Clarence Hiskey
Encyclopedia
Clarence Francis Hiskey born Clarence Szczechowski, became active in the Communist Party USA
(CPUSA) when he attended graduate school at the University of Wisconsin. He became a professor of chemistry at the University of Tennessee
, Columbia University
and Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute. For a time, Hiskey worked at the Tennessee Valley Authority
and the University of Chicago
Metallurgical Laboratory
, part of the Manhattan Project
. Hiskey's wife may have been involved in espionage
also.
decryption of Soviet intelligence traffic reported that Bernard Schuster of the CPUSA secret apparatus, which had been working with Soviet intelligence, had been to Chicago on the KGB's instructions. The message recorded Schuster's description of those he had come in contact with, which included Rose Olsen, and stated Olsen had been meeting with Hiskey on the instructions of the organization. In July, it appears Joseph Katz
had been assigned to the Hiskey case.
On 28 April 1944, Army counter-intelligence (G-2) observed Clarence Hiskey meet with Soviet Military Intelligence (GRU
) Illegal Officer Arthur Adams
. The government then neutralized Hiskey from the Manhattan Project by drafting him into the Army, and stationing him in Alaska for the duration of the conflict. While en route, Army counter-intelligence officers secretly searched Hiskey's luggage and found seven pages of classified notes taken from the Chicago Metallurgical Lab. When the officers subsequently performed a follow up search, the notes were no longer with Hiskey.
(HUAC) established that Hiskey was an active member of the CPUSA and attempted to recruit other scientists to pass secret atomic data to Soviet intelligence. Congressional investigators concluded,
Chapin admitted to investigators that Hiskey had told him that Adams was indeed a Soviet agent. Edward Manning was another Chicago Met Lab employee Hiskey attempted to recruit.
In testimony before HUAC and Senate Internal Security Subcommittee, Hiskey repeatedly refused to answer questions about his Communist associations and espionage, and in 1950, he was cited for contempt of Congress
. Hiskey resigned his position as asscociate professor of analytical chemistry on the faculty of Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute and joined the International Biotechnical Corporation, later becoming director of analytical research for Endo Laboratories.
, who, although successful at the time, was later disgraced and censured.
Then after some discussion of the Fifth Amendment
,
The proceeding closed with,
The subcommittee did not call Hiskey to testify in public.
The Recommendations on 27 May 1954 of the Personnel Security Board of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission investigation into J. Robert Oppenheimer, Director of the Manhattan Project
at Los Alamos
, stated Oppenheimer had been found in the company of "Joseph W. Weinberg and Clarence Hiskey, who were alleged to be members of the Communist Party and to have engaged in espionage on behalf of the Soviet Union." Oppenheimer's security clearance
was revoked following month.
With the collapse of the Soviet Union, KGB Archives were made accessible to historian Allen Weinstein
and a former KGB officer Alexander Vassiliev
. The identification of Hiskey as a Soviet agent cover named RAMSAY which occurs in the Venona papers, corroborated Hiskey's covert relationship with Soviet intelligence.
Communist Party USA
The Communist Party USA is a Marxist political party in the United States, established in 1919. It has a long, complex history that is closely related to the histories of similar communist parties worldwide and the U.S. labor movement....
(CPUSA) when he attended graduate school at the University of Wisconsin. He became a professor of chemistry at the University of Tennessee
University of Tennessee
The University of Tennessee is a public land-grant university headquartered at Knoxville, Tennessee, United States...
, Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
and Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute. For a time, Hiskey worked at the Tennessee Valley Authority
Tennessee Valley Authority
The Tennessee Valley Authority is a federally owned corporation in the United States created by congressional charter in May 1933 to provide navigation, flood control, electricity generation, fertilizer manufacturing, and economic development in the Tennessee Valley, a region particularly affected...
and the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
Metallurgical Laboratory
Metallurgical Laboratory
The Metallurgical Laboratory or "Met Lab" at the University of Chicago was part of the World War II–era Manhattan Project, created by the United States to develop an atomic bomb...
, part of the Manhattan Project
Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project was a research and development program, led by the United States with participation from the United Kingdom and Canada, that produced the first atomic bomb during World War II. From 1942 to 1946, the project was under the direction of Major General Leslie Groves of the US Army...
. Hiskey's wife may have been involved in espionage
Espionage
Espionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, lest the legitimate holder of the information change plans or take other countermeasures once it...
also.
Metallurgical laboratory
Hiskey joined the Chicago Metallurgical Lab. in September 1943. A May 1944, New York KGB to Moscow Venona projectVenona project
The VENONA project was a long-running secret collaboration of the United States and United Kingdom intelligence agencies involving cryptanalysis of messages sent by intelligence agencies of the Soviet Union, the majority during World War II...
decryption of Soviet intelligence traffic reported that Bernard Schuster of the CPUSA secret apparatus, which had been working with Soviet intelligence, had been to Chicago on the KGB's instructions. The message recorded Schuster's description of those he had come in contact with, which included Rose Olsen, and stated Olsen had been meeting with Hiskey on the instructions of the organization. In July, it appears Joseph Katz
Joseph Katz
Joseph Katz allegedly worked for Soviet intelligence from the 1930s to the late 1940s as one of its most active liaison agents. Katz was assigned management of the “First Line,” that part of the NKGB mission aimed at recruiting selected members of the Communist Party USA...
had been assigned to the Hiskey case.
On 28 April 1944, Army counter-intelligence (G-2) observed Clarence Hiskey meet with Soviet Military Intelligence (GRU
GRU
GRU or Glavnoye Razvedyvatel'noye Upravleniye is the foreign military intelligence directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation...
