.
[^4]: FBI, memorandum of June 25, 1963, in "Straight, Michael W., HQ-1," passages on contributions to the Daily Worker and Harry Pollitt, the May Day 1936 march, and the August 1936 tour of the Soviet Union.
[^5]: "Reminiscences of Michael Straight, 1982" (interviewer Frederick P. Jessup), Columbia University Libraries, Time-Based Media, https://dlc.library.columbia.edu/time_based_media/10.7916/46yr-z978 (abstract, Internet Archive copy https://web.archive.org/web/2024id_/https://dlc.library.columbia.edu/time_based_media/10.7916/46yr-z978). Abstract.
[^6]: FBI, memorandum of June 25, 1963, in "Straight, Michael W., HQ-1," passage on Blunt's invitation and instruction, Straight's protests and the torn drawing.
[^7]: Daniel F. Gilmore, United Press International, March 26, 1981, "Michael W. Straight, former deputy chairman of the National...," https://www.upi.com/Archives/1981/03/26/Michael-W-Straight-former-deputy-chairman-of-the-National/9678354430800/ (Internet Archive copy, https://web.archive.org/web/2020id_/https://www.upi.com/Archives/1981/03/26/Michael-W-Straight-former-deputy-chairman-of-the-National/9678354430800/). Based on a telephone interview with Straight; his statements as reported.
[^8]: Joe Ritchie, "Writer Cites Role in Unmasking British Spy," *The Washington Post*, March 26, 1981, CIA Reading Room copy, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp90-00552r000302750023-1.
[^9]: Article in *The Washington Star*, March 28, 1981, CIA Reading Room copy, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp90-00552r000100600015-0.
[^10]: Fred Fiske Show, interview with Michael Straight, WAMU-FM, January 26, 1983, transcript by Radio TV Reports, Inc., CIA Reading Room copy, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp88-01070r000100570002-1. The sequence Schlesinger, Robert Kennedy, FBI is stated in the host's question and confirmed by Straight's answers.
[^11]: FBI, memorandum of June 25, 1963, in "Straight, Michael W., HQ-1," passages on the telephone call from Michael Green, the New York and Washington meetings, and Green's objections to Straight's friendships.
[^12]: FBI, memorandum of June 25, 1963, in "Straight, Michael W., HQ-1," passages on the description of Green and Helen Green and the identification of the photograph of William Grienke.
[^13]: FBI, memorandum of June 25, 1963, in "Straight, Michael W., HQ-1," passages on Straight's arrival in Washington in 1938, State Department work, Koral, Corcoran, Dunn and the Interior Department.
[^14]: Wilson Center, "Vassiliev Notebooks and Venona Index Concordance" (update of November 1, 2014), https://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/media/documents/article/Vassiliev-Notebooks-and-Venona-Index-Concordance_update-2014-11-01.pdf, entries "Green, Michael," "Greinke, William," "Nigel," "Dolivet, Louis."
[^15]: Michael Straight and Allen Weinstein, letters under the heading "Not a Recruiter," *The New York Review of Books*, December 18, 1997, https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1997/12/18/not-a-recruiter/.
[^16]: Alexander Vassiliev Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, notebooks published with English translation by the Wilson Center Digital Archive, collection 86, https://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/collection/86/vassiliev-notebooks (mirror at https://digitalarchive.umd.edu/node/88908 for White Notebook #3). The Wilson Center's file guide states that the posted translation contains errors; the passages cited are quoted from the English translation. Page numbers are the translation's printed page labels.
[^17]: Vassiliev, White Notebook #3 (English translation), pp. 81 and 111 to 112: "File 58380 v.1 'Nigel'"; excerpt of a report by "Madchen" (Burgess) of January 1937; "Man" to the Center, January 29, 1937; "Man" to the Center, February 16, 1937 with Burgess's report; Vassiliev's bracketed note on Blunt. https://digitalarchive.umd.edu/node/88908.
[^18]: Vassiliev, White Notebook #3 (English translation), pp. 112 to 115: "Man" to the Center, March 24, 1937; "Stephan" on "N." from July 9, 1937; note that "N. left for the USA on 8.8.37"; the Center to "Jung," September 11, 1937. The concordance identifies "Jung" as a 1930s cover name of Iskhak Akhmerov. https://digitalarchive.umd.edu/node/88908.
[^19]: Vassiliev, White Notebook #3 (English translation), pp. 115 to 118: "Jung" to the Center, November 1937 to June 28, 1938; the Center to "Jung," March 26, 1938; reports of January 25 and February 28, 1938 on Adler. https://digitalarchive.umd.edu/node/88908.
[^20]: FBI, memorandum of June 25, 1963, in "Straight, Michael W., HQ-1," passage on the telephone call from "Solomon" and the photographs of Solomon Adler; the Bureau's note states that Chambers identified Adler as a Treasury employee who furnished reports of a financial nature to Chambers's "Soviet principal," and that Bentley identified him as an active member of a Soviet espionage group in Washington before 1944.
[^21]: Vassiliev, White Notebook #3 (English translation), pp. 119 to 123: the Center to "Jung," March 29, 1939; "Jung" to the Center, March 1, 1939 (the Coe report and $1,700); "Jung" reports of September 8 and October 5 and 25, 1939; entries of July 15, 1941 and February 26, 1942. https://digitalarchive.umd.edu/node/88908.
[^22]: Vassiliev, White Notebook #1 (English translation), pp. 12 to 13 and 47 to 48, https://digitalarchive.umd.edu/node/88906; Yellow Notebook #2, p. 83, https://digitalarchive.umd.edu/node/89157.
[^23]: Vassiliev, Black Notebook (English translation), p. 161 (cable of November 9, 1939), p. 175 (report on valuable agents), p. 182 (plan of December 16, 1943), p. 63 (cable of July 10, 1947) and p. 83 (list of agents for renewed contact, 1948 to 1950), https://digitalarchive.umd.edu/node/89160.
[^24]: FBI, memorandum of June 25, 1963, in "Straight, Michael W., HQ-1," passages on Make This the Last War, the book party, and the last meetings with Green.
[^25]: FBI, memorandum of June 25, 1963, in "Straight, Michael W., HQ-1," passages on the two State Department documents and the memorandum on the Nazi-Soviet pact.
[^26]: FBI, report of SA Harry C. Jung, St. Louis, September 2, 1969, synopsis (employment dates), in "Straight, Michael W., HQ-1." The same report gives his relief from active duty as October 16, 1945; the 1968 summary gives October 28, 1945.
[^27]: FBI, memorandum of June 25, 1963, in "Straight, Michael W., HQ-1," passages on Burgess (the 1940 lunch, the 1946 and 1947 meetings, the 1951 or 1952 encounter, the 1963 visit by Whitney Straight, and the 1948 disclosure by Belinda Straight).
[^28]: FBI, memorandum of September 29, 1969 supplementing the summary of September 10, 1969, listing his books from the records of the Library of Congress ("Make This the Last War," 1943; "Trial by Television," 1954; "Carrington," 1960; "A Very Small Remnant," 1963), in "Straight, Michael W., HQ-1."
[^29]: FBI, memorandum of December 18, 1957 (with an index of references to Whitney Straight), in "Straight, Michael W., HQ-1."
[^30]: FBI, summary memorandum of September 10, 1969, and letter of J. Edgar Hoover to John Ehrlichman of September 11, 1969, in "Straight, Michael W., HQ-1."
[^31]: FBI, memoranda of C. D. DeLoach to Clyde Tolson of September 18, 1969 and October 15, 1969, in "Straight, Michael W., HQ-1." The September 18 memorandum states that the Bureau's inquiry "reflects an investigation from 1941 to 1943 based on this individual's reported Communist Party activities" and that he was editor and publisher of the New Republic after World War II.
[^32]: FBI, teletypes and interview reports of September 1969 on the special inquiry, including the interview with the publisher of the New Republic, in "Straight, Michael W., HQ-1."
[^33]: FBI, memorandum of June 25, 1963, in "Straight, Michael W., HQ-1," closing passages (why he had not reported earlier; British Information Service; willingness to answer questions).
[^34]: Sir Robert Armstrong to Mr. Butler, minute ref. A083/0151, January 17, 1983, "SECRET," and Principal Private Secretary to Sir Robert Armstrong, January 18, 1983, The National Archives (UK), PREM 19/1951 f208, https://archive.margaretthatcher.org/doc23/830117%20cab%20off%20min%20PREM19-1951%20f208.pdf (released December 2023; described at https://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/244748).
[^35]: The National Archives (UK), file KV 2/4705, "Anthony BLUNT," covering dates February 28 to June 19, 1964, Discovery catalogue record C19404941, https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C19404941.
[^36]: FBI, memorandum of W. V. Cleveland to Gale, August 27, 1969, "Special Inquiry - White House," in "Straight, Michael W., HQ-1."
[^37]: Richard Nixon, "Statement on Appointing Nancy Hanks as Chairman, National Endowment for the Arts," September 3, 1969, The American Presidency Project, https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/statement-appointing-nancy-hanks-chairman-national-endowment-for-the-arts.
[^38]: National Endowment for the Arts, *Annual Report 1969*, https://www.arts.gov/sites/default/files/NEA-Annual-Report-1969.pdf (Hanks sworn in October 6, 1969; staff list of January 1970 naming Michael Straight, Deputy Chairman); *Annual Report 1973*, https://www.arts.gov/sites/default/files/NEA-Annual-Report-1973.pdf.
[^39]: FBI, newspaper clipping of November 1969 on the National Council on the Arts, attached to the file of the special inquiry, in "Straight, Michael W., HQ-1."
[^40]: National Arts Publication Database, Americans for the Arts, entry for Michael Straight, *Twigs for an Eagle's Nest: Government and the Arts, 1965-1978* (Devon Press, 1978), https://ww2.americansforthearts.org/publications/twigs-eagles-nest-government-and-arts-1965-1978.
[^41]: FBI, summary memorandum of September 10, 1969 and teletypes of September 1969 on interviews with Milton C. Rose, Herbert Faber, Harriett K. Evison and Dr. Shelton Siegel, in "Straight, Michael W., HQ-1."
[^42]: FBI, summary memorandum of September 10, 1969 ("Miscellaneous Information"), citing the Washington Times-Herald of December 6, 1952, and the clipping of that article in "Straight, Michael W., HQ-1." The same clipping reports the testimony before the committee of Marshall Field.
[^43]: FBI, memoranda on UNSUB aka "Dan" (file 65-61067), July and August 1968, in "Straight, Michael W., HQ-1."
[^44]: FBI, supplementary memorandum of September 29, 1969, in "Straight, Michael W., HQ-1."
[^45]: The National Archives (UK), file KV 2/4366, "Louis DOLIVET," covering dates December 18, 1937 to March 22, 1951, Discovery catalogue record C16548843, https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C16548843.
[^46]: FBI, teletype of September 5, 1969 from Baltimore and airtel of September 23, 1969 from Alexandria, in "Straight, Michael W., HQ-1."
[^47]: Cornell University Library, Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, "Michael Whitney Straight papers," #4465, https://archives.library.cornell.edu/repositories/2/resources/4143.
