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The Venona Intercepts

By J V Mitchell

Few Americans have heard of an FBI program called the "Venona Project". During the life of this endeavor, thousands of communications between the Soviet espionage organizations and their American spies were intercepted and decoded. This is a real life spy thriller of the most important consequences.

In 1943, a special group in Army Intelligence began to crack the code which the Soviets had been using in their secret diplomatic cables between the USA and Moscow. We had cables from 1939 on, and the Army was concerned about a possible Russian-Nazi separate peace.

"By 1948, the accumulating evidence from decoded Venona cables showed that the Soviets had recruited spies in virtually every major American government agency of military or diplomatic importance".

...."It appears that Army Chief of Staff Omar Bradley, mindful of the White House's tendency to leak politically sensitive information, decided to deny President Truman direct knowledge of the Venona project."

The Venona files remained buried away, until President Jimmy Carter ordered them declassified.

When Roosevelt was elected president, communists from all over America packed their bags and headed for Washington. FDR was not a communist, but he certainly had no problems with socialism. He seemed to admire Joe Stalin, the murderous dictator of the Soviet Union. Roosevelt often referred to Stalin as "Uncle Joe".

At any rate, in the summer of 1948, the communist infiltration of our national government began to unravel. The House Un-American Activities Committee questioned a number of persons, some of which admitted spying on our government for the Soviet gov't. Elizabeth Bently gave the committee an overall picture of the scope of anti American espionage. The main stream press did what they could to "demonize" Bently, to lessen the importance of her testimony.

Another important witness was Time editor Whittaker Chambers. Chambers had joined the American Communist Party during the depression. He felt that communism was the way to prevent the misery of depressions. As Stalin's murderous behavior became known to him, he changed his philosophy and repented his role a spy master.

Chambers was a willing witness who knew where the bodies were buried. He identified Alger Hiss, assistant secretary of state, one of FDR and Truman's most trusted assistants, as a major spy. Hiss was at the president's side at the Yalta conference, where FDR "gave" Stalin a free hand in eastern Europe after the war. Hiss was a major architect in setting up the United Nations.

Harry Dexter White, assistant secretary of the Treasury , was another soviet agent who was influential in the establishment of the U.N. He was also in a position the give the KGB advance information about American foreign policy moves.

Lauchlin Currie, another trusted FDR aide, was able to warn the KGB that Gregory Silvermaster, a soviet spymaster, was under suspicion. And so it went.

President Roosevelt was warned by William Bullitt, former ambassador to USSR, that Hiss was a spy, but FDR brushed the warning aside. Bullitt had been told by Chambers.

Later on, Truman was warned, but he didn't want to hear about it. It seems that President Truman either just didn't take the spy information seriously, or perhaps he feared it was a Republican gambit to smear two Democrat regimes. "President Truman called the Hiss investigation a cheap political ploy by 'do-nothing' Republicans to distract from their own sorry legislative record."

And this did have some substance. The Republicans had raised a hue and cry when China was taken over by the Communists. The Republicans claimed that the Democrat administration had “lost China”. This may well have been correct. Thanks to the efforts of well placed agents, such as John Stewart Service, the Truman administration had curtailed financial and military aid to the Chinese government and switched it to the Communist rebels. Without our help, the Communists may well have failed in their takeover attempt.

At any rate, when the House Un-American Activities committee started investigating the Communist infiltration, the Democrat Party, ably aided by the main stream press, demonized the truthful witnesses and praised the spies. The press never forgave a young Congressman from California, named Richard Nixon. He was instrumental in finally sending comrade Hiss to prison.

In the Senate, Senator Joe McCarthy, (R) Wisconsin, chaired a committee which identified a number of government, press, and Hollywood persons who were, at the very least, "security risks".

Senator McCarthy was demonized by the Democrats and the press until he was finally driven from office. The Venona intercepts have proven him to be absolutely correct.

“In his brief fiery ride across the landscape, Joe McCarthy bought America another thirty years. For this, he sacrificed his life, his reputation, his name. The left cut down a brave man, but not before the American people heard the truth.”

Did the House Un-American Activities Committee and the Senate Sub-Committee identify all the Communists in our government? Both these committees are defunct. During the Clinton administration, hundreds of U.S. factories were relocated to Communist China. You may draw your own conclusion.

For more information on this amazing bit of history, read:

"Treason" by Ann Coulter, Crown Forum

"Witness" by Whittaker Chambers, Random House

"Venona" by Haynes and Klehr, Yale Press

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