Philip Keeney
Encyclopedia
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 (now known as the University of Montana) at Missoula. By the mid-1930s, both Keeney and his wife were involved with left-wing political movements; in 1937, Keeney was fired due to his radical activities.
, chairman in 1937 of the first open meeting of the Second Congress of the League of American Writers
, which was “founded under Communist auspices in 1935,” according to a 1942 report by President
Roosevelt's Attorney General
Francis Biddle
. As he was not a librarian, the American Library Association (ALA) opposed MacLeish's candidacy, but when FDR made his appointment, the PLC candidate got the nod.
The PLC also smuggled money to Emilio Andrés, commissar of an army corps of the Soviet-backed Spanish Republican Army, in exile in France
after the Spanish Civil War
. During the Hitler-Stalin pact, the PLC sent a letter to FDR urging him not to aid Poland
, France
or the United Kingdom
, all fighting for their lives under the Nazi onslaught. (The letter had been phrased in such a way that it appeared to be from the ALA, but that group sent the President its own missive clarifying that the PLC did not speak for the ALA.) Once the pact broke down, and Germany
invaded the Soviet Union
, the PLC altered its position, advocating American participation in the war.
s" such as the Washington Book Shop, identified in 1944 by Biddle
and in 1948 by Truman administration Attorney General Tom Clark
as a subversive organization. In 1940, “Keeney and his wife were signed on apparently by the Neighbors,”—code name for Soviet military intelligence (GRU
)—according to a 1944 report by NKVD
agent Sergey Kurnikov.
activities, both he and his wife were able to obtain a variety of federal jobs between 1940 and 1947. Within months of the PLC's endorsement of MacLeish for Librarian of Congress, Keeney was working at the Library of Congress
in Washington D.C., where he handled classified material. NKVD
agent Jacob Golos
allegedly met with him there.
After the United States became involved in World War II
, Keeney transferred to the Office of the Coordinator of Information
, which was later transferred to the Office of Strategic Services
(OSS), precursor of the CIA. In a 1942 Venona cable discussing infiltration of OSS, “Maksim” (Rezident Vasily Zarubin, under cover as “Vasily Zubilin”) in New York wrote to “Victor” (General Pavel Fitin
, head of NKVD
foreign intelligence) in Moscow
, “KINI is being entrusted to our agentura,” meaning that recruitment was being undertaken. A note from U.S. cryptographers states “KINI: If correct, probably Philip Olin KEENEY.”
From 1943 to 1945, Keeney was Chief of the Document Security Section in the Foreign Economic Administration
. His wife, meanwhile, worked in the Bureau of Economic Warfare. In 1945, Keeney was allegedly transferred from the GRU to the NKVD
. That year, he went to Tokyo
as libraries officer of the Supreme Command of the Allied Powers in occupied Japan
, while his wife worked in France for the Allied Staff on Reparations. Both Keeneys had numerous contacts with Russian
agents and sought to provide them with information, exerting “considerable effort” seeking to “contribute something of value to the Soviet cause in which they believed..."
A 1946 congressional report named Keeney's wife, and in 1947 both lost their federal jobs and were denied passports. Within three months, Keeney attempted to leave the country without a valid passport, on the same Polish ship on which Comintern
agent Gerhardt Eisler
had escaped to the East bloc; the lawyer who encouraged him in this unsuccessful attempt to leave the country was Eisler's attorney.
During the Judith Coplon
spy trial that year, FBI surveillance records were published that implicated Keeney's wife as a courier for the Communist Party, observed upon her return from France in 1946 delivering a manila envelope to Bernstein
, which he in turn delivered to Alexander Trachtenberg
. Mary Jane herself admitted associating with Nathan Gregory Silvermaster and William Ludwig Ullmann. In 1949, Keeney was a sponsor of the National Conference on American Policy in China and the Far East and the Scientific and Cultural Conference for World Peace, both arranged by the National Council of the Arts, Sciences, and Professions, cited as subversive by the California Committee on Un-American Activities. Despite all this, by the following year, Mary Jane was working in the Document Control Section of the United Nations secretariat.
After Sen. Joseph McCarthy
publicized this in his 1950 speech in Wheeling
, West Virginia
, she was dismissed. The Keeneys refused to answer questions regarding membership in the Communist Party. In 1952, they were convicted on contempt of Congress
for refusing to answer questions before a Senate
committee, though their convictions were later reversed on appeal.
called Club Cinema to air mostly foreign-language films with subtitles, with occasional folksingers or poetry readings. Keeney died in 1962 at the age of 71. He was survived by his wife.
declassified the Venona project
in 1995, John Earl Haynes, Cold War
historian in the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress
, identified Philip Keeney with the code name "Bredan."
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...