[^48]: PopMatters Staff, review of Roland Perry, *The Last of the Cold War Spies: The Life of Michael Straight* (Da Capo Press, 2005), https://www.popmatters.com/last-of-the-cold-war-spies-2496243761.html. Sole source for the passages so cited.
[^49]: Central Intelligence Agency, *Venona Part II: Selected Messages, 1939-1957*, https://cia.gov/resources/csi/static/Venona-Part-II-Selected-Messages-1939-1957.pdf.
[^50]: FBI, summary memorandum of September 10, 1969 ("Marital Status") and report of Belinda C. Straight's statement, in "Straight, Michael W., HQ-1"; the 1963 memorandum gives the marriage as September 1939 and the summary as September 10, 1939.

88
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Nelson Rockefeller.md
View file

@ -16,14 +16,19 @@ born: 1908-07-08
died: 1979-01-26
location: New York, NY
created: 2026-06-05
updated: 2026-09-22
updated: 2026-10-09
relations:
- type: head_of
with: "[[Planning Coordination Group]]"
role: "chairman"
start: 1955-03-10
end: 1955
fn: 18
fn: 23
- type: participant_in
with: "[[Interdepartmental Committee on Foreign Nationality Problems]]"
start: 1942
role: "CIAA representative (Mr. N. A. Rockefeller)"
fn: 11
---
Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller (July 8, 1908 - January 26, 1979), named after his maternal grandfather and US Senator [[Nelson Aldrich]], was the dominant figure in US-Latin American relations from World War II through the mid-1970s. As coordinator of inter-American affairs (1940-1944), assistant secretary of state for American republic affairs (1944-1945), and later as President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]]'s special assistant for national security, he built the institutional architecture that governed American policy toward [[Latin America]] and shaped the intelligence community's covert operations in the Western Hemisphere. His private vehicles, the [[IBEC]] (International Basic Economy Corporation) and the [[AIA]] (American International Association), extended [[Rockefeller family]] commercial interests into the Brazilian Amazon and beyond.
@ -54,39 +59,43 @@ Rockefeller used the CIAA to advance US aviation dominance in Latin America thro
The CIAA's rubber program in the Amazon drove 100,000 people off their land (including a Haitian displacement project), a pattern that would repeat throughout Rockefeller's career in Latin American development.[^10]
Minutes and memoranda of the [[Interdepartmental Committee on Foreign Nationality Problems]], convened by [[Adolf Berle|Adolf A. Berle]] at the State Department in 1942 and filed in the CIA reading room under an [[Office of Strategic Services]] heading, list Rockefeller among the CIAA representatives. A [[Coordinator of Information]] memorandum of February 11, 1942 names "Mr. Nelson Rockefeller, Dr. Max Ascoli and Mr. Wallace K. Harrison of the Office of the Coordinator for Latin American Relations" among those present; Berle's letter of February 27, 1942 to the Secretary of War lists the CIAA members as "Mr. N. A Rockefeller; Mr. Wallace K. Harrison; Dr. Ascoli"; and the minutes of the sixth meeting (March 11, 1942) record Rockefeller, Harrison and [[Max Ascoli]] as CIAA representatives. At that meeting Ascoli reported on the possible recruitment of anti-Fascist Italians in South America for an Italian legion.[^11] Laura Fermi writes that Ascoli was associate director of cultural relations in the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs.[^12] [[Hugh Wilford]] writes that during the war Ascoli "worked alongside Nelson Rockefeller, John Hay Whitney, and C. D. Jackson."[^13]
Rockefeller's office was one of the principal customers of the [[Foreign Broadcast Intelligence Service]]. He wrote to FCC chairman [[James L. Fly]] on March 5, 1942 about the "invaluable aid" the service supplied to his organization. On July 29, 1942 he wrote that his office had "been able thus far to make good use of the material provided by teletype from the Kingsville Field Bureau," and asked for a greater volume of verbatim transcripts for hemispheric propaganda work.[^14] [[Goodwin Watson]] wrote to him on July 7, 1942 about an offer the CIAA had made to an FBIS analyst, and [[Robert D. Leigh]] wrote to him on January 2, 1943 proposing a release system for Latin American information modeled on the service's own.[^15]
### The Act of Chapultepec and Cold War Architecture (1945)
Appointed assistant secretary of state for American republic affairs on December 20, 1944 (his entry on duty date), Rockefeller convened the Inter-American Conference on Problems of War and Peace at [[Chapultepec Castle]] in [[Mexico City]], which ran from February 21 to March 8, 1945. There he pushed through the Act of Chapultepec (formally adopted March 6, 1945), which authorized a regional military pact making an attack on any American state an attack on all, a Latin American precursor to [[NATO]] that both the State Department and the Soviet Union recognized as a violation of the Yalta accords.[^11]
Appointed assistant secretary of state for American republic affairs on December 20, 1944 (his entry on duty date), Rockefeller convened the Inter-American Conference on Problems of War and Peace at [[Chapultepec Castle]] in [[Mexico City]], which ran from February 21 to March 8, 1945. There he pushed through the Act of Chapultepec (formally adopted March 6, 1945), which authorized a regional military pact making an attack on any American state an attack on all, a Latin American precursor to [[NATO]] that both the State Department and the Soviet Union recognized as a violation of the Yalta accords.[^16]
At Chapultepec, Rockefeller assembled his "Latin American Junta": [[Galo Plaza]] of Ecuador, [[Alberto Lleras Camargo]] of Colombia, and Mexico's [[Ezequiel Padilla]]. These men would become presidents, OAS secretaries-general, and trustees of the Rockefeller Foundation. Rockefeller also arranged for [[Adolf Berle]] to replace [[Jefferson Caffery]] as US ambassador to Brazil.[^12]
At Chapultepec, Rockefeller assembled his "Latin American Junta": [[Galo Plaza]] of Ecuador, [[Alberto Lleras Camargo]] of Colombia, and Mexico's [[Ezequiel Padilla]]. These men would become presidents, OAS secretaries-general, and trustees of the Rockefeller Foundation. Rockefeller also arranged for [[Adolf Berle]] to replace [[Jefferson Caffery]] as US ambassador to Brazil.[^17]
The Act of Chapultepec killed 180 Latin American resolutions promoting industrialization and protective tariffs, replacing them with an open-door policy for American corporate investment and commitments to road-building that served extractive industries. Rockefeller supported Argentina's [[Juan Perón]]'s admission to the founding United Nations conference over strong objections, adding the Latin American bloc's 19 votes to the Western tally against the Soviets. Adolf Berle warned him privately this would be a political error; Rockefeller ignored the advice and paid with his job when the move was exposed as a violation of Yalta.[^13]
The Act of Chapultepec killed 180 Latin American resolutions promoting industrialization and protective tariffs, replacing them with an open-door policy for American corporate investment and commitments to road-building that served extractive industries. Rockefeller supported Argentina's [[Juan Perón]]'s admission to the founding United Nations conference over strong objections, adding the Latin American bloc's 19 votes to the Western tally against the Soviets. Adolf Berle warned him privately this would be a political error; Rockefeller ignored the advice and paid with his job when the move was exposed as a violation of Yalta.[^18]
Nelson's appointment as assistant secretary terminated on August 17, 1945. President [[Harry S. Truman]] reversed his policies and shut down the OCIAA shortly thereafter; whether his departure was a dismissal or a resignation has been characterized differently by different sources, with the State Department's official record listing a termination date of August 17, 1945.[^14]
Nelson's appointment as assistant secretary terminated on August 17, 1945. President [[Harry S. Truman]] reversed his policies and shut down the OCIAA shortly thereafter; whether his departure was a dismissal or a resignation has been characterized differently by different sources, with the State Department's official record listing a termination date of August 17, 1945.[^19]
### Private Instruments: IBEC, AIA, and the "First Cold War Coup"
Back in New York, Rockefeller reconvened his Junta and created two private vehicles for Latin American penetration: the IBEC (International Basic Economy Corporation, of which he served as president from 1947 to 1953 and again from 1956 to 1958) and the AIA (American International Association for Economic and Social Development, of which he served as president from 1946 to 1953 and again from 1957 to 1958). These nominally separate entities combined Rockefeller commercial interests with US government development goals.[^15]
Back in New York, Rockefeller reconvened his Junta and created two private vehicles for Latin American penetration: the IBEC (International Basic Economy Corporation, of which he served as president from 1947 to 1953 and again from 1956 to 1958) and the AIA (American International Association for Economic and Social Development, of which he served as president from 1946 to 1953 and again from 1957 to 1958). These nominally separate entities combined Rockefeller commercial interests with US government development goals.[^20]
Through his former CIAA aide Adolf Berle and his CIA Western Hemisphere operations director [[J.C. King]] (a former Johnson & Johnson Latin American manager), Rockefeller was connected to the 1945 coup that overthrew Brazilian president [[Getulio Vargas]]. The coup ended Vargas's plan for state-directed Amazon development and opened Brazil to the American corporate penetration Rockefeller had prepared during the CIAA years.[^16]
Through his former CIAA aide Adolf Berle and his CIA Western Hemisphere operations director [[J.C. King]] (a former Johnson & Johnson Latin American manager), Rockefeller was connected to the 1945 coup that overthrew Brazilian president [[Getulio Vargas]]. The coup ended Vargas's plan for state-directed Amazon development and opened Brazil to the American corporate penetration Rockefeller had prepared during the CIAA years.[^21]
### Eisenhower's Cold War General (1953-1955)
In 1953, Rockefeller accepted appointment as chair of the President's Advisory Committee on Government Organization, which ran from 1952 to 1953, before becoming Under Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare (1953-1954). On December 15, 1954, President Eisenhower sent Rockefeller a letter appointing him Special Assistant to the President for Foreign Affairs (also described as Special Assistant for Cold War Strategy). The appointment letter tasked him with providing "advice and assistance in the development of increased understanding and cooperation among all peoples" and attending meetings of the Cabinet, the National Security Council, the [[Council on Foreign Economic Policy]], and the [[Operations Coordinating Board]].[^17]
