Judith Coplon

FBI arrests Judith Coplon on 4 March 1949

Judith Coplon Socolov (May 17, 1921 – February 26, 2011)[1] was an alleged KGB spy whose trials, convictions and successful appeals had a profound influence on espionage prosecutions during the McCarthy era. In 1949, three major cases against American communists started: Coplon's case (1949-1967), the Alger Hiss-Whittaker Chambers Case (1949-1950), and the Smith Act trials of Communist Party leaders (1949-1958).

Career

Work and arrest

Coplon obtained a job in the Department of Justice shortly after she graduated from Barnard College, cum laude in 1943.[2] She transferred to the Foreign Agents Registration section in 1944, where she had access to counter-intelligence information, and was allegedly recruited as a spy by the NKGB at the end of 1944.[3]

Evidence later emerged that Coplon was recruited as a Soviet spy during the early months of 1945. Judith Coplon had a meeting with Vladimir Pravdin, the NKVD station chief in New York City on 4 January 1945. Pravdin was impressed by Coplon who was described as "very serious, shy, profound girl, ideologically close to us." He went on to argue: "We have no doubts about the sincerity of her desire to work with us. In the course of the conversation (Coplon) underlined how much she appreciated the credit we gave to her and that, now knowing for whom she was working, she would redouble her efforts. At the very first stage of her work (Coplon) thought she was helping the local compatriots (the CPUSA)... She thought the stuff acquired by her couldn't represent an interest to the compatriots but could for an organization like the Comintern or another institution bearing a relationship to us. She added that she hoped she was working specifically for us, since she considered it the highest honor to have an opportunity to provide us with modest help".[4] Soon afterwards she was recruited as a Soviet spy (codename Sima).[5]

Judith Coplon became one of NKVD's most valued sources. Coplon's main attention was focused on the main Justice Department counter-intelligence archive that collected information from the various government agencies - FBI, OSS, and naval and army intelligence. She passed to her NKVD contact a number of documents from this archive. This included FBI materials on Soviet organizations in the United States and information on leaders of the Communist Party of the United States.[6]

She first came to the attention of the FBI as a result of a Venona message in late 1948. Coplon was known in both Soviet intelligence and the Venona files as "SIMA". She was the first person tried as a result of the Venona project—although, for reasons of security, the Venona information was not revealed at her trial.

FBI Special Agent Robert Lamphere testified at her trial that suspicion had fallen on Coplon because of information from a reliable "confidential informant".[7] An extensive counter-intelligence operation planted a secret document for her to pass to the Soviets. FBI agents arrested Coplon on March 4, 1949 in Manhattan as she met with Valentin Gubitchev, a KGB official employed by the United Nations, while carrying what she believed were secret U.S. government documents in her purse.[3][7]

Trials and appeals

Coplon was convicted in two separate trials, one for espionage that began on April 25, 1949,[8] and another for conspiracy along with Gubitchev in 1950; both convictions were later overturned in 1950 and 1951, respectively on appeal.[7][8]

The appellate court, sitting in New York, concluded that, while the evidence showed that she was guilty, FBI agents had lied under oath about the bugging. Moreover, the opinion said, the failure to get a warrant was not justified. The court overturned the verdict, but the indictment was not dismissed. In the appeal of the Washington trial, the verdict was upheld, but because of the possible bugging, a new trial became impossible. For political and evidentiary reasons it never took place. Because of these legal irregularities, she was never retried and the government ultimately dropped the case in 1967.

National Attention

The Coplon trials commanded nationwide attention. After her arrest but before her trials, Coplon received earnest attention from the media. For example, Gertrude Samuels wrote for the New York Times, questioning the situation:

Why do some people become traitors? What turns some native-born Americans, as well as naturalized citizens, into Benedict Arnolds and Quislings? What motivates them to betray their country and themselves?...[9]

Samuels examines four kinds of traitors: professional, people loyal their birth lands, crackpots, and idealists. In this last group, she named Elizabeth Bentley and Whittaker Chambers. To understand this group, she argues, one must understand their drive for social justice—reasons "beyond FBI jurisdiction" while "few judges are bothered by motivations."[9]

NYT Book Review editor Sam Tanenhaus wrote in March 2011:

At the time of her trial, Ms. Coplon drew a great deal of interest, particularly in the lively tabloid press of the day. A 27-year-old cum laude graduate of Barnard, employed in the internal security section of the Justice Department, she seemed the model postwar "government girl," fetchingly clad in snug sweaters and New Look skirts . .  [with] sort of attention Lindsay Lohan's courtroom appearances attract today.[10]

Coplon's death in 2011, aged 89, received wide syndication via AP, mostly in the United States.[7][11][12][13][14]

Personal life

She was the daughter of Samuel and Rebecca Moroh Coplon.[3] She married one of her attorneys, Albert Socolov, and they remained married until her death in 2011. The couple had four children.[7] She went to public school Joseph F. Lamb (p.s./i.s. 206) in Brooklyn, New York.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Fitzgerald, Jim (March 2, 2011). "Judith Coplon Socolov -NY woman convicted of spying in '49 dies at 89". The Associated Press. Retrieved March 3, 2011.
  2. ↑ "Judith Coplon '43, political analyst, dies". Barnard College. Retrieved March 8, 2011.
  3. 1 2 3 "Baby Face". TIME. March 14, 1949. Retrieved March 3, 2011.
  4. ↑ Vladimir Pravdin, report on Judith Coplon (January 8, 1945)
  5. ↑ Athan Theoharis, Chasing Spies (2002) page 46
  6. ↑ John Simkin. "Judith Coplon". Spartacus Educational.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 Roberts, Sam (March 2, 2011). "Judith Coplon, Haunted by Espionage Case, Dies at 89". The New York Times. Retrieved March 3, 2011.
  8. 1 2 "Venona". FBI. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
  9. 1 2 Samuels, Gertrude (22 May 1949). "American Traitors: A Study in Motives" (PDF). New York Times. Retrieved May 8, 2011.
  10. ↑ Tanenhaus, Sam (March 4, 2011). "ArtsBeat: A Cold War Spy Trial, Before McCarthy and the Rosenbergs". New York Times. Retrieved March 8, 2011.
  11. ↑ "NY woman convicted of spying in '49 dies at 89". Wall Street Journal. March 2, 2011. Retrieved March 8, 2011.
  12. ↑ Fitzgerald, Jim (March 2, 2011). "NY woman convicted of spying in '49 dies at 89". AP via Dallas Morning News. Retrieved March 8, 2011.
  13. ↑ Fitzgerald, Jim (March 3, 2011). "Judith Coplon, accused and cleared of being a Soviet spy, dies at 89". Washington Post. Retrieved March 8, 2011.
  14. ↑ "Judith Coplon, NY woman convicted of Cold War spying, dies at 89; convictions were overturned". Guardian. March 2, 2011. Retrieved March 8, 2011.

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