, 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
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
in 1929. In 1931, he became head librarian at Montana State University (now known as the University of Montana) at Missoula. By the mid-1930s, both Keeney and his wife were involved with left-wing political movements; in 1937, Keeney was fired due to his radical activities.
Progressive Librarians Council
The Keeneys moved to Berkeley, California, where they became members of the Marin County CPUSA Club, according to Mary Jane's diaries. In 1939, the Keeneys founded the Progressive Librarians' Council (PLC). That year, the PLC endorsed for Librarian of Congress Archibald MacLeishArchibald MacLeish
Archibald MacLeish was an American poet, writer, and the Librarian of Congress. He is associated with the Modernist school of poetry. He received three Pulitzer Prizes for his work.-Early years:...
, chairman in 1937 of the first open meeting of the Second Congress of the League of American Writers
League of American Writers
The League of American Writers was an association of American novelists, playwrights, poets, journalists, and literary critics launched by the Communist Party USA in 1935...
, which was “founded under Communist auspices in 1935,” according to a 1942 report by President
President
A president is a leader of an organization, company, trade union, university, or country.Etymologically, a president is one who presides, who sits in leadership...
Roosevelt's Attorney General
Attorney General
In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general, or attorney-general, is the main legal advisor to the government, and in some jurisdictions he or she may also have executive responsibility for law enforcement or responsibility for public prosecutions.The term is used to refer to any person...
Francis Biddle
Francis Biddle
Francis Beverley Biddle was an American lawyer and judge who was Attorney General of the United States during World War II and who served as the primary American judge during the postwar Nuremberg trials....
. As he was not a librarian, the American Library Association (ALA) opposed MacLeish's candidacy, but when FDR made his appointment, the PLC candidate got the nod.
The PLC also smuggled money to Emilio Andrés, commissar of an army corps of the Soviet-backed Spanish Republican Army, in exile in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
after the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
. During the Hitler-Stalin pact, the PLC sent a letter to FDR urging him not to aid Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
or the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, all fighting for their lives under the Nazi onslaught. (The letter had been phrased in such a way that it appeared to be from the ALA, but that group sent the President its own missive clarifying that the PLC did not speak for the ALA.) Once the pact broke down, and Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
invaded the Soviet Union
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....
, the PLC altered its position, advocating American participation in the war.
Allegations: Communist fronts and Soviet espionage
The Keeneys had a long list of political affiliations with alleged "Communist frontCommunist front
A Communist front organization is an organization identified to be a front organization under the effective control of a Communist party, the Communist International or other Communist organizations. Lenin originated the idea in his manifesto of 1902, "What Is to Be Done?"...
s" such as the Washington Book Shop, identified in 1944 by Biddle
Francis Biddle
Francis Beverley Biddle was an American lawyer and judge who was Attorney General of the United States during World War II and who served as the primary American judge during the postwar Nuremberg trials....
and in 1948 by Truman administration Attorney General Tom Clark
Tom Clark
Tom Clark is a Canadian television journalist. He has been a substitute anchor for CTV National News, and host of Power Play, a political program on CTV News Channel...
as a subversive organization. In 1940, “Keeney and his wife were signed on apparently by the Neighbors,”—code name for 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...
)—according to a 1944 report by NKVD
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
agent Sergey Kurnikov.
Government work
Despite Keeney's radical political views, activities in several “popular front” groups and socialization with numerous people involved in Soviet espionageEspionage
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...
activities, both he and his wife were able to obtain a variety of federal jobs between 1940 and 1947. Within months of the PLC's endorsement of MacLeish for Librarian of Congress, Keeney was working at the Library of Congress
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
in Washington D.C., where he handled classified material. NKVD
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
agent Jacob Golos
Jacob Golos
Jacob Golos, , was a Ukrainian-born Bolshevik revolutionary of ethnic Jewish heritage who became a secret police operative on behalf of the USSR in the United States...
allegedly met with him there.
After the United States became involved in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Keeney transferred to the Office of the Coordinator of Information
Office of the Coordinator of Information
The Office of the Coordinator of Information was an intelligence and propaganda agency of the United States Government, founded on July 11, 1941 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, prior to U.S. involvement in the Second World War...
, which was later transferred to 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), precursor of the CIA. In a 1942 Venona cable discussing infiltration of OSS, “Maksim” (Rezident Vasily Zarubin, under cover as “Vasily Zubilin”) in New York wrote to “Victor” (General Pavel Fitin
Pavel Fitin
Lieutenant General Pavel Mikhailovich Fitin was a Soviet intelligence officer and was the director of Soviet intelligence during World War II, identified in the Venona cables under the code name "Viktor."- Education :Fitin graduated from a program in agricultural...
, head of NKVD
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
foreign intelligence) in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, “KINI is being entrusted to our agentura,” meaning that recruitment was being undertaken. A note from U.S. cryptographers states “KINI: If correct, probably Philip Olin KEENEY.”