In 1953, Rockefeller accepted appointment as chair of the President's Advisory Committee on Government Organization, which ran from 1952 to 1953, before becoming Under Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare (1953-1954). On December 15, 1954, President Eisenhower sent Rockefeller a letter appointing him Special Assistant to the President for Foreign Affairs (also described as Special Assistant for Cold War Strategy). The appointment letter tasked him with providing "advice and assistance in the development of increased understanding and cooperation among all peoples" and attending meetings of the Cabinet, the National Security Council, the [[Council on Foreign Economic Policy]], and the [[Operations Coordinating Board]].[^22]
On March 3, 1955, Bureau of the Budget Director Rowland Hughes recommended that Eisenhower designate Rockefeller as a member and vice chairman of the OCB and as chairman of a new Planning Coordination Group. Eisenhower approved these recommendations on March 10, 1955. The Planning Coordination Group (PCG), operating within the framework of [[NSC 5412]] governing covert operations, comprised Rockefeller as chairman, the Under Secretary of State, the Deputy Secretary of Defense, and the Director of Central Intelligence. Its function was to "advise and assist the responsible operating agencies in the coordinated development of plans and programs" and to serve as the "normal channel for giving policy approval" for CIA covert operations. CIA director [[Allen Dulles]] and State Department officials refused to cooperate, and their obstruction stymied the PCG's initiatives. Rockefeller recommended the group's abolishment in September 1955 and resigned as Special Assistant to the President in December 1955.[^18]
On March 3, 1955, Bureau of the Budget Director Rowland Hughes recommended that Eisenhower designate Rockefeller as a member and vice chairman of the OCB and as chairman of a new Planning Coordination Group. Eisenhower approved these recommendations on March 10, 1955. The Planning Coordination Group (PCG), operating within the framework of [[NSC 5412]] governing covert operations, comprised Rockefeller as chairman, the Under Secretary of State, the Deputy Secretary of Defense, and the Director of Central Intelligence. Its function was to "advise and assist the responsible operating agencies in the coordinated development of plans and programs" and to serve as the "normal channel for giving policy approval" for CIA covert operations. CIA director [[Allen Dulles]] and State Department officials refused to cooperate, and their obstruction stymied the PCG's initiatives. Rockefeller recommended the group's abolishment in September 1955 and resigned as Special Assistant to the President in December 1955.[^23]
In this role, he commissioned and partly directed the [[Quantico I and II]] strategy panels. Quantico I convened June 5-10, 1955, at the Marine Corps School in [[Quantico]], [[Virginia]], where eleven experts in Soviet-American relations (including [[W.W. Rostow]] of [[MIT]] as panel chairman, [[C.D. Jackson]] of [[Time-Life]], and [[Hans Speier]] of the [[RAND Corporation]]) assessed the US position in the psychological dimensions of the Cold War and developed the "Open Skies" proposal that Eisenhower then brought to the Geneva Summit. Quantico II met in late August 1955 in Washington and Quantico to examine the psychological aspects of US national security policy. He brought [[Henry Kissinger]], then a young Harvard academic, in as director of the Special Studies Project of the [[Rockefeller Brothers Fund]], whose six panel reports appeared between January 1958 and September 1960; Kissinger directed the project until June 30, 1958.[^rbfpfa] Gerard Colby and Charlotte Dennett wrote that the reports shaped the Kennedy administration's counterinsurgency strategy.[^19]
In this role, he commissioned and partly directed the [[Quantico I and II]] strategy panels. Quantico I convened June 5-10, 1955, at the Marine Corps School in [[Quantico]], [[Virginia]], where eleven experts in Soviet-American relations (including [[W.W. Rostow]] of [[MIT]] as panel chairman, [[C.D. Jackson]] of [[Time-Life]], and [[Hans Speier]] of the [[RAND Corporation]]) assessed the US position in the psychological dimensions of the Cold War and developed the "Open Skies" proposal that Eisenhower then brought to the Geneva Summit. Quantico II met in late August 1955 in Washington and Quantico to examine the psychological aspects of US national security policy. He brought [[Henry Kissinger]], then a young Harvard academic, in as director of the Special Studies Project of the [[Rockefeller Brothers Fund]], whose six panel reports appeared between January 1958 and September 1960; Kissinger directed the project until June 30, 1958.[^24] Gerard Colby and Charlotte Dennett wrote that the reports shaped the Kennedy administration's counterinsurgency strategy.[^25]
### Brazil and the 1964 Coup
By 1964, Rockefeller's instruments were in place for a more decisive intervention. His former CIAA colleague Adolf Berle maintained connections to Brazilian military officers through the State Department and private channels. The CIA's J.C. King coordinated with US Ambassador [[Lincoln Gordon]] and Military Attaché [[Vernon Walters]]. Rockefeller's IBEC had major agricultural and commercial holdings in Brazil, and his brother [[David Rockefeller]]'s [[Chase Manhattan Bank]] was deeply invested in the Brazilian economy.[^20]
By 1964, Rockefeller's instruments were in place for a more decisive intervention. His former CIAA colleague Adolf Berle maintained connections to Brazilian military officers through the State Department and private channels. The CIA's J.C. King coordinated with US Ambassador [[Lincoln Gordon]] and Military Attaché [[Vernon Walters]]. Rockefeller's IBEC had major agricultural and commercial holdings in Brazil, and his brother [[David Rockefeller]]'s [[Chase Manhattan Bank]] was deeply invested in the Brazilian economy.[^26]
The April 1964 coup deposing President [[Joao Goulart]] was welcomed within the Rockefeller network. Planning for the contingency had been underway since at least December 1962: a November 22, 1963 contingency plan showed "heavy emphasis on U.S. armed intervention," and Ambassador Gordon's March 28, 1964 telegram from Rio de Janeiro described Goulart as "now definitely engaged on campaign to seize dictatorial power, accepting the active collaboration of the Brazilian Communist Party." On March 31, 1964, the Joint Chiefs of Staff assigned the code name "Brother Sam" to a naval task force authorized to supply arms and potentially deploy combat troops in support of the coup if needed. [[Operation Brother Sam]] was the military expression of a strategy Rockefeller had been building since Chapultepec. These deliberations are documented in FRUS 1964-1968, Vol. XXXI, which covers South and Central America and includes the Lincoln Gordon cables and the JCS Brother Sam authorization.[^21]
The April 1964 coup deposing President [[Joao Goulart]] was welcomed within the Rockefeller network. Planning for the contingency had been underway since at least December 1962: a November 22, 1963 contingency plan showed "heavy emphasis on U.S. armed intervention," and Ambassador Gordon's March 28, 1964 telegram from Rio de Janeiro described Goulart as "now definitely engaged on campaign to seize dictatorial power, accepting the active collaboration of the Brazilian Communist Party." On March 31, 1964, the Joint Chiefs of Staff assigned the code name "Brother Sam" to a naval task force authorized to supply arms and potentially deploy combat troops in support of the coup if needed. [[Operation Brother Sam]] was the military expression of a strategy Rockefeller had been building since Chapultepec. These deliberations are documented in FRUS 1964-1968, Vol. XXXI, which covers South and Central America and includes the Lincoln Gordon cables and the JCS Brother Sam authorization.[^27]
### The Nixon Mission and Latin American Backlash (1969)
In 1969, President [[Richard Nixon]] asked Rockefeller, on Nixon's first full day in office, to assess the effectiveness of the [[Alliance for Progress]] program and prepare a policy report on Latin America. Rockefeller undertook a 20-nation tour in summer 1969. The tour was met with riots, demonstrations, and stone-throwing in nearly every country he visited, a response that shocked official Washington but not those who had watched his career from the other side. The tour's report, delivered to Nixon and titled "Quality of Life in the Americas," recommended reversing recent trends to reduce security assistance to Latin American military governments. The report stated, "At the moment there is only one Castro among the 26 nations of the hemisphere; there can well be more in the future." Its military aid recommendations further deepened US backing for Latin American military dictatorships.[^22]
In 1969, President [[Richard Nixon]] asked Rockefeller, on Nixon's first full day in office, to assess the effectiveness of the [[Alliance for Progress]] program and prepare a policy report on Latin America. Rockefeller undertook a 20-nation tour in summer 1969. The tour was met with riots, demonstrations, and stone-throwing in nearly every country he visited, a response that shocked official Washington but not those who had watched his career from the other side. The tour's report, delivered to Nixon and titled "Quality of Life in the Americas," recommended reversing recent trends to reduce security assistance to Latin American military governments. The report stated, "At the moment there is only one Castro among the 26 nations of the hemisphere; there can well be more in the future." Its military aid recommendations further deepened US backing for Latin American military dictatorships.[^28]
### The Rockefeller Commission (1975)
@ -94,21 +103,21 @@ In 1975, amid the congressional [[Church Committee]] investigations into CIA abu
Rockefeller "attempted to head off inclusion of the subject" of CIA assassination plots, restricting consideration of assassinations to the question of Cuba's possible role in the assassination of [[John F. Kennedy]]. When the Commission voted on whether to include assassination investigations, it overrode its own chairman, with [[Ronald Reagan]] (then Governor of California, serving as a commissioner) siding with executive director David Belin against Rockefeller. In a March 10, 1975 memorandum to Commission members, Belin argued that selective investigation of assassination plots would confuse the public and that "the threat of assassination" warranted comprehensive inquiry. The Commission took testimony from CIA General Counsel [[John Warner]] on April 14, 1975.
