Joseph Milton Bernstein
Encyclopedia
Joseph Milton Bernstein was an American accused of spying for the Soviet Union
.
(BEW) and began working in the Institute of Pacific Relations
(IPR) and in the editorial offices of Bernstein’s periodical Amerasia
. Bisson passed to Bernstein copies of four documents: (a) his own report for BEW with his views on working out a plan for shipment of American troops to China; (b) a report by the Chinese embassy in Washington to its government in China; (c) a brief BEW report of April 1943 on a general evaluation of the forces of the sides on the Soviet-German front
; and (d) a report by the American consul in Vladivostok.
Bernstein is supposed to have functioned as the contact between Soviet Military Intelligence (GRU
) and Philip Keeney
of the Office of Strategic Services
(OSS) and his wife, Mary Jane Keeney
of the Board of Economic Warfare
and later the United Nations
.
In 1945 the Office of Strategic Services
Security Division and the FBI searched the offices of the magazine Amerasia, which was suspected of holding classified government documents. The staff of the publication included accused Communist spies and agents, including Joseph Bernstein. In subsequent years, the case resulted in several convictions, none major, and a number of congressional hearings were held on the case.
Bernstein's code with the GRU and in the Venona project
is "MARQUIS".
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
.
Career
Bernstein allegedly recruited his fellow Communist T.A. Bisson who had stopped working at the Board of Economic WarfareBoard of Economic Warfare
The Office of Administrator of Export Control was established in the United States by Presidential Proclamation 2413, July 2, 1940, to administer export licensing provisions of the act of July 2, 1940 . Brigadier General Russell Lamont Maxwell, United States Army, headed up this military entity...
(BEW) and began working in the Institute of Pacific Relations
Institute of Pacific Relations
The Institute of Pacific Relations was an international NGO established in 1925 to provide a forum for discussion of problems and relations between nations of the Pacific Rim. The International Secretariat, the center of most IPR activity over the years, consisted of professional staff members who...
(IPR) and in the editorial offices of Bernstein’s periodical Amerasia
Amerasia
Amerasia was a journal of Far Eastern affairs best known for the 1940s "Amerasia Affair" in which several of its staff and their contacts were suspected of espionage and charged with unauthorized possession of government documents.-Publication:...
. Bisson passed to Bernstein copies of four documents: (a) his own report for BEW with his views on working out a plan for shipment of American troops to China; (b) a report by the Chinese embassy in Washington to its government in China; (c) a brief BEW report of April 1943 on a general evaluation of the forces of the sides on the Soviet-German front
Eastern Front (World War II)
The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of World War II between the European Axis powers and co-belligerent Finland against the Soviet Union, Poland, and some other Allies which encompassed Northern, Southern and Eastern Europe from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945...
; and (d) a report by the American consul in Vladivostok.
Bernstein is supposed to have functioned as the contact between 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...
) and Philip Keeney
Philip Keeney
Philip Olin Keeney , and his wife, Mary Jane Keeney, were librarians who became part of the Silvermaster spy ring in the 1940s.Keeney met Mary Jane when both were working as librarians at the University of Michigan in 1929. In 1931, he became head librarian at Montana State University at Missoula...
of the Office of Strategic Services
Office of Strategic Services
The Office of Strategic Services was a United States intelligence agency formed during World War II. It was the wartime intelligence agency, and it was a predecessor of the Central Intelligence Agency...
(OSS) and his wife, Mary Jane Keeney
Mary Jane Keeney
Mary Jane Keeney and her husband Philip Olin Keeney were librarians and charter members of the liberal The Progressive Librarians Council. She worked at the Board of Economic Warfare in Washington D.C. during World War II...
of the Board of Economic Warfare
Board of Economic Warfare
The Office of Administrator of Export Control was established in the United States by Presidential Proclamation 2413, July 2, 1940, to administer export licensing provisions of the act of July 2, 1940 . Brigadier General Russell Lamont Maxwell, United States Army, headed up this military entity...
and later the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
.
In 1945 the Office of Strategic Services
Office of Strategic Services
The Office of Strategic Services was a United States intelligence agency formed during World War II. It was the wartime intelligence agency, and it was a predecessor of the Central Intelligence Agency...
Security Division and the FBI searched the offices of the magazine Amerasia, which was suspected of holding classified government documents. The staff of the publication included accused Communist spies and agents, including Joseph Bernstein. In subsequent years, the case resulted in several convictions, none major, and a number of congressional hearings were held on the case.
Bernstein's code with the GRU and in the Venona project
Venona 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...
is "MARQUIS".
Translations
- Eugene Delacroix, his life and work by Charles Baudelaire (1947) translation
- Baudelaire, Rimbaud, Verlaine; selected verse and prose poems (1947) edited with an introduction by Bernstein
- Literature of the graveyard: Jean-Paul Sartre, François Mauriac, André Malraux, Arthur Koestler (1948) translation
- Passionate journey: a novel in 165 woodcuts by Frans Masereel with introduction by Thomas Mann (1948) translation
Source
- John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr, Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America, Yale University Press