Sacred Secrets: How Soviet Intelligence Operations Changed American History

Description

In the last decade of the twentieth century, newly opened classified archives revealed a series of sacred secrets that survivors of the Cold War had sworn to carry to their graves. These revelations have challenged our understanding of significant historical events. In Sacred Secrets, Jerrold and Leona Schecter add documents recently obtained in Russia and information from original interviews to cast new light on the reasons for the attack on Pearl Harbor, atomic espionage, Alger Hiss, McCarthyism, and the Rosenberg case, among others. The Schecters also reveal details of their own exposure to the world of sacred secrets. The reader emerges with a startling awareness of the profound influence that an aggressive Soviet intelligence service exerted on U.S. domestic and foreign policy. We now know, for example, that Harry Dexter White, the chief architect of the U.S. economic policy that proved so provocative to Japan and contributed to its decision to attack Pearl Harbor, was a Soviet intelligence asset committed to deflecting Japan's aggressive aims away from the Soviet Union. The Schecters provide the missing pieces of historical puzzles, demonstrate the importance of long-forgot Contents Chronology Foreword by Strobe Talbott Preface Prologue 1 Stalin’s Intelligence Game: Playing the United States and Japan against Each Other 2 Operation Snow 3 The War Years 4 Nuclear Furies: A Love Affair and a Storm of Controversy 5 Opening VENONA 6 Truman Wrestles an Ogre Named VENONA 7 VENONA Hits Pay Dirt 8 Cases of the Centuiy 9 The Fifties 10 The Beginning of the End of the Soviet Empire 11 The Secrets of Khrushchev's Memoirs 12 The Overflight Wars 13 Deception and Revelation Conclusion: Looking Back, Looking Forward Acknowledgments Appendixes Notes Preface Acknowledgments Prologue Chapter 2—Operation Snow Chapter 3—The War Years Chapter 4—Nuclear Furies: A Love Afiair and a Storm of Chapter 5—Opening VENONA Chapter 7—VENONA Hits Pay Dirt Chapter 9—The Fifties Chapter 10—The Beginning of the End of the Soviet Empire Chapter 11—The Secrets of Khrushchev’s Memoirs Chapter 12—The Overflight Wars Chapter 13—Deception and Revelation Conclusion—Looking Back, Looking Forward Index About the Authors