Despite the Commission's vote to include the assassination material, the Ford White House suppressed it. An entire 86-page section, "Summary of Facts: Investigation of CIA Involvement in Plans to Assassinate Foreign Leaders" (dated June 5, 1975), covering plots against [[Fidel Castro]], [[Rafael Trujillo]], and references to [[Patrice Lumumba]] and [[Sukarno]], was removed from the final report before public release. Then-Deputy White House Chief of Staff [[Richard Cheney]] made handwritten edits throughout the draft on or around June 1, 1975, altering language describing CIA activities from "unlawful" to merely "improper" in most instances, while drug experiments on US citizens retained the characterization "illegal." White House Counsel [[Philip Buchen]] coordinated the suppression. Commission public affairs director Peter Clapper warned that deleting the section would "cast doubt on the rest of the report" and be perceived as a cover-up; his objection was overridden. Senator [[Frank Church]] personally visited Rockefeller in early May 1975, alleging that CIA documents were being withheld from the Church Committee by the Rockefeller Commission. President Ford wrote to Church on October 31, 1975, urging suppression of assassination findings; Church rejected the request, stating that "the national interest is better served by letting the American people know the true and complete story." These internal documents are collected in National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 543, published February 29, 2016, edited by John Prados and Arturo Jimenez-Bacardi.[^23]
Despite the Commission's vote to include the assassination material, the Ford White House suppressed it. An entire 86-page section, "Summary of Facts: Investigation of CIA Involvement in Plans to Assassinate Foreign Leaders" (dated June 5, 1975), covering plots against [[Fidel Castro]], [[Rafael Trujillo]], and references to [[Patrice Lumumba]] and [[Sukarno]], was removed from the final report before public release. Then-Deputy White House Chief of Staff [[Richard Cheney]] made handwritten edits throughout the draft on or around June 1, 1975, altering language describing CIA activities from "unlawful" to merely "improper" in most instances, while drug experiments on US citizens retained the characterization "illegal." White House Counsel [[Philip Buchen]] coordinated the suppression. Commission public affairs director Peter Clapper warned that deleting the section would "cast doubt on the rest of the report" and be perceived as a cover-up; his objection was overridden. Senator [[Frank Church]] personally visited Rockefeller in early May 1975, alleging that CIA documents were being withheld from the Church Committee by the Rockefeller Commission. President Ford wrote to Church on October 31, 1975, urging suppression of assassination findings; Church rejected the request, stating that "the national interest is better served by letting the American people know the true and complete story." These internal documents are collected in National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 543, published February 29, 2016, edited by John Prados and Arturo Jimenez-Bacardi.[^29]
Rockefeller's chairmanship of the commission investigating the agency he had supervised under Eisenhower was widely considered a conflict of interest. Key findings were withheld or classified. The Commission also added Recommendations 29 (civilian oversight committee) and 20 (periodic declassification reviews) to the report without a Commission vote, under [[White House]] direction.[^24]
Rockefeller's chairmanship of the commission investigating the agency he had supervised under Eisenhower was widely considered a conflict of interest. Key findings were withheld or classified. The Commission also added Recommendations 29 (civilian oversight committee) and 20 (periodic declassification reviews) to the report without a Commission vote, under [[White House]] direction.[^30]
### New York Politics and the Vice Presidency
Rockefeller served as governor of New York from 1959 to 1973, during which time he built the South Mall (later renamed the [[Nelson A. Rockefeller Empire State Plaza]]) and pursued the presidency unsuccessfully in 1960, 1964, and 1968, repeatedly blocked by the Republican right wing. On August 20, 1974, President Ford nominated Rockefeller as vice president under Section 2 of the [[25th Amendment]]. After a nearly four-month confirmation process, the Senate confirmed the nomination 90-7 on December 10, 1974, and the House confirmed 287-128 on December 19, 1974. Rockefeller was sworn in as the 41st Vice President on December 19, 1974, the second person appointed vice president under the 25th Amendment (Ford having been the first).[^25]
Rockefeller served as governor of New York from 1959 to 1973, during which time he built the South Mall (later renamed the [[Nelson A. Rockefeller Empire State Plaza]]) and pursued the presidency unsuccessfully in 1960, 1964, and 1968, repeatedly blocked by the Republican right wing. On August 20, 1974, President Ford nominated Rockefeller as vice president under Section 2 of the [[25th Amendment]]. After a nearly four-month confirmation process, the Senate confirmed the nomination 90-7 on December 10, 1974, and the House confirmed 287-128 on December 19, 1974. Rockefeller was sworn in as the 41st Vice President on December 19, 1974, the second person appointed vice president under the 25th Amendment (Ford having been the first).[^31]
### Death
Rockefeller died on January 26, 1979, of a heart attack at his townhouse at 13 West 54th Street in Manhattan, in the presence of Megan Marshack, a 25-year-old aide who had worked for him during his vice presidency and to whom he had provided financial assistance in purchasing a condominium nearby. After Rockefeller suffered the cardiac event, Marshack called her friend, television journalist Ponchitta Pierce, to the townhouse; Pierce phoned an ambulance approximately one hour after the attack. Initial reports, quickly corrected, stated he had died at his desk at Rockefeller Center. The circumstances received extensive press coverage but diverted attention from his political legacy.[^26]
Rockefeller died on January 26, 1979, of a heart attack at his townhouse at 13 West 54th Street in Manhattan, in the presence of Megan Marshack, a 25-year-old aide who had worked for him during his vice presidency and to whom he had provided financial assistance in purchasing a condominium nearby. After Rockefeller suffered the cardiac event, Marshack called her friend, television journalist Ponchitta Pierce, to the townhouse; Pierce phoned an ambulance approximately one hour after the attack. Initial reports, quickly corrected, stated he had died at his desk at Rockefeller Center. The circumstances received extensive press coverage but diverted attention from his political legacy.[^32]
### The Pocantico Network
The Rockefeller family's 3,600-acre Pocantico Hills estate in Sleepy Hollow, New York, served as both residence and operational headquarters for family strategic planning. The Rockefeller Brothers Fund, co-organized in 1940, became the vehicle for coordinating family philanthropy, "soft" intelligence operations, and policy influence across generations. Nelson used the RBF to channel funds into psychological warfare and counterintelligence programs, with his brother David reluctantly acquiescing to Nelson's demands. The [[Rockefeller Archive Center]], which holds the family papers and is located at Pocantico, holds the primary records for Rockefeller's government and private activities.[^27]
The Rockefeller family's 3,600-acre Pocantico Hills estate in Sleepy Hollow, New York, served as both residence and operational headquarters for family strategic planning. The Rockefeller Brothers Fund, co-organized in 1940, became the vehicle for coordinating family philanthropy, "soft" intelligence operations, and policy influence across generations. Nelson used the RBF to channel funds into psychological warfare and counterintelligence programs, with his brother David reluctantly acquiescing to Nelson's demands. The [[Rockefeller Archive Center]], which holds the family papers and is located at Pocantico, holds the primary records for Rockefeller's government and private activities.[^33]
### Footnotes
@ -122,21 +131,26 @@ The Rockefeller family's 3,600-acre Pocantico Hills estate in Sleepy Hollow, New
[^8]: Colby and Dennett, Ch. 8 ("The Business Imperative").
[^9]: Colby and Dennett, Ch. 8 ("The Secret War for the Skies").
[^10]: Colby and Dennett, Ch. 12 ("Preempting the Cold War").
[^11]: Colby and Dennett, Ch. 12 ("Triumph at Chapultepec"); Act of Chapultepec, formally adopted March 6, 1945, at the Inter-American Conference on Problems of War and Peace (Chapultepec Castle, Mexico City, February 21 - March 8, 1945). Text at Avalon Project, Yale Law School (avalon.law.yale.edu). State Department appointment record: "Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller," Office of the Historian, People, Department History (history.state.gov/departmenthistory/people/rockefeller-nelson-aldrich), entry on duty December 20, 1944.
[^12]: Colby and Dennett, Ch. 12 ("Nelson's Latin American Junta").
[^13]: Colby and Dennett, Ch. 12 ("Roosevelt's Crucial Decision"; "Rekindling the Cold War").
[^14]: State Department Office of the Historian, "Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller," termination date August 17, 1945 (history.state.gov/departmenthistory/people/rockefeller-nelson-aldrich).
[^15]: Rockefeller Archive Center biographical summary (president of AIA 1946-1953, 1957-1958; president of IBEC 1947-1953, 1956-1958). Colby and Dennett, Ch. 13 ("Latin America's First Cold War Coup"); Ch. 14.
[^16]: Colby and Dennett, Ch. 13; Introduction (2017).
[^17]: Rockefeller Archive Center biographical summary; Dwight D. Eisenhower, "Letter to Nelson A. Rockefeller Appointing Him Special Assistant to the President," December 15, 1954 (released December 16, 1954), The American Presidency Project (presidency.ucsb.edu).
[^18]: Rowland Hughes memorandum, March 3, 1955 (FRUS 1950-55, Intelligence, Document 210, history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1950-55Intel/d210); Eisenhower approval, March 10, 1955. NSC 5412, "National Security Council Directive on Covert Operations." Colby and Dennett, Introduction (2017); Ch. 18 ("Ike's Cold War General").
[^19]: Colby and Dennett, Introduction (2017); Ch. 23 ("Ascent of the Hawk"); Ch. 27. Quantico I panel composition from FRUS 1955-57, Vol. 24, Editorial Note, Document 12 (history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1955-57v24/d12).
[^20]: Colby and Dennett, Ch. 28-29.
[^21]: FRUS 1964-1968, Vol. XXXI (South and Central America). Document 12 (March 29, 1964), Ambassador Lincoln Gordon telegram, Rio de Janeiro: Goulart "now definitely engaged on campaign to seize dictatorial power, accepting the active collaboration of the Brazilian Communist Party." Document 15 (April 1, 1964), coup status update. JCS code name "Brother Sam" assigned March 31, 1964 (Document 198, FRUS 1964-68 Vol. XXXI, history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v31). National Security Archive, NSAEBB No. 465 ("Brazil Marks 50th Anniversary of Military Coup"), 2014. Colby and Dennett, Ch. 29 ("Operation Brother Sam").
[^22]: Nelson A. Rockefeller, "Quality of Life in the Americas" (Report of a Presidential Mission for the Western Hemisphere), 1969. Published in Department of State Bulletin. Colby and Dennett, Ch. 38-40; Appendix A.
[^23]: National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 543, "Gerald Ford White House Altered Rockefeller Commission Report in 1975; Removed Section on CIA Assassination Plots," February 29, 2016, edited by John Prados and Arturo Jimenez-Bacardi (nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/intelligence/2016-02-29/gerald-ford-white-house-altered-rockefeller-commission-report). Documents cited: Document 3 (David W. Belin memorandum to Commission members, "Scope of Commission Investigation - Assassinations," March 10, 1975, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library); Document 7 (Testimony of CIA General Counsel John Warner, April 14, 1975); Document 15 (Richard Cheney handwritten edits, c. June 1, 1975); Document 19 (86-page suppressed section, "Summary of Facts: Investigation of CIA Involvement in Plans to Assassinate Foreign Leaders," June 5, 1975); Document 21 (Ford letter to Church, October 31, 1975); Document 22 (Church response rejecting suppression request, November 4, 1975).
[^24]: Colby and Dennett, Ch. 44 ("Hiding the Family Jewels"); Appendix B.
[^25]: 1974 United States vice presidential confirmation: Senate vote 90-7, December 10, 1974; House vote 287-128, December 19, 1974; sworn in December 19, 1974.
[^26]: Colby and Dennett, Ch. 40-44. Death circumstances and location (13 West 54th Street townhouse): "Megan Marshack dies at 70; was with Nelson Rockefeller at his death," *Seattle Times*, October 3, 2024; *New York Times* obituary, January 27, 1979. Marshack died October 2, 2024, at age 70.
[^27]: Colby and Dennett, Introduction (2017); Ch. 13. Rockefeller Archive Center, Sleepy Hollow, New York (rockarch.org).
[^rbfpfa]: Rockefeller Brothers Fund. *Prospect for America: The Rockefeller Panel Reports.* Doubleday, 1961, list of project staff and preface. https://archive.org/details/prospect-for-america-the-rockefeller-panel-reports-rockefeller-brothers-fund-1961
[^11]: CIA reading room, "OSS: Memoranda on meetings of the Interdepartmental Committee on Foreign Nationality Problems," CIA-RDP13X00001R000100370009-5, PDF pp. 17-18, 22, 29-30 and 39-41, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp13x00001r000100370009-5.
[^12]: Laura Fermi, Illustrious Immigrants (University of Chicago Press, 1968), p. 284.
[^13]: Hugh Wilford, The Mighty Wurlitzer (Harvard University Press, 2008), pp. 230-231.
[^14]: Mercado, "FBIS Against the Axis, 1941-1945," Studies in Intelligence 45, no. 5 (2001), note 24, quoting Nelson A. Rockefeller to James L. Fly, 29 July 1942, National Archives, RG 262, Entry 68, Box 22. https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/kent-csi/vol45no5/html/v45i5a04p.htm. Roop, Part I, pp. 158-159, on the 5 March 1942 letter. https://archive.org/details/ForeignBroadcastInformationServiceHistoryPart11941-1947.
[^15]: Roop, Part I, pp. 218-219, on Watson's letter of 7 July 1942, and pp. 101-102, on Leigh's letter of 2 January 1943. https://archive.org/details/ForeignBroadcastInformationServiceHistoryPart11941-1947.
[^16]: Colby and Dennett, Ch. 12 ("Triumph at Chapultepec"); Act of Chapultepec, formally adopted March 6, 1945, at the Inter-American Conference on Problems of War and Peace (Chapultepec Castle, Mexico City, February 21 - March 8, 1945). Text at Avalon Project, Yale Law School (avalon.law.yale.edu). State Department appointment record: "Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller," Office of the Historian, People, Department History (history.state.gov/departmenthistory/people/rockefeller-nelson-aldrich), entry on duty December 20, 1944.
[^17]: Colby and Dennett, Ch. 12 ("Nelson's Latin American Junta").