) Illegal Officer Arthur Adams
Arthur Adams (spy)
Arthur Aleksandrovich Adams – a Soviet spy, Hero of the Russian Federation, who passed to the Soviet Union critical information about the American Manhattan Project.-Biography:...
. The government then neutralized Hiskey from the Manhattan Project by drafting him into the Army, and stationing him in Alaska for the duration of the conflict. While en route, Army counter-intelligence officers secretly searched Hiskey's luggage and found seven pages of classified notes taken from the Chicago Metallurgical Lab. When the officers subsequently performed a follow up search, the notes were no longer with Hiskey.
Investigations
In 1948, the House Un-American Activities CommitteeHouse Un-American Activities Committee
The House Committee on Un-American Activities or House Un-American Activities Committee was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives. In 1969, the House changed the committee's name to "House Committee on Internal Security"...
(HUAC) established that Hiskey was an active member of the CPUSA and attempted to recruit other scientists to pass secret atomic data to Soviet intelligence. Congressional investigators concluded,
- "It became obvious that Hiskey had for some time been supplying Adams with secret information regarding atomic research. Immediately after seeing Adams, Hiskey flew to Cleveland, Ohio, where he contacted John Hitchcock Chapin. Chapin, through the urging of Clarence Hiskey, agreed to take over Hiskey's contacts with Adams."
Chapin admitted to investigators that Hiskey had told him that Adams was indeed a Soviet agent. Edward Manning was another Chicago Met Lab employee Hiskey attempted to recruit.
In testimony before HUAC and Senate Internal Security Subcommittee, Hiskey repeatedly refused to answer questions about his Communist associations and espionage, and in 1950, he was cited for contempt of Congress
Contempt of Congress
Contempt of Congress is the act of obstructing the work of the United States Congress or one of its committees. Historically the bribery of a senator or representative was considered contempt of Congress...
. Hiskey resigned his position as asscociate professor of analytical chemistry on the faculty of Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute and joined the International Biotechnical Corporation, later becoming director of analytical research for Endo Laboratories.
McCarthy
In June 1953, Hiskey was subpoened to testify before the Senate Subcommittee on Investigations. In a closed door, session Hiskey was interrogated by Sen. Joseph McCarthyJoseph McCarthy
Joseph Raymond "Joe" McCarthy was an American politician who served as a Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957...
, who, although successful at the time, was later disgraced and censured.
- Sen. McCarthy: "Were you engaged in atomic energy espionage?
- Mr. Hiskey: "I refuse to answer that question.
Then after some discussion of the Fifth Amendment
Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which is part of the Bill of Rights, protects against abuse of government authority in a legal procedure. Its guarantees stem from English common law which traces back to the Magna Carta in 1215...
,
- Sen. McCarthy: "That is about as definite proof as we can get here that you were an espionage agent, because if you were not, you would simply say no. That would not incriminate you. The only time it would incriminate you would be if you were an espionage agent. So when you refuse to answer on the ground it would incriminate you, that is telling us you were an agent.
- Mr. Hiskey: "I don't think you understand the whole purpose of the Fifth Amendment, Senator. That amendment was put into the Constitution to protect the innocent man from just this kind of star chamber proceeding you are carrying on.
The proceeding closed with,
- Ray Cohn: "There is one other question. Can you tell us any names of any Communists working on the Manhattan project?
- Mr. Hiskey: "I refuse to answer that question.
- Sen. McCarthy: "On the grounds of self-incrimination.
- Mr. Hiskey: "On the grounds it may tend to incriminate me.
The subcommittee did not call Hiskey to testify in public.
The Recommendations on 27 May 1954 of the Personnel Security Board of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission investigation into J. Robert Oppenheimer, Director of the Manhattan Project
Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project was a research and development program, led by the United States with participation from the United Kingdom and Canada, that produced the first atomic bomb during World War II. From 1942 to 1946, the project was under the direction of Major General Leslie Groves of the US Army...
at Los Alamos
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Los Alamos National Laboratory is a United States Department of Energy national laboratory, managed and operated by Los Alamos National Security , located in Los Alamos, New Mexico...
, stated Oppenheimer had been found in the company of "Joseph W. Weinberg and Clarence Hiskey, who were alleged to be members of the Communist Party and to have engaged in espionage on behalf of the Soviet Union." Oppenheimer's security clearance
Security clearance
A security clearance is a status granted to individuals allowing them access to classified information, i.e., state secrets, or to restricted areas after completion of a thorough background check. The term "security clearance" is also sometimes used in private organizations that have a formal...
was revoked following month.
With the collapse of the Soviet Union, KGB Archives were made accessible to historian Allen Weinstein
Allen Weinstein
Allen Weinstein is an American historian, educator, and federal official who has served in several different offices. He served as the Archivist of the United States from February 16, 2005 until his resignation on December 19, 2008...
and a former KGB officer Alexander Vassiliev
Alexander Vassiliev
Alexander Vassiliev is a Russian journalist, writer, and espionage historian living in London. A former officer in the Soviet Committee for State Security , Vassiliev is known for his two books based upon KGB archival documents: Spies: The Rise and Fall of the KGB in America, co-authored with John...
. The identification of Hiskey as a Soviet agent cover named RAMSAY which occurs in the Venona papers, corroborated Hiskey's covert relationship with Soviet intelligence.
External links
- Loren C. Hurd and Clarence F. Hiskey, The determination of Rhenium, Ind. Eng. Chem. Anal. Ed.; 1938.