From 1943 to 1945, Keeney was Chief of the Document Security Section in the Foreign Economic Administration
Foreign Economic Administration
In the administration of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the Foreign Economic Administration was formed to relieve friction between US agencies operating abroad. As described by the biographer of the FEA's chief, Leo Crowley, the agency was designed and run by "The Nation's #1 Pinch-hitter".S. L...
. His wife, meanwhile, worked in the Bureau of Economic Warfare. In 1945, Keeney was allegedly transferred from the GRU to the NKVD
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
. That year, he went to Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
as libraries officer of the Supreme Command of the Allied Powers in occupied Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, while his wife worked in France for the Allied Staff on Reparations. Both Keeneys had numerous contacts with Russian
Russians
The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....
agents and sought to provide them with information, exerting “considerable effort” seeking to “contribute something of value to the Soviet cause in which they believed..."
Investigations
In 1946, the State Department prepared a Top Secret chart identifying 124 loyalty or security cases on the department payroll. Later that year, State Department official Samuel Klaus prepared a 106-page confidential memo summarizing security data on each of the cases listed on the chart. One of these was Mary Jane Keeney.A 1946 congressional report named Keeney's wife, and in 1947 both lost their federal jobs and were denied passports. Within three months, Keeney attempted to leave the country without a valid passport, on the same Polish ship on which Comintern
Comintern
The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern, also known as the Third International, was an international communist organization initiated in Moscow during March 1919...
agent Gerhardt Eisler
Gerhart Eisler
Gerhart Eisler was a German politician. Along with his sister Ruth Fischer, he was a very early member of the Austrian German Communist Party and then a prominent member of the Communist Party of Germany during the Weimar Republic...
had escaped to the East bloc; the lawyer who encouraged him in this unsuccessful attempt to leave the country was Eisler's attorney.
During the Judith Coplon
Judith Coplon
Judith Coplon Socolov was one of the first major figures tried in the United States for spying for the former Soviet Union; problems in her trials in 1949–50 had a profound influence on espionage prosecutions during the McCarthy era.-Work and arrest:Coplon obtained a job in the Department of...
spy trial that year, FBI surveillance records were published that implicated Keeney's wife as a courier for the Communist Party, observed upon her return from France in 1946 delivering a manila envelope to Bernstein
Joseph Milton Bernstein
Joseph Milton Bernstein was an American accused of spying for the Soviet Union.-Career:Bernstein allegedly recruited his fellow Communist T.A. Bisson who had stopped working at the Board of Economic Warfare and began working in the Institute of Pacific Relations and in the editorial offices of...
, which he in turn delivered to Alexander Trachtenberg
Alexander Trachtenberg
Alexander "Alex" Trachtenberg was an American publisher of radical political books and pamphlets and activist in the Socialist Party of America and later the Communist Party USA...
. Mary Jane herself admitted associating with Nathan Gregory Silvermaster and William Ludwig Ullmann. In 1949, Keeney was a sponsor of the National Conference on American Policy in China and the Far East and the Scientific and Cultural Conference for World Peace, both arranged by the National Council of the Arts, Sciences, and Professions, cited as subversive by the California Committee on Un-American Activities. Despite all this, by the following year, Mary Jane was working in the Document Control Section of the United Nations secretariat.
After Sen. Joseph McCarthy
Joseph 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...
publicized this in his 1950 speech in Wheeling
Wheeling, West Virginia
Wheeling is a city in Ohio and Marshall counties in the U.S. state of West Virginia; it is the county seat of Ohio County. Wheeling is the principal city of the Wheeling Metropolitan Statistical Area...
, West Virginia
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...
, she was dismissed. The Keeneys refused to answer questions regarding membership in the Communist Party. In 1952, they were convicted on contempt of Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
for refusing to answer questions before a Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
committee, though their convictions were later reversed on appeal.
Later life
In their later years, the Keeneys are variously reported to have founded and run a cinema club in Washington, D.C. between 1952 and 1958, showing art films, and reportedly opened a beatnik theatre in Greenwich VillageGreenwich Village
Greenwich Village, , , , .in New York often simply called "the Village", is a largely residential neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. A large majority of the district is home to upper middle class families...
called Club Cinema to air mostly foreign-language films with subtitles, with occasional folksingers or poetry readings. Keeney died in 1962 at the age of 71. He was survived by his wife.
Venona
After the National Security AgencyNational Security Agency
The National Security Agency/Central Security Service is a cryptologic intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the collection and analysis of foreign communications and foreign signals intelligence, as well as protecting U.S...
declassified 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...
in 1995, John Earl Haynes, Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
historian in the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
, identified Philip Keeney with the code name "Bredan."
Sources
- John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr, Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America, Yale University Press (1999)
- Rosalee McReynolds, The Progressive Librarians Council and Its Founders http://www.libr.org/pl/2_McReynolds.html