[^18]: Colby and Dennett, Ch. 12 ("Roosevelt's Crucial Decision"; "Rekindling the Cold War").
[^19]: State Department Office of the Historian, "Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller," termination date August 17, 1945 (history.state.gov/departmenthistory/people/rockefeller-nelson-aldrich).
[^20]: Rockefeller Archive Center biographical summary (president of AIA 1946-1953, 1957-1958; president of IBEC 1947-1953, 1956-1958). Colby and Dennett, Ch. 13 ("Latin America's First Cold War Coup"); Ch. 14.
[^21]: Colby and Dennett, Ch. 13; Introduction (2017).
[^22]: Rockefeller Archive Center biographical summary; Dwight D. Eisenhower, "Letter to Nelson A. Rockefeller Appointing Him Special Assistant to the President," December 15, 1954 (released December 16, 1954), The American Presidency Project (presidency.ucsb.edu).
[^23]: Rowland Hughes memorandum, March 3, 1955 (FRUS 1950-55, Intelligence, Document 210, history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1950-55Intel/d210); Eisenhower approval, March 10, 1955. NSC 5412, "National Security Council Directive on Covert Operations." Colby and Dennett, Introduction (2017); Ch. 18 ("Ike's Cold War General").
[^24]: Rockefeller Brothers Fund. *Prospect for America: The Rockefeller Panel Reports.* Doubleday, 1961, list of project staff and preface. https://archive.org/details/prospect-for-america-the-rockefeller-panel-reports-rockefeller-brothers-fund-1961
[^25]: Colby and Dennett, Introduction (2017); Ch. 23 ("Ascent of the Hawk"); Ch. 27. Quantico I panel composition from FRUS 1955-57, Vol. 24, Editorial Note, Document 12 (history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1955-57v24/d12).
[^26]: Colby and Dennett, Ch. 28-29.
[^27]: FRUS 1964-1968, Vol. XXXI (South and Central America). Document 12 (March 29, 1964), Ambassador Lincoln Gordon telegram, Rio de Janeiro: Goulart "now definitely engaged on campaign to seize dictatorial power, accepting the active collaboration of the Brazilian Communist Party." Document 15 (April 1, 1964), coup status update. JCS code name "Brother Sam" assigned March 31, 1964 (Document 198, FRUS 1964-68 Vol. XXXI, history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v31). National Security Archive, NSAEBB No. 465 ("Brazil Marks 50th Anniversary of Military Coup"), 2014. Colby and Dennett, Ch. 29 ("Operation Brother Sam").
[^28]: Nelson A. Rockefeller, "Quality of Life in the Americas" (Report of a Presidential Mission for the Western Hemisphere), 1969. Published in Department of State Bulletin. Colby and Dennett, Ch. 38-40; Appendix A.
[^29]: National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 543, "Gerald Ford White House Altered Rockefeller Commission Report in 1975; Removed Section on CIA Assassination Plots," February 29, 2016, edited by John Prados and Arturo Jimenez-Bacardi (nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/intelligence/2016-02-29/gerald-ford-white-house-altered-rockefeller-commission-report). Documents cited: Document 3 (David W. Belin memorandum to Commission members, "Scope of Commission Investigation - Assassinations," March 10, 1975, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library); Document 7 (Testimony of CIA General Counsel John Warner, April 14, 1975); Document 15 (Richard Cheney handwritten edits, c. June 1, 1975); Document 19 (86-page suppressed section, "Summary of Facts: Investigation of CIA Involvement in Plans to Assassinate Foreign Leaders," June 5, 1975); Document 21 (Ford letter to Church, October 31, 1975); Document 22 (Church response rejecting suppression request, November 4, 1975).
[^30]: Colby and Dennett, Ch. 44 ("Hiding the Family Jewels"); Appendix B.
[^31]: 1974 United States vice presidential confirmation: Senate vote 90-7, December 10, 1974; House vote 287-128, December 19, 1974; sworn in December 19, 1974.
[^32]: Colby and Dennett, Ch. 40-44. Death circumstances and location (13 West 54th Street townhouse): "Megan Marshack dies at 70; was with Nelson Rockefeller at his death," *Seattle Times*, October 3, 2024; *New York Times* obituary, January 27, 1979. Marshack died October 2, 2024, at age 70.
[^33]: Colby and Dennett, Introduction (2017); Ch. 13. Rockefeller Archive Center, Sleepy Hollow, New York (rockarch.org).

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---
aliases:
- Wilhelm Reich
- Dr. Wilhelm Reich
- Reich
- Walter Roner
category: "Medicine & Psychology"
tags:
- Person
- Psychoanalysis
- Orgone
- Oranur
- Cloudbuster
- Orgonon
- FBI
- FDA
- UFO
- NewSchool
- WeatherModification
summary: "Austrian-born psychoanalyst who taught at the New School in 1939 to 1941, was detained as an enemy alien in 1941, enjoined by the FDA in 1954 and died in Lewisburg penitentiary in 1957."
location: "Rangeley, Maine"
created: 2026-10-09
updated: 2026-10-09
relations:
- type: employed_by
with: "[[New School for Social Research]]"
start: 1939
end: 1941
role: "associate professor lecturing in psychiatry (as reported by a New School official to the FBI)"
fn: 12
- type: subject_of
with: "[[Federal Bureau of Investigation]]"
start: 1940
end: 1957
role: "internal security, alien enemy control and security-matter files (Bufile 100-14601)"
fn: 13
- type: subject_of
with: "[[Food and Drug Administration]]"
start: 1954-02-10
end: 1957
role: "injunction suit, contempt information of 1955 and two-year sentence of 1956"
fn: 30
- type: head_of
with: "[[Orgone Institute Research Laboratories]]"
start: 1941
end: 1957
role: "director (as he identified himself to the Bureau, 14 February 1957)"
fn: 13
- type: partner_of
with: "[[Ilse Ollendorff]]"
start: 1941
role: "common-law wife at the time of the 1941 arrest"
fn: 16
- type: relative_of
with: "[[Eva Reich]]"
role: "daughter"
fn: 1
- type: participant_in
with: "[[Oranur Experiment]]"
start: 1951-01-05
role: "experimenter"
fn: 26
- type: participant_in
with: "[[OROP Desert Ea]]"
start: 1954-10
end: 1955-04
role: "expedition director (as described by Reich)"
fn: 36
- type: partner_of
with: "[[Aurora Karrer Reich]]"
start: 1955
role: "common-law wife (as stated in the National Library of Medicine finding aid)"
fn: 49
- type: relative_of
with: "[[William Moise]]"
role: "son-in-law (Moise married Reich's daughter Eva)"
fn: 32
---
Wilhelm Reich (March 24, 1897 to November 3, 1957) was an Austrian-born physician and psychoanalyst who entered the United States in August 1939 to teach at the [[New School for Social Research]].[^1] He died on November 3, 1957 in the federal penitentiary at [[Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary|Lewisburg]], Pennsylvania, while serving a two-year sentence for violating an injunction against the interstate shipment of his orgone energy accumulators.[^2] The [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] kept a file on him from 1940, recording an arrest on December 12, 1941, a teaching career that ended because, in its summary, his teaching "smacked of quack tactics," and, after his death, a request from the prison's chief medical officer that the Bureau laboratory examine his stomach contents for poison.[^3]
### Vienna, Berlin and Oslo
The New York office of the Bureau reported in December 1941, on the word of an informant whose name is redacted, that Reich was a psychoanalyst and "a foremost student of political psychology," that he "was active in the Socialist Movement in Germany and Austria," and that he joined the Communist Party in [[Vienna]] and [[Berlin]] and severed all connections with it in 1933 because of differences in political belief. The same synopsis states that he was reported to have been a member of the Communist Party in [[Oslo]], Norway, and adds: "No evidence of subject's Communistic connections in the US."[^4]
A different set of statements reached the Bureau through the [[U.S. Department of State]]. A letter of January 6, 1940 from the Department enclosed a strictly confidential dispatch of December 7, 1939 from the American consul [[Paul C. Squire]] on persons who might have Communist connections. [[J. Edgar Hoover]] thanked Assistant Secretary of State [[George S. Messersmith]] for it on January 19, 1940 and sent a copy to the New York office the same day; on March 26, 1940 he wrote to Assistant Secretary [[Adolf Berle|Adolf A. Berle Jr.]], who is addressed in that letter as the sender of the letter of 6 January, that a confidential source of the New York field office had stated that Reich was on the "Medical Advisory Board" of the Communist Party of the United States, and asked whether the Department had issued a passport to Reich.[^5] On April 11, 1940 the Bureau forwarded the Department's reply to New York. On March 26, 1941 the Bureau sent the New York office a State Department communication titled "Communist Activities of Dr. Wilhelm Reich," with a request that his Communist connections and activities in the United States be determined; the enclosure is withheld in the file as a State Department document.[^6] A Bureau memorandum of May 6, 1941, written about the visa application of Mrs. Elsa Stai, for whom Reich was a sponsor, summarizes the reports as stating that Reich had been a member of the German party before 1933, joined the Norwegian party after moving to Norway, and was expelled from it in 1936 for not adhering closely enough to the party line; that he was reported to have been a paid Communist agent in Austria before the Anschluss and to have been expelled from Austria and other countries; and that his visa had been issued on August 11, 1939 because he was able to prove that the "New York Seminar for Vegetotherapy" was part of the New School. The December 1941 New York report adds that the State Department could not definitely establish his connection with the Communist Party in Norway because the party's files had been confiscated.[^7][^8] On May 7, 1941 Assistant Director [[Edward A. Tamm]] wrote to Assistant Director [[R. P. Kramer]] that "from the information furnished concerning Dr. Wilhelm Reich, sponsor of Mrs. Elsa Stai, it appears that this man is a potentially dangerous threat to the internal security," and asked whether a custodial detention card had been prepared; Kramer answered on May 8, 1941 that a card had been prepared but not approved, that an investigation had been requested of the New York office on March 26, 1941, and that his background had not yet been brought to the attention of the [[Immigration and Naturalization Service]].[^9]
The Orgone Institute's 1955 compilation, which the Bureau's New York office received that year, states in a parenthetical that "since 1934 WR no longer was a psychoanalyst."[^10] The same compilation, reproduced in the Bureau file, dates the opposition to him in Norway to 1938, when a Norwegian newspaper campaign led by psychiatrists and pathologists followed the publication of his book on the bions, and states that in 1939 the New School invited him to teach in the United States.[^11]
### The New School, 1939 to 1941
The immigration record states that Reich arrived at the Port of New York on August 28, 1939 aboard the Stavangerfjord from Oslo on non-quota immigration visa No. 19, issued by the American consulate in Oslo on August 11, 1939, destined for the New School at 66 West 12th Street. He declared birth at Dobrzanice, Poland, and described himself as professor of psychology at the Psychological Institute of the University of Oslo, come "solely for the purpose of teaching psychology at the New School."[^1] The Bureau's New York report of December 1941 gives his birth on March 24, 1897 at Dobzonica, "located in Austria, and subsequently to 1918 being in Poland, and in Ukrainia," records his declaration No. 287944 of November 20, 1939, names the New School, "Dr. Alvin Johnson, Director," as his destination, and states that he married Dr. Annie Reich in Vienna in 1922; the synopsis of that report gives the arrival date as August 26, 1939, while its body and the immigration record give 28 August.[^12]
