The Kensington Minute - Red Bombshell

Hi. Mark here and welcometo the Kensington Minute.

Born to a poor Jewish family in Boston, he was a late bloomer in academia beginning Columbia at age 29. He earned a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard and moved into the Roosevelt administration where he shone. He caught the eye of Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau and became one of his trusted minions. He was an outspoken internationalist with a particular distaste for Germany. His plan to deindustrialize Germany after the Allies conquered it was shelved but some of his ideas helped shape the post-war global economic system. He became Director of the international Monetary Fund in 1946. He was also a spy for the Soviet Union.

Who was he? He was Harry Dexter White whom Elizabeth Bentley accused of passing secrets to the Soviet Union. And she would have known. She was a courier for the secrets. This Red Spy Queen-come-clean accused White of giving valuable Treasury plates to the Soviets and provided drafts of position plans for international meetings. He had a dramatic, some say heroic death, for those who maintained his innocence. In August 1948 he testified to the House Unamerican Activities Committee. He concluded his testimony with assurances of his innocence, and then had a heart attack.

Two days later, he had another heart attack and died. Was he guilty? I say, yes he was. Soviet cables referred to him as “lawyer” and “jurist.” He was under the Soviet’s operational control. But, what do you think? Thank you from Kensington Security Consulting. Out here.

Hi Mark, here. Welcome to

the Kensington Minute.

            In some ways they were an odd couple. One was frumpish,

obese, reclusive, unexpressive. The other was elegantly dressed, well spoken, sharp-looking, and affable. But both were high achievers who embraced communism and wittingly and repeatedly  served Soviet interests. One was a journalist who served as a courier for Soviet intelligence, the other rose to the highest echelons of the State Department. Finally, they met before he House Un-American Activities Committee hearing in 1948 during which House members tried to prod-out the truth. Who were these antagonists?

            They Alger Hiss and Whitaker Chambers whose courtroom duel riveted the nation on television. Hiss was born into what Murray Kempton called, as shabby gentility to graduate near the top of his class at Harvard former communist, accused him of supplying him with secrets on American diplomacy, which he turned over to Soviet handlers. These charges were amplified by Elizabeth Bentley and a Soviet defector. Soviet diplomatic cables proved that Hiss was an asset. A young congressman from California, Richard Nixon, saw through Hiss’s double talk and most doubts of Hiss’s guilt vanished when Chambers produced photographed papers he secreted in a pumpkin patch. Nixon went to the Senate and then presidency, and Hiss went to prison. He was not convicted of espionage. He was convinced of lying under oath, which is also the title of a fine book on this sordid subject. A great book, which I recommend to your library, is Witness, which was written by Whittaker Chambers. Thanks for your minute of time. Please take the Kensington Challenge at our website. Out here.

Hello. Mark here and welcome to the Kensington Minute. Among her many monikers were The Blonde Bombshell from Vassar College and the Red Spy Queen. But she didn’t call herself that. She cast herself as a New England girl gone wrong after college when she first became a fascist, and then a communist. As a communist, she made herself useful to the Soviets by serving as a courier, carrying secrets from Washington to New York, where they would be relayed to Moscow. Driven by either fear of the Soviets or anger at how she was manipulated by the men that tried to control, she went to the FBI and revealed everything she knew about Soviet tradecraft. And she knew a lot. Her name?

Elizabeth Bentley, who was dubbed a Sad Sack by a Vassar classmate and described as a woman who tried too hard and never landed Mr. Right. However, her testimony before the House Unamerican Activities Committee helped to land one witness some time in prison and revealed the identity of many others who were part of a deep Soviet spy ring in Washington. This sad sack who constantly clamored for attention certainly got it on television shows and from an audience shocked by the number of spies in the nation’s capital. Her fame was fleeting, and she descended into alcoholism, which finally took her life. The was no movie made about her, but I don’t know why. Her story has all the elements of drama and all the vices out there. Lust, betrayal, and countless lies in the power center of the world. I would like to Hollywood take it up, and I would like to see Jeniffer Lawrence as the Blonde Bombshell from Vassar College. Whom would you cast? Thanks and be sure to take the Kensington Challenge. Out here.