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10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Michael Whitney Straight.md
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@ -77,6 +77,19 @@ relations:
with: "[[Belinda Crompton]]"
start: 1939
end: 1969
fn: 56
- type: relative_of
with: "[[Louis Dolivet]]"
role: brother-in-law
fn: 43
- type: director_of
with: "[[Free World, Inc.]]"
start: 1946
fn: 52
- type: member_of
with: "[[Free World (magazine)]]"
role: editorial board
start: 1941
fn: 50
---
@ -174,25 +187,29 @@ The 1969 summary also records a December 6, 1952 article in the Washington Times
### 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 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,[^43] 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.[^44] The 1969 summary gives the marriage of Beatrice and Dolivet as February 21, 1941; the 1968 memoranda give February 21, 1942. The 1969 summary records that the couple were reportedly separated as of September 1950, and that in about 1966 Beatrice Straight married the actor [[Peter Cookson]].[^45] A 1969 supplementary memorandum records that Dolivet reportedly resided in [[Paris]], France, and travelled to the United States once or twice a year on business.[^46] 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][^47] 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.[^48]
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]
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.[^49] 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]
### Free World
Michael Straight is named on the editorial board of [[Free World (magazine)]], edited by his brother-in-law Dolivet, in the first issue of October 1941 and in the December 1941 issue.[^50] At the Free World congress reported in December 1942 he chaired the Commission on Federalism.[^51] The statement of ownership for Free World, Inc. for October 1, 1946 lists him among the directors with Dolivet, [[Li Yu-Ying]], [[Hugh Moore]], [[Frederick McKee]], William Emerson and [[Wou Saofong]], and on the editorial board with [[Max Ascoli]] and others.[^52]
### 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]
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*.[^53]
### 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]
[[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.[^54] 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]
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][^55]
### 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]
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.[^56]
### Footnotes
@ -238,11 +255,17 @@ Straight died at home in [[Chicago]] on January 4, 2004, aged 87, of pancreatic
[^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.
[^43]: Federal Bureau of Investigation, letter to SAC, New York, 1968, "RE: UNSUB; aka Dan," file 65-61067, in "Straight, Michael W., HQ-1" (FOI/PA 1179375-1), passage naming Louis Dolivet as "former husband of Beatrice Straight, sister of Michael and Whitney Straight." https://archive.org/details/StraightMichaelW.HQ1
[^44]: FBI, memoranda on UNSUB aka "Dan" (file 65-61067), July and August 1968, in "Straight, Michael W., HQ-1."
[^45]: Federal Bureau of Investigation, summary memorandum of September 10, 1969, section "Information Concerning Former Brother-in-law, Louis Dolivet," in "Straight, Michael W., HQ-1." https://archive.org/details/StraightMichaelW.HQ1
[^46]: Federal Bureau of Investigation, supplementary memorandum of 1969 (stating that it supplements the summary memorandum of September 10, 1969), in "Straight, Michael W., HQ-1." https://archive.org/details/StraightMichaelW.HQ1
[^47]: FBI, supplementary memorandum of September 29, 1969, in "Straight, Michael W., HQ-1."
[^48]: 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.
[^49]: FBI, teletype of September 5, 1969 from Baltimore and airtel of September 23, 1969 from Alexandria, in "Straight, Michael W., HQ-1."
[^50]: Free World, October 1941 (Vol. 1, No. 1) and December 1941 (Vol. 1, No. 3), editorial board lists. https://archive.org/details/free-world-1941-1946
[^51]: Free World, December 1942 (Vol. 4, No. 3), congress program. https://archive.org/details/free-world_1942-12_4_3
[^52]: Free World, December 1946 (Vol. 12, No. 5), statement of ownership for October 1, 1946. https://archive.org/details/free-world-1941-1946
[^53]: Cornell University Library, Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, "Michael Whitney Straight papers," #4465, https://archives.library.cornell.edu/repositories/2/resources/4143.
[^54]: 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.
[^55]: Central Intelligence Agency, *Venona Part II: Selected Messages, 1939-1957*, https://cia.gov/resources/csi/static/Venona-Part-II-Selected-Messages-1939-1957.pdf.
[^56]: 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.