The Librarian Spies: Philip and Mary Jane Keeney and Cold War Espionage
200
The Librarian Spies: Philip and Mary Jane Keeney and Cold War Espionage
200Hardcover
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Overview
In 1950, Senator Joseph McCarthy declared that the State Department was a haven for communists and traitors. Among famous targets, like Alger Hiss, the senator also named librarian Mary Jane Keeney and her husband Philip, who had been called before The House UnAmerican Activities Committee to account for friendships with suspected communists, memberships in communist fronts, and authorship of articles that had been published in leftist periodicals. Conservative jourbanalists and politicians had seized the occasion to denounce the pair as communist sympathizers and spies for the Soviet Union. If the accusations were true, the Keeneys had provided the Soviets with classified information about American defense and economic policies that could alter the balance of power between those rival nations. If false, the Keeneys had been shamefully wronged by their own government, for the accusations tumbled them into grief and poverty.
This book draws on a wide range of archival materials, especialy FBI files, interviews, and extensive reading from secondary sources to tell the story of Philip Olin Keeney and his wife Mary Jane, who became part of the famed Silvermaster Spy Ring in the 1940s. It paints a picture of two ordinary people who took an extraordinary path in life and, while they were never charged and tried as spies, were punished through blacklisting. It also reaveals the means by which the FBI investigated suspected spies through black bag jobs, phone tapping, and mail interceptions. Spies compromise national security by stealing secrets, but secrets can be defined to suit individual political designs and ambitions. Philip and Mary Jane Keeney constantly tested the boundaries of free access to information - to the point of risking disloyalty to their country - but the American government responded in a manner that risked its democratic foundations.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780275994488 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Bloomsbury Academic |
| Publication date: | 03/20/2009 |
| Series: | Praeger Security International |
| Pages: | 200 |
| Product dimensions: | 6.30(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.00(d) |
About the Author
Louise S. Robbins, is director of the School of Library and Information Studies at the University of Madison, Wisconsin.
Table of Contents
List of IllustrationsPreface
List of Abbreviations
Introduction
Chapter 1:Philip
Chapter 2:Mary Jane
Chapter 3:The Librarians
Chapter 4:Struggle
Chapter 5:Progressive Librarians Council
Chapter 6:The Spies at Home
Chapter 7:The Spies Abroad
Chapter 8:Caught in the Web
Chapter 9:Un-Americans
Chapter 10: Guilt and Association
Notes
Bibliography
What People are Saying About This
"Thorough, interesting, well-written, and well-documented."
"Thorough, interesting, well-written, and well-documented."
"Thorough, interesting, well-written, and well-documented."
Donald A. Downs Professor of Political Science
"What responsibilities does the Government have in protecting the country from foreign subversion? And by what constitutional and moral constraints must the government abide in carrying out this duty? In conducting her remarkably compelling research, Louise Robbins discovered government misconduct in its treatment of the Keeneys, but also another fat: they were indeed guilty of working with the Soviet Union to undermine the United States. Unlike many other accounts of McCarthyism, in Robbins' story, the alleged bad guys were indeed bad guys, Robbins has performed thorough and intensive research, and she presents her ideas with the precision and care of a true scholar. At the same time, she presents a human drama of ambition, misplaced idealism, self-righteousness, and intrigue that is worthy of a high-level detective story. And she raises important moral, legal, and political questions that liberal democracies must confront in dealing with enemies bent on their destruction."
—
Donald A. Downs Professor of Political Science, Law, and Journalism at the University of Wisconsin, Madison
"What responsibilities does the Government have in protecting the country from foreign subversion? And by what constitutional and moral constraints must the government abide in carrying out this duty? In conducting her remarkably compelling research, Louise Robbins discovered government misconduct in its treatment of the Keeneys, but also another fat: they were indeed guilty of working with the Soviet Union to undermine the United States. Unlike many other accounts of McCarthyism, in Robbins' story, the alleged bad guys were indeed bad guys, Robbins has performed thorough and intensive research, and she presents her ideas with the precision and care of a true scholar. At the same time, she presents a human drama of ambition, misplaced idealism, self-righteousness, and intrigue that is worthy of a high-level detective story. And she raises important moral, legal, and political questions that liberal democracies must confront in dealing with enemies bent on their destruction."
"Thorough, interesting, well-written, and well-documented."
"What responsibilities does the Government have in protecting the country from foreign subversion? And by what constitutional and moral constraints must the government abide in carrying out this duty? In conducting her remarkably compelling research, Louise Robbins discovered government misconduct in its treatment of the Keeneys, but also another fat: they were indeed guilty of working with the Soviet Union to undermine the United States. Unlike many other accounts of McCarthyism, in Robbins' story, the alleged bad guys were indeed bad guys, Robbins has performed thorough and intensive research, and she presents her ideas with the precision and care of a true scholar. At the same time, she presents a human drama of ambition, misplaced idealism, self-righteousness, and intrigue that is worthy of a high-level detective story. And she raises important moral, legal, and political questions that liberal democracies must confront in dealing with enemies bent on their destruction."
"What responsibilities does the Government have in protecting the country from foreign subversion? And by what constitutional and moral constraints must the government abide in carrying out this duty? In conducting her remarkably compelling research, Louise Robbins discovered government misconduct in its treatment of the Keeneys, but also another fat: they were indeed guilty of working with the Soviet Union to undermine the United States. Unlike many other accounts of McCarthyism, in Robbins' story, the alleged bad guys were indeed bad guys, Robbins has performed thorough and intensive research, and she presents her ideas with the precision and care of a true scholar. At the same time, she presents a human drama of ambition, misplaced idealism, self-righteousness, and intrigue that is worthy of a high-level detective story. And she raises important moral, legal, and political questions that liberal democracies must confront in dealing with enemies bent on their destruction."
"Thorough, interesting, well-written, and well-documented."
"Thorough, interesting, well-written, and well-documented."