Talk:Theodore Hall
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This page needs more work, but I have no more time at the moment. Merged redundant Ted Hall here. Saving most of the content from that page here in case anybody wants it. It wasn't as well written and contained more subtle biases, but I like the "taken over by a native fascist group" phrase at the end. Brock
Ted Hall was an American spy for the Soviet Union who provided nuclear secrets during the Manhattan Project. Although his activities were discovered by American counter-intelligence in the 1950s, details of his actions were not released by American and British agencies until the 1990s.
In 1946, Ted Hall was concerned that the US was possibly going to develop a fascist government, and it was in opposition/fear of fascism that he began to work with the Soviets. While working on the Manhattan Project, he passed information to the Soviet Union, and he was possibly the single greatest source of intelligence information on the atomic bomb's construction for them. In September of 1949, the Soviet Union exploded its own atomic bomb, and Ted Hall and his wife, then working at the University of Chicago began to fear discovery, trial, and execution, and yet Hall continued to give secrets to the Soviet Union as America worked on the hydrogen bomb.
Ted Hall is not a well-known player in the disputed history of espionage in The Cold War, especially when compared to Alger Hiss and Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, whose innocence has often been argued.
In 1993, American investigators gained access to the former KGB records in Russia. These revealed a trivial role for the Rosenbergs, no role for Hiss, but a very large role for Ted Hall in espionage. The American declassification of "VENONA" (a project to wiretap intercontinental phone lines) in 1995 confirmed Hall's guilt.
Before Hall's death, he gave interviews to investigators. Although he would not admit to specific acts of espionage, due to fear of prosecution, he did admit to passing information. He said at that time that his motivations were fear of a single nation having a nuclear monopoly. He was afraid that the United States, being the only nuclear power, would begin an expansionist course and be taken over by a native fascist group.
[edit] His wife?
That seems to say his wife was also a spy; what was her name?
- His obit in the NYT says her name was Joan, but no note about her maiden name. She apparently taught Russian and Italian. --Fastfission 19:23, 25 October 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Hall's given name
I've not found Hall's given name in any reputable source on the internet, and that includes various obituaries of him from major newspapers. In fact the only place I've been able to find it have been on suspicious-looking "What their real names were" pages and on Jew Watch, neither of which I trust without better references. --Fastfission 19:23, 25 October 2005 (UTC)
- A helpful editor provided me with this source for the name, which looks reputable. I've entered it into the article... --Fastfission 23:19, 26 October 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Kurnakov
The Sergey Nikolaevich Kurnakov page has now been created, Hall's first contact with Soviet intelligence. Needs more content, or link from here to there. nobs 23:40, 26 October 2005 (UTC)
