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out the fell ow- travelling climate of approval o f eve rythin g Sovi et. A care–
less igno rance abo ut Communi st ambiti o ns and prac ti ces pertained at all
levels o f Ameri can soc iety, into the hi ghes t reac hes o f th e admini strati o n .
As Tanenhaus dril y puts it, there was " no surve illance" by th e FBI o r any–
one else.
The one possible ri sk of exposure o f Soviet meth ods lay in the defec–
tion of an age nt wh o had understood, and regretted, th e con sequ ences o f
hi s ac ti ons. To thi s day th ere are several un explained murders sugges ting
that the Soviet Union had detected potenti al or ac tual backsliders in th eir
Ameri ca n netwo rks. To Moscow, C haillbers must have seemed born to be
an ideologue, wh ose gri evances aga inst th e wo rld guaranteed loya lty, in th e
mold of Kim Philby o r Ri chard So rge. R ecrui ts o f that kind were so un ex–
pected that th ey could hope to pass ullSuspec ted fo r a li fe time.
Al exander Ul anovs ky and L30ri s L3 ykov we re th e successive contro ll ers
in Ameri ca o f C hambers in hi s years as a Soviet age nt. Under th em was the
sini ster
J.
(fo r J osef o r more properl y Joszcf) Peters, who until hi s own
down fa ll was in charge o f th e Party's underground apparatu s in Ameri ca .
Documents subsequentl y di scove red in th e Sov iet archi ves and publi shed
confirm C hambers' acco unt of these men . Under th e circumstances, results
simply fell into th eir laps. None of th em was parti cularly capable. Mu ch
was at stake, but th e way th ese Sovi et bi g-s ho ts ran between sa fe houses and
clandes tin e rendezvous, with one eye o n th e shops and the oth er on th e
lookout fo r the non -ex istent Ameri ca n sec ret se rvices, has el ements o f
farce, in retrospect at leas t.
As a spy, acti ve in Washin gton , C hambers had the tas k of coll ec tin g,
copyin g, and handin g o n to Moscow offi cial documents obtain ed from
Communi sts empl oyed in government. Members of a secret cell rec ruited
by Hal Ware, a rath er fl amboya nt spec iali st in agri culture with first- hand
knowl edge o f Soviet Ru ss ia, th ey we re what can o nl y be call ed the better
class of Communi sts, quite anoth er cut fr om th e shabby Party coll eagu es
Chambers had kn own hitherto. Enjoyin g the ve ry pri vil eges they were
undermining, th ey were on a two- way bet, expec tin g to come out on top
whatever happened .
C hambers loo ked up to these new fri ends and co llabo rato rs in espi–
onage, Al ger Hi ss and hi s bro ther Do nald and Juli an Wadlei gh of th e State
Department, Harry ])ex ter Whi te of th e Treasury, N athan Wi tt, th e R eno
bro thers, and th e res t of thi s rea ll y rath er impressive and well - placed, no t
to say snobbi sh, cell. Tac tfull y, Hi ss and his wife Pri scilla instru cted the
insecure C hambers in th e social g ra ces. Fatall y fo r him , as it proved , Hi ss
made availabl e with lo rdl y elegan ce hi s house and hi s ca r. It must have
seem ed inconce ivabl e that admi ssion
to
such an enthusias m as birdwatch–
ing could ever be used aga inst him or th at every aspec t o f hi s Woodstock