An official of the New School, whose name is redacted in the file, told Bureau agents in December 1941 that Reich had been an associate professor for two years, during 1939 and 1940, at about $1,500 a year, and that the connection ended after the spring term of 1941. According to the agents' report, the official said Reich "seems to break with any of his acquaintances after he has known them for a while," that he "is very egotistical and disregards the ideas of other scientists," and that he "claims to have a cure-all for cancer," all of which the official "stated smacked of 'quack' tactics on subject's part." The same official was reluctant to analyze Reich's politics and said the school "makes no inquiry of their political views or background." A second interviewee, name redacted, who had attended one New School lecture at the instance of a former student of Reich then connected with the Vanderbilt Clinic, said he was "not impressed enough to want to attend any others," that Reich "has gone off on a tangent," and that his work "is looked down upon generally by the best psychoanalysts in this country."[^12] The Bureau's summary of February 1957 later condensed this to a statement that Reich taught "until let out by the school because his teaching 'smacked of quack tactics.'"[^13]
Typescripts of Reich's 1940 New School lectures, supplied from the Archives of the Orgone Institute by the Wilhelm Reich Infant Trust, are held in the New School Archives in a bound photocopy made for a 2018 exhibition.[^14]
### Custodial detention, 1941 to 1943
On July 15, 1941 Hoover reminded the New York office of requests of 28 April and May 29, 1941 for an investigation of Reich.[^15]
The New York report of December 24, 1941 states that Reich was apprehended on December 12, 1941 at his residence at 9906 69th Avenue, Forest Hills, Long Island, and delivered into the custody of the Immigration and Naturalization Service at [[Ellis Island]]. The report lists a basement laboratory, an "Orgonometer" marked with patent application No. 377,277, a library of about a thousand volumes, and pamphlets Reich acknowledged writing, including a 1933 edition of the Mass Psychology of Fascism. It names his common-law wife as [[Ilse Ollendorff]] and his former wife as Annie Rubenstein.[^16] The report summarizes the informants' statements that in 1939 Reich announced a "biological energy," orgone, applied for a patent, and sought to form an Orgone Research Institute association to commercialize a cancer treatment.[^12]
[[Alien Enemy Hearing Board]] Number One, Eastern District of New York, composed of Charles H. Kelby, C. Walter Randall, Henry Vollmer Jr. and Stuart H. Steinbrink, heard him on December 26, 1941 and recommended unconditional release.[^17] Attorney General [[Francis Biddle]] ordered him released on January 27, 1942, and in April 1942 Hoover informed the Director of Naval Intelligence and the Assistant Chief of Staff, G-2, of the release.[^18] A Bureau letter of January 31, 1942 recorded that the Special Defense Unit of the [[U.S. Department of Justice]], headed by [[Lawrence M. C. Smith]], had tentatively placed him in Group B, "Individuals believed to be somewhat less dangerous but whose activities should be restricted."[^19] On June 2, 1942 Reich wrote to the New York Police Commissioner that plainclothesmen were questioning his neighbors; the New York office replied to the Bureau on July 27, 1942 that on May 29, 1942 a New York police patrolman had telephoned for the disposition of the alien enemy case, and that on June 28, 1942, after the date of Reich's letter to the Commissioner, Special Squad No. 1 of the police department had made an inquiry about Reich.[^20] A memorandum of the Attorney General of July 16, 1943 to Assistant Attorney General Hugh B. Cox and Hoover stated that the danger classifications "serve no useful purpose" and directed that classifications already made not be regarded as classifications of dangerousness. On July 21, 1943 Hoover asked the Newark office, which carried Reich on its key figure list, whether anything warranted keeping him there, noting that the New York case had been closed with a report of February 7, 1942 showing no activity in Communist affairs in this country; the Newark office answered on August 10, 1943 that its key figure was William Robert Reich, who operated a Communist Party literature bookstore at 216 Halsey Street, Newark, and taught at the Workers School in New York, and that the two men were "not identical."[^21] In 1947 an investigator of the [[Food and Drug Administration]] asked the Bureau to check Reich's name and to open its file; the Bureau declined to show the file under Departmental Order 3229.[^22]
### Einstein, Brady and the press
The Orgone Institute's compilation "The Red Thread of a Conspiracy," placed in the Bureau file, states that in the winter of 1940 to 1941 Reich brought his discovery to the attention of [[Albert Einstein]]; that Einstein's first response was serious interest, followed by arguments from his assistant [[Leopold Infeld]], then silence; and that in April 1942 the editor of the [[Journal of the American Medical Association]], [[Morris Fishbein]], requested review copies of Reich's journal and of The Function of the Orgasm and printed no review.[^23]
The same compilation quotes [[Mildred Brady]], writing in [[The New Republic]] in 1947 under the title "The Strange Case of Wilhelm Reich": "The simplest solution would be to take the current standards of the American Psychoanalytic Association and write them into law." The compilation states that on August 5, 1947 FDA Inspector Wood appeared privately at Orgonon and said that a friend of his in Portland, Maine had sent him Brady's article, and that in January 1948 FDA Inspector Kinney acknowledged that the Brady article was the basis of his prejudice.[^24] On August 5, 1952 Ilse Ollendorff wrote to Hoover for the Wilhelm Reich Foundation that three men showing FDA badges, A. Harris Kenyon, Robert B. Heller and Karl W. Brimmer, had driven through a chained road at Orgonon on July 29, 1952, and asked whether they were officers of the agency.[^25]
### Orgone, Orgonon and Oranur
Reich's laboratory at Orgonon, near [[Rangeley, Maine|Rangeley]], Maine, was the site of the Oranur experiment. His first report states that two one-milligram radium sources in lead containers arrived on January 5, 1951, that one was placed in a small orgone accumulator charger at 11:30 that day and left there for about five hours, and that the "Oranur sickness" that followed required the evacuation of ill workers and the interruption of the experiment.[^26] The Bureau's New York office had meanwhile heard from Reich's assistant [[Myron Sharaf]] about an episode of August and September 1949. A [[Harvard University|Harvard]] special student named Washington, who had worked at Orgonon, telephoned Reich on August 16, 1949 that he was being held for questioning at the [[Argonne National Laboratory]]; Reich telephoned the Atomic Energy Commission laboratory on 24 August. Sharaf told the Bureau on October 11, 1949 that he came as Reich's representative, that Washington had "swindled them out of some money" and had used motors in orgone experiments, that Reich feared the Russians might obtain the information, and that a Mr. Mayer, security officer of the Argonne laboratory, had advised Reich to report the matter to the Bureau. Sharaf said that Washington had all of the information on the nature of orgone energy and that orgone energy, which he said Reich held to be stronger than electromagnetic energy, "might serve as some defense to rays of radio-active material or atomic energy." A security official of the Commission in New York told the Bureau that Reich had approached the Commission in New York on several occasions, that Reich had presented his experiments to the Commission in Washington and been told they were outside its scope, and, in the Bureau's words, that the scientists of the Commission were of the opinion that Reich was mentally unsound in his scientific experiments. The New York office wrote that it could not determine whether Sharaf or Reich had ulterior motives in reporting the matter.[^27]
### Cloudbusters and the 1954 injunction
On July 22, 1952 Reich wrote to the Department of Justice, with copies to the Passport Division of the State Department and the Bureau, that he planned an expedition to the southwestern United States, possibly Mexico and northern South America, to study atmospheric orgone energy over desert country, because he had "succeeded, to some extent, in the Rangeley, Maine, region in forming and destroying clouds." He asked to travel incognito under the name Walter Roner.[^28]
The United States District Court in Maine received the complaint of the Attorney General on February 10, 1954. Reich, appearing by letter and not by counsel, wrote to Judge [[John D. Clifford]] on February 25, 1954 that his position "does not permit me to enter the case against the Food and Drug Administration, since such action would, in my mind, imply admission of the authority of this special branch of the government to pass judgment on primordial, pre-atomic cosmic orgone energy." The injunction by default was entered on March 19, 1954, and the FDA announced the same day that there is no such energy as orgone energy.[^29] The court of appeals later recorded that certified copies of the decree were served on March 22, 1954 and that on March 30, 1954 Ilse Ollendorff sent the United States Attorney a telegram stating that the foundation was "far advanced in preparing full compliance with injunction of March 19, 1954."[^30]
On 23 and March 24, 1954 [[William Moise]], described in the Bureau's memorandum as assistant to Reich, was interviewed in the Bureau's Crime Records Division; he had come to give Hoover documents which he alleged were proof of a "red fascist instigated plot" against the Orgone Institute and the United States, and he asked that Hoover write to Reich acknowledging receipt. The memorandum of March 25, 1954 records a telegram of 23 March from the Orgone Institute stating that a telegram had been sent to the [[Weather Bureau]] the day before predicting a snowstorm over Rangeley, and states that Moise explained that, as a result of the injunction, Reich "had decided to flood the East Coast with rain" to prove the value of his experiments.[^31] Moise married Reich's daughter [[Eva Reich|Eva]].[^32] Reich's own journal for July 1954 describes cloudbuster operations at [[Orgonon]] in July 1953 and states that "US Army planes appeared for the first time over Orgonon monitoring the atmosphere on the morning of July 8, 1953." It places the cause of distress at Orgonon since January 1951 in "the Keyhoe report on the so-called Flying Saucers" of autumn 1953 and a book by Major [[Donald Keyhoe]].[^33] Reich's Contact with Space reproduces his letter of January 29, 1954 to "U.S. Airforce Intelligence," signed by Reich and Ollendorff, reporting two lights seen on the night of January 28, 1954; a letter of March 10, 1954 from Flight 3-G, 4602d Air Intelligence Service Squadron, [[Presque Isle Air Force Base]], Maine, stating that the report had been sent to headquarters at Colorado Springs and enclosing a USAF Technical Information Sheet; a letter of March 16, 1954 from 1st Lt. Andrew Matyas; and Reich's letter of March 19, 1954 returning the questionnaire with a manuscript on the orgonomic view of visitors from outer space.[^34]
