Soviet Espionage and the American Atomic Bomb Project

Only in the past several years has the public learned the full extent of Soviet espionage activities against the United States during World War II. Documents released from Soviet intelligence archives and wartime Soviet diplomatic cables decrypted by the National Security Agency's Venona Project detail the extraordinary success of Soviet intelligence in obtaining information about the American atomic bomb project (Manhattan Project) and other wartime secrets. Why were so many Americans willing, even eager, to spy, or serve as agents of influence, on behalf of the Soviet Union? We will read various secondary texts on this subject and use the Venona documents themselves as primary texts. 3 hrs. sem.