The Amerasia Spy Case: Prelude to McCarthyism (Hardcover)

by Harvey Klehr (Author), Ronald Radosh (Author) "Few Americans were familiar with the name John Stewart Service at the time of his arrest in 1945, but he would eventually emerge as the..." (more)
Key Phrases: loyalty investigation, espionage case, State Department, United States, Tydings Committee (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
In February 1945, Kenneth Wells, chief of the South Asia division of the Office of Strategic Services, happened upon a leftist magazine called Amerasia. In its pages he found a story on British-American political relations in recently liberated Indochina. Wells recognized the story, for he had written it in a report to which only a few senior government analysts had access. When government agents raided the magazine's offices they found many such documents, some marked "Top Secret." The magazine's spies had infiltrated the State Department with ludicrous ease. No one was punished, thanks to government prosecutors' ineptitude, until some years later Joseph McCarthy, an obscure first-term Republican senator of little distinction, revived the case. McCarthy was zealous and had small regard for the Constitution, but in this case he had a point; as Harvey Klehr and Ronald Radosh slyly remark, not everyone accused of disloyalty or espionage was innocent. Students of Cold War history will find much of interest in these pages.

From Publishers Weekly
Less well-known than the Hiss and Rosenberg cases, the Amerasia affair was the first major postwar espionage case, and was cited by Senator Joseph McCarthy as proof of his contention that the State Department had been infiltrated by a clique of "card carrying" Communists. The case revolved largely around the arrests of Philip Jaffe, editor of the pro-Communist magazine Amerasia, for conspiracy to commit espionage for the Soviets and of John Stewart Service, one of the State Department's "China hands," who favored Mao's victory over the Nationalists. The authors of this well-researched study, working from FBI files and interviews, reveal new details of Service's efforts to undermine U.S. ambassador Patrick Hurley's diplomatic mission to China in 1945. ("As the Amerasia case ought to teach us," they comment, "not everyone accused of disloyalty or espionage was innocent.") The study also includes fresh revelations of how lobbyist Thomas Corcoran successfully pressured the Justice Department not to indict the Amerasia defendants; the department feared that a full-scale prosecution would unduly publicize the threat of Communist espionage and embarrass the Truman administration. Klehr is professor of politics at Emory University; Radosh is a history professor at Adelphi. Photos.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 280 pages
• Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press (January 17, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807822450
• ISBN-13: 978-0807822456
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,110,801 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you want to understand McCarthyism, you have to read this, November 11, 1998

By	Stephen M. St Onge "Stephen M. St. Onge" (Mpls, MN USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

In 1950, Joe McCarthy started telling USAmericans that there was a Great Communist Conspiracy that had infiltrated the U.S. govt., the Press, the churches, you name it. One of his prime exhibits was the AMERASIA case, where what started as an espionage conspiracy suddenly, mysteriously collapsed. "It's true," said the Right and the Republicans. "Nonsense you're all paranoids," said Democrats, liberals, and the Left. Now, thanks to Klehr and Radosh, we have the truth, and it is stranger than anything either side ever suspected. There were multiple, independent, overlapping conspiracies, at AMERASIA magazine (to spy for Stalin),in the State Dept. (to undermine FDR's China Policy), in the Communist movement (to shape U.S. policy) in the Justice Dept. (to cover up political embarrassments) and in Congress (to cover up the other conspiracies). Had the truth been told then, we might have been spared some of the worst political messes of modern times. Highly Recommended.