### OROP Desert Ea, 1954 and 1955
A letter dated October 9, 1954 over the signature of William Moise as "Oranur Weather Control Operator," sent for the Orgone Institute Press to the court at [[Portland, Maine|Portland]], listed as copies the Office of the President, the Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, "Commander, Air Technical Intelligence Center, U.S. Air Force," and Hoover.[^35] Reich's later petition for certiorari states that "the cosmic event was report[ed] to the Air Force Technical Intelligence by one of the operators, William Moise, the Clerk of the Foundation, on his way to Arizona in Dayton, Ohio, on October 14, 1954, at 4:00 p.m." It quotes his own text that after a "star" faded four times in succession in front of his cloudbuster pipes, "the cloudbuster had suddenly changed into a SPACEGUN," and describes an OROP Desert Ea expedition to Arizona from October 1954 to April 1955.[^36] Reich's Contact with Space publishes a report by Moise of the Dayton visit. Moise reported that on October 11, 1954 he telephoned General Watson, whom he identified as commander of the Air Technical Intelligence Center at [[Wright-Patterson Air Force Base]], to report that two UFOs, which the Institute called Ea, had been disabled on October 10, 1954 by Reich, and that Watson told him a group from the CIA was coming on the Friday. According to the report, Watson was not available on 14 October and Dr. W. H. Byers, Captain D. M. Hill and a civilian, Harry Haberer, met Moise instead; on 15 October he reported to the deputy commander, Colonel Wertenbaker, with the same three present, asked that sealed copies of Reich's space equations be deposited with the Air Force, and asked that the Air Force tow the Oranur radium to Arizona behind an aircraft. Moise wrote that Wertenbaker said the first could be done, that he lacked authority for the second and would forward it to Washington, and that he thanked the Orgone Institute on behalf of the Air Force. The book states that the Air Force was thereafter coded in the Institute's records as Eaa.[^37]
A statement submitted to the Bureau under Moise's signature on February 26, 1957 lists among the facts that might make him appear to be a planted spy that he was a former naval officer and a "cousin of Admiral Walter S. Anderson, former Chief of Naval Intelligence," that he had been a member of the "Tucson, Arizona Expedition in fall of 1954 as Cloudbuster Operator and Secretary to Dr. Wilhelm Reich" of OROP Desert Ea, and that he "had meeting with General Trumend Landon USAF Inspector General during the summer of 1954 concerning Cosmic Orgone Engineering work," held at the Pentagon. The statement adds that General Landon "was a friend of the family during his youth in home town of Carlinville, Illinois," that Moise "had contact with Mrs. Nelson Rockefeller as Art Teacher in the Mt. Desert Schools," and that he was the person responsible for sending "important communications to Court, CIA, Air Force Intelligence, Marshall's Office, etc." concerning Reich's appearance in Portland. The statement is headed as a discussion with Reich at Orgonon in the summer of 1956 of the possibility that Moise was a planted spy of "Black Fascist" and Navy interests, and it records that Reich's space equations were stored after his May 1956 arrest at the house of Aurora Karrer.[^32]
### Contempt, appeal and burning
On the morning of October 7, 1955 the United States Attorney for Maine, [[Peter Mills]], and the FDA General Counsel, [[Joseph Maguire]] (typed "McGuire" in the memorandum), came to see Assistant Director [[Louis B. Nichols]] and outlined a conversation with Reich's former attorney [[Asa Richardson]], who had said he had talked to a "big fellow in the FBI." Nichols wrote that at the request of Senator [[Margaret Chase Smith]] he had seen Richardson on February 23, 1954, that Richardson said Reich thought the case could not be handled in federal court because national security was involved, and that he told Richardson "that we had no current interest in Dr. Reich; that he might check with Immigration and Naturalization Service and the Atomic Energy Commission." Mills said Reich was "now being brought up on contempt proceedings because he has not followed the terms of the injunction."[^38]
The First Circuit recorded that the contempt information was filed on July 15, 1955 and that trial by jury began on May 3, 1956; the jury found Reich and his associate [[Michael Silvert]] guilty.[^30] A Bureau memorandum of February 14, 1957 gives the trial as 2 through May 7, 1956, the sentences as two years for Reich and a year and a day for Silvert, and a fine of $10,000 for the corporation.[^39] Reich's later text dates his arrest in Washington to May 1, 1956, and Moise's statement gives 2 May.[^40] The First Circuit affirmed in Reich v. United States, 239 F.2d 134 (December 11, 1956), and the Supreme Court denied certiorari in No. 688 on February 25, 1957.[^30][^41] Reich's petition states that his literature was burned on court order in August 1956.[^36] The writer David Rosen, reviewing Christopher Turner's Adventures in the Orgasmatron, wrote that on August 23, 1956 agents of the FDA seized six tons of publications from a Greenwich Village warehouse and burned them at the New York Sanitation Department's Gansevoort Street incinerator, after a burning a few weeks earlier near Rangeley, Maine, at which 251 volumes and other materials were destroyed under FDA direction.[^42]
### Washington, 1957, and death
On the morning of February 14, 1957 Reich telephoned the Director's office from the Alban Towers Apartments, 3700 Massachusetts Avenue, Washington, identified himself as director of the Orgone Institute Research Laboratories, said he was living there under the alias "Roner," and said he was mailing a letter for Hoover personally. The Bureau's memorandum of that day states that in 1956 and in January 1957 Reich and members of his staff had contacted the Boston office, the Augusta, Maine, resident agency and the Washington Field Office, in its word "ostensibly" to offer information on espionage, and that each time the contact ended in a plea for his theories and laboratories.[^13] A Washington Field Office memorandum records that on February 25, 1957 agents interviewed him in Apartment 509, where he introduced a young woman as his daughter Eva, telephoned the Bureau to verify the agents' credentials, and asked them to sign an appointment book, and that Reich spoke of something that had been going on for ten years, referred to cosmic energy and "flying saucers," and, asked whether his knowledge of them prompted his contacting the Bureau, "replied in the affirmative but once again could not be specific." He repeatedly said that Hoover knew all about his work, displayed three heavily sealed envelopes bearing his initials and asked an agent to deliver one to Hoover and sign a receipt. The memorandum states that before the contents of the envelope could be questioned he turned to another subject, and records that the contents of the envelope "was never resolved, and was retained by the subject."[^43]
After the Supreme Court's denial Reich and Silvert surrendered to the custody of the Attorney General at the Portland proceedings of March 11, 1957. A Boston airtel of March 12, 1957, captioned with the names of William Steig and William Moise and the words "Assaulting of Federal Officer" and "Conspiracy," records that no disturbances were created and that the associates and subjects "departed from Portland area without making any 'citizen arrests.'" Records found do not establish whether the William Steig named is the cartoonist of that name.[^44] On March 21, 1957 Moise wrote to Senator Smith that Reich had "time and time again restrained us, at that time his assistants, from our desire to use his discovery in a war-like manner" and that "I find myself facing the decision of whether or not to use Orgone Energy, which the U.S. Government has declared does not exist, to storm and flood portions of the U.S.A. in an attempt to stop this infamy." The letter adds that the responsibility for such a decision rests with "the few genuinely responsible government persons such as yourself and the President." The Senator's administrative assistant, Bill Lewis, gave the letter to the Bureau on March 25, 1957, saying that the Senator did not intend to answer it and that the group around Moise "may be crackpots but in some respects were brilliant." A Bureau memorandum of March 27, 1957 noted that Moise taught at the Groveton High School in Virginia and recommended that Lewis be asked to inform the Virginia authorities; a note of April 3, 1957 records that, after discussion with Clyde Tolson, the Bureau would not go back to the Senator's office.[^45][^46] A Bureau memorandum later records that Reich died of a heart attack in Lewisburg penitentiary in November 1957,[^47] and a Bureau memorandum of January 20, 1959 states that the communications Reich forwarded to it "were not acknowledged."[^48]
The finding aid of the National Library of Medicine to the Aurora Karrer Reich Collection (MS C 580) states that Aurora Karrer met Reich at a conference at the Orgone Institute in the summer of 1955, entered a common-law marriage with him later that year, and gave up her position as a medical technician at the National Institutes of Health.[^49]
On December 9, 1957 Dr. Leon A. Witkin, chief medical officer of the penitentiary, wrote to the Director of the Bureau, enclosing the stomach contents of "Doctor Wilhelm Reich, Reg. No. 23937-NE, who died suddenly on November 3, 1957." The letter states that post mortem examination showed severe aortic stenosis and myocardial scarring, that "his family fears that he may have been poisoned," and that Dr. Janney, Medical Director of the Bureau of Prisons, had instructed that the specimen be sent. The enclosed autopsy report of November 26, 1957 lists bronchopneumonia, myocardial scarring with congestion of viscera, and fatty changes in liver and kidney. The Bureau laboratory reported to Witkin on January 2, 1958 that formaldehyde was detected in the specimen, that no other materials commonly considered poisonous were detected in tests that included cyanide, strychnine, barbiturates, chloral hydrate and arsenic, that the formaldehyde prevented testing for alcohols, and that the specimen was consumed in the examination.[^3]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Federal Bureau of Investigation, Washington Field Office report of June 16, 1941 (case 100-1849), in the Wilhelm Reich FBI file, Part 1, https://archive.org/details/WilhelmReichFBI (reich1). Sole source for the passages so cited: immigration record of admission August 28, 1939, visa No. 19 of August 11, 1939, destination 66 West 12th Street, birth at Dobrzanice, children Eva and Lore.
[^2]: Leon A. Witkin, M.D., Chief Medical Officer, U.S. Penitentiary, Lewisburg, to the Director of the FBI, December 9, 1957 ("who died suddenly on November 3, 1957"), Wilhelm Reich FBI file, Part 6 (page 21 of the PDF), https://archive.org/details/WilhelmReichFBI. A Bureau memorandum in Part 3 and Time, "Milestones," November 1957, p. 110, as quoted in it, give the death as November 1957 and the cause as a heart attack.
[^3]: Witkin to the Director, December 9, 1957; autopsy report of November 26, 1957 signed by L. L. Ashburn, M.D., Chief, Section on Pathologic Anatomy; FBI Laboratory report to Witkin, January 2, 1958 (FBI file 95-72739; Laboratory No. PC-51232 II), Wilhelm Reich FBI file, Part 6 (pages 21 to 24 of the PDF), https://archive.org/details/WilhelmReichFBI.
[^4]: FBI New York report of December 24, 1941, "Dr. Wilhelm Reich, Alien Enemy Control," NY file 100-8422, synopsis of facts, Wilhelm Reich FBI file, Part 1, https://archive.org/details/WilhelmReichFBI.
[^5]: J. Edgar Hoover to George S. Messersmith, January 19, 1940; Hoover to the Special Agent in Charge, New York, January 19, 1940; Hoover to Adolf A. Berle Jr., March 26, 1940; Hoover to the Special Agent in Charge, New York, April 11, 1940, Wilhelm Reich FBI file, Part 1 (pages 3 to 8 of the PDF), https://archive.org/details/WilhelmReichFBI.
[^6]: FBI New York report of December 24, 1941, NY file 100-8422, page 7, Wilhelm Reich FBI file, Part 1 (page 42 of the PDF), https://archive.org/details/WilhelmReichFBI; State Department documents are withheld at pages 10, 14 and 31 of the PDF under the FOIPA deleted page sheets ("Document originated with State Dept.").
[^7]: FBI memorandum of May 6, 1941, Wilhelm Reich FBI file, Part 1, https://archive.org/details/WilhelmReichFBI.
[^8]: FBI New York report of December 24, 1941, NY file 100-8422, page 7 (visa under Section 4(D); the Bureau's account of the State Department's statement on the Norwegian party), Wilhelm Reich FBI file, Part 1 (page 42 of the PDF), https://archive.org/details/WilhelmReichFBI.
[^9]: Edward A. Tamm, memorandum for Mr. Kramer, May 7, 1941; R. P. Kramer, memorandum for Mr. E. A. Tamm, May 8, 1941 (Bufile 100-14601), Wilhelm Reich FBI file, Part 1 (pages 16 and 17 of the PDF), https://archive.org/details/WilhelmReichFBI.
[^10]: Wilhelm Reich, Biographical Material, History of the Discovery of the Life Energy, Documentary Supplement No. 2, "The Red Thread of a Conspiracy" (Orgone Institute Press, 1955), p. 10, forwarded by the New York office with a memorandum of September 26, 1955, Wilhelm Reich FBI file, Part 2 (page 64 of the PDF), https://archive.org/details/WilhelmReichFBI. Sole source for the passage so cited.
[^11]: "The Red Thread of a Conspiracy" (Orgone Institute Press, 1955), pp. 7 to 8 (running head "The Einstein Affair"), as reproduced in the Wilhelm Reich FBI file, Part 5a, https://archive.org/details/WilhelmReichFBI. Sole source for the passages so cited.
[^12]: FBI New York report of December 24, 1941, NY file 100-8422, interview pages 8 and 9 (names redacted), Wilhelm Reich FBI file, Part 1, https://archive.org/details/WilhelmReichFBI.
[^13]: M. A. Jones to L. B. Nichols, memorandum of February 14, 1957 (Part 2, pages 123 and 124 of the PDF), "Dr. Wilhelm Reich, Alban Towers Apartments," Wilhelm Reich FBI file, Part 2 (reich2), https://archive.org/details/WilhelmReichFBI.
[^14]: "Wilhelm Reich Lectures, New School for Social Research (1940), 2018," New School Archives, box Mixed k_24 (R), folder 3, https://findingaids.archives.newschool.edu/repositories/3/archival_objects/58166.
[^15]: J. Edgar Hoover to the New York office, July 15, 1941, Wilhelm Reich FBI file, Part 1, https://archive.org/details/WilhelmReichFBI.
[^16]: FBI New York report of December 24, 1941, NY file 100-8422, details and search inventory, Wilhelm Reich FBI file, Part 1, https://archive.org/details/WilhelmReichFBI.
[^17]: FBI New York report of January 23, 1942 (period December 26, 1941), NY file 100-8422, Wilhelm Reich FBI file, Part 1, https://archive.org/details/WilhelmReichFBI.
[^18]: Hoover to Brig. Gen. Raymond E. Lee, G-2, War Department, and Hoover to Rear Adm. T. S. Wilkinson, Director of Naval Intelligence, April 1942 (stating that on January 27, 1942 the Attorney General ordered the release of Wilhelm Reich), Wilhelm Reich FBI file, Part 1 (page 65 of the PDF), https://archive.org/details/WilhelmReichFBI.
[^19]: J. Edgar Hoover to the Special Agent in Charge, New York, January 31, 1942, Wilhelm Reich FBI file, Part 1, https://archive.org/details/WilhelmReichFBI.
[^20]: Reich to the Police Commissioner, June 2, 1942; Wendell Berge memorandum of June 10, 1942; Bureau letter of July 15, 1942; FBI New York letter of July 27, 1942 signed by P. E. Foxworth, Wilhelm Reich FBI file, Part 1, https://archive.org/details/WilhelmReichFBI.
[^21]: Attorney General memorandum of July 16, 1943 (Part 1, page 76 of the PDF); Hoover to the SAC, Newark, July 21, 1943; SAC Newark to the Director, August 10, 1943, Wilhelm Reich FBI file, Part 1, https://archive.org/details/WilhelmReichFBI.
[^22]: FBI correspondence of 1947 with the Food and Drug Administration, Wilhelm Reich FBI file, Part 1, https://archive.org/details/WilhelmReichFBI.
[^23]: "The Red Thread of a Conspiracy" (Orgone Institute Press, 1955), pp. 7 to 9 (running head "The Einstein Affair"), Wilhelm Reich FBI file, Part 5a, https://archive.org/details/WilhelmReichFBI. Sole source for the passages so cited.
[^24]: "The Red Thread of a Conspiracy" (Orgone Institute Press, 1955), pp. 9 to 10 and 28 to 29, sent to the Director with a New York memorandum of September 26, 1955, Wilhelm Reich FBI file, Part 2 (pages 63 to 66 of the PDF), https://archive.org/details/WilhelmReichFBI. Brady's article, "The Strange Case of Wilhelm Reich," The New Republic, May 26, 1947, is quoted there; the date also appears in Sharaf's statement to the Bureau (Part 2, page 11 of the PDF).
[^25]: Ilse Ollendorff, secretary, for the Wilhelm Reich Foundation, to J. Edgar Hoover, August 5, 1952, Wilhelm Reich FBI file, Part 6 (page 20 of the PDF), https://archive.org/details/WilhelmReichFBI. The Bureau's reply of August 19, 1952 referred the matter to the FDA Commissioner.
[^26]: Wilhelm Reich, The Oranur Experiment, First Report (1947-1951) (Orgonon, Rangeley, Maine: Wilhelm Reich Foundation, 1951), chapter "Orgone Energy Runs Amok (DOR): The Oranur Sickness," https://archive.org/details/the-oranur-experiment-first-report-1947-1951. Sole source for the passages so cited.
[^27]: FBI New York letter to the Director, NY 62-10139, pages 1 to 6 (Part 2, pages 10 to 13 of the PDF; Sharaf interview of October 11, 1949), Wilhelm Reich FBI file, Part 2, https://archive.org/details/WilhelmReichFBI. The student's name is given in the file as William Washington; the account is Sharaf's report to the Bureau.
[^28]: Wilhelm Reich to the Justice Department, July 22, 1952, copy in the Wilhelm Reich FBI file, Part 2, https://archive.org/details/WilhelmReichFBI.
[^29]: Reich to Judge John D. Clifford, February 25, 1954, and the Decree of Injunction of March 19, 1954 with FDA press release, Wilhelm Reich FBI file, Part 4c, https://archive.org/details/WilhelmReichFBI.
[^30]: Reich v. United States, 239 F.2d 134 (1st Cir. 1956) (decided December 11, 1956), https://static.case.law/f2d/239/cases/0134-01.json. The opinion states that the individual defendants were sentenced to terms of imprisonment; the length of each sentence is from the Bureau memorandum cited in a later note.
[^31]: M. A. Jones to Mr. Nichols, memoranda of March 25, 1954 (pages 1 to 3) on the visit of William Moise to the Crime Records Division, Wilhelm Reich FBI file, Part 2, https://archive.org/details/WilhelmReichFBI.
[^32]: William Moise, "Information to be transmitted to the FBI," February 26, 1957 (two pages, signed; Part 3, pages 27 and 28 of the PDF), Wilhelm Reich FBI file, Part 3, https://archive.org/details/WilhelmReichFBI. Sole source for the passages so cited.
[^33]: Wilhelm Reich, CORE (Cosmic Orgone Engineering) vol. 6, nos. 1 to 4, July 1954, "OROP Desert, Part 1: Space Ships, DOR and Drought," https://archive.org/details/contact-from-space-by-wilhelm-reich. Sole source for the passages so cited.
[^34]: Wilhelm Reich, Contact with Space: Oranur Second Report, 1951-1956 (Core Pilot Press, 1957), chapter "Contact with the U.S. Air Force," https://archive.org/details/wilhelm-reich-contact-with-space (letters of 29 January, 10 March, 16 March and March 19, 1954 reproduced from the Archives of the Orgone Institute). Sole source for the passages so cited.
[^35]: Letter of William Moise, October 9, 1954, reproduced in Wilhelm Reich FBI file, Part 4c, https://archive.org/details/WilhelmReichFBI.
[^36]: Petition for a writ of certiorari of Wilhelm Reich and Michael Silvert, reproduced in Wilhelm Reich FBI file, Parts 5b and 5c, https://archive.org/details/WilhelmReichFBI. Sole source for the passages so cited.
[^37]: Wilhelm Reich, Contact with Space: Oranur Second Report, 1951-1956 (Core Pilot Press, 1957), pp. 78 to 88, "First Direct Contact with the Air Force Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC) in Dayton, Ohio," and "Report to WR of conference at Air Force Technical Intelligence Center," https://archive.org/details/wilhelm-reich-contact-with-space. Sole source for the passages so cited; the report is Moise's, published by Reich.
[^38]: L. B. Nichols to Mr. Tolson, office memorandum of October 7, 1955, "Wilhelm Reich" (Part 2, page 109 of the PDF), Wilhelm Reich FBI file, Part 2, https://archive.org/details/WilhelmReichFBI.
[^39]: M. A. Jones to L. B. Nichols, memorandum of February 14, 1957 (Part 2, page 124 of the PDF), https://archive.org/details/WilhelmReichFBI.
[^40]: Wilhelm Reich, Contact with Space (1957), passage on the transmission of the 1945 pendulum-law manuscript to the CIA in April 1956 ("my unlawful arrest in Washington on May 1, 1956"), https://archive.org/details/wilhelm-reich-contact-with-space; William Moise statement of February 26, 1957, item 13, Wilhelm Reich FBI file, Part 3 ("May 2nd, 1956"). Sole source for the passages so cited.
[^41]: Reich et al. v. United States, No. 688, 352 U.S. 1004 (February 25, 1957) ("C. A. 1st Cir. Certiorari denied"; petitioners pro se), https://static.case.law/us/352/cases/1004-02.json.
[^42]: David Rosen, review of Christopher Turner, Adventures in the Orgasmatron (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011), The Brooklyn Rail, February 2012, https://brooklynrail.org/2012/02/books/wr-the-wanderings-of-a-lost-soul. Sole source for the passages so cited.
[^43]: SAC, Washington Field Office, memorandum to the Director, "Wilhelm Reich aka Dr. Walter Roner," file 100-1849, on the interview of February 25, 1957 (Part 2, pages 129 and 130 of the PDF), Wilhelm Reich FBI file, Part 2, https://archive.org/details/WilhelmReichFBI.
[^44]: SAC, Boston, airtel to the Director, March 12, 1957, Wilhelm Reich FBI file, Part 6 (page 18 of the PDF), https://archive.org/details/WilhelmReichFBI.
[^45]: William S. Moise to Senator Margaret Chase Smith, March 21, 1957, as transmitted with the Bureau memoranda of 25 and March 27, 1957, Wilhelm Reich FBI file, Part 6, https://archive.org/details/WilhelmReichFBI.
[^46]: G. A. Nease to Mr. Tolson, March 25, 1957; A. H. Belmont to L. V. Boardman, March 27, 1957; note to Mr. Belmont of April 3, 1957, Wilhelm Reich FBI file, Part 6, https://archive.org/details/WilhelmReichFBI.
[^47]: Time, "Milestones," November 1957, p. 110, as quoted in a Bureau memorandum, Wilhelm Reich FBI file, Part 3 (reich3), https://archive.org/details/WilhelmReichFBI; the same file contains a Bureau memorandum stating that "In November, 1957, Reich died of a heart attack in Lewisburg penitentiary, Pennsylvania."
[^48]: Domestic Intelligence Division addendum of January 20, 1959 to a memorandum to Mr. Nease on briefs forwarded by Reich (Bufile 100-14601-67; Part 3, page 51 of the PDF), Wilhelm Reich FBI file, Part 3, https://archive.org/details/WilhelmReichFBI.
[^49]: Aurora Karrer Reich Collection, MS C 580, National Library of Medicine, History of Medicine Division, biographical note, https://findingaids.nlm.nih.gov/repositories/4/resources/698.