{"id":9942,"date":"2021-12-02T13:01:47","date_gmt":"2021-12-02T18:01:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=9942"},"modified":"2021-12-02T13:01:47","modified_gmt":"2021-12-02T18:01:47","slug":"looking-over-our-shoulder-espionage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=9942","title":{"rendered":"Looking Over Our Shoulder: Espionage"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Front\/back cover of pamphlet: Disaster Follows Sabotage, Department of Defense, 1953. From the Hayden Peake collection. Special Collections Research Center.<\/p><\/div>\n

This post is part of a series pertaining to SCRC\u2019s current exhibition, Looking Over Our Shoulder: The Cold War in American Culture. The text was borrowed from the exhibition.<\/em><\/p>\n

Both the United States and the Soviet Union conducted espionage against each other during the Cold War period. Information in the form of plans, formulas, designs, technologies, or intentions was a key commodity for both sides during this period. It was important for each country to know what their adversary was doing. This information was believed to be the difference between gaining the upper hand or falling behind during a period in which national security stakes were considered high. As computers and satellites were not yet available as tools of spying in the early days, countries relied on humans to penetrate an opponent\u2019s governmental, military, and industrial institutions, steal secrets, and cause mayhem, while remaining undetected as long as possible.<\/p>\n

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Cover to pamphlet: “Espionage, Sabotage, and Subversive Activities”. Department of Defense, 1953. From the Hayden Peake collection. Special Collections Research Center.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Detail from inside of pamphlet: “Espionage, Sabotage, and Subversive Activities”. Department of Defense, 1953.
\nFrom the Hayden Peake collection. Special Collections Research Center.<\/p>\n

During the Cold War espionage cases were often the subject of highly-publicized hearings and trials, each seeming more dire than the previous one in terms of danger to United States interests. The 1949 case of Alger Hiss, a junior State Department official who was accused of being a communist spy, was an early and high-profile espionage case. One of his accusers was former communist and Time magazine Editor, Whittaker Chambers. Several years after the case, Chambers wrote a best-selling book, Witness, about the case.<\/p>\n

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Witness<\/em> by Whittaker Chambers, 1952. E743.5 .C5 Special Collections Research Center.<\/p><\/div>\n

Cold War espionage has also been fictionally depicted in works such as the James Bond series of films, and best-selling novels such as The Spy Who Came In from the Cold (1963) and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier Spy (1974), both by author and former member of British intelligence services MI5 and MI6, John Le Carre.<\/p>\n

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Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy<\/em> by John le Carr\u00e9, 1974.
Uncatalogued, Special Collections Research Center.<\/p><\/div>\n

Follow SCRC on Social Media and look out for future posts on our\u00a0Facebook<\/a>,\u00a0Instagram<\/a>, and\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00a0accounts. \u00a0To search the collections\u00a0held at Special Collections Research Center, go to our\u00a0website<\/a>\u00a0and browse the finding aids by subject or title. You may also e-mail\u00a0us at\u00a0speccoll@gmu.edu<\/a>\u00a0or call 703-993-2220 if you would like to schedule an appointment, request materials, or if you have questions.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This post is part of a series pertaining to SCRC\u2019s current exhibition, Looking Over Our Shoulder: The Cold War in American Culture. The text was borrowed from the exhibition. Both the United States and the Soviet Union conducted espionage against each other during the Cold War period. Information in the form of plans, formulas, designs, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":9959,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,326],"tags":[13,897],"class_list":["post-9942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exhibits","category-rare-books-2","tag-cold-war","tag-espionage"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/button5.jpg?fit=668%2C525&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8Ep5i-2Am","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9911,"url":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=9911","url_meta":{"origin":9942,"position":0},"title":"Looking Over Our Shoulder: The Cold War Comes Home for Supper","author":"Amanda Menjivar","date":"November 15, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"This post is part of a series pertaining to SCRC's current exhibition, Looking Over Our Shoulder: The Cold War in American Culture. The text was borrowed from the exhibition. Not only were American politics and diplomatic relations greatly affected throughout the Cold War, but so were the home lives, shopping\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "exhibits"","block_context":{"text":"exhibits","link":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?cat=22"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/dom.jpg?fit=716%2C416&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/dom.jpg?fit=716%2C416&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/dom.jpg?fit=716%2C416&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/dom.jpg?fit=716%2C416&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9822,"url":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=9822","url_meta":{"origin":9942,"position":1},"title":"Looking Over Our Shoulder: The Space Race","author":"Amanda Menjivar","date":"October 19, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"This post is part of a series pertaining to SCRC's current exhibition, Looking Over Our Shoulder: The Cold War in American Culture. The text was borrowed from the exhibition. One of the most important struggles of the Cold War period was the Space Race, which, boiled down to its essence,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "exhibits"","block_context":{"text":"exhibits","link":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?cat=22"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/C0293_B05_F007_001-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C943&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/C0293_B05_F007_001-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C943&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/C0293_B05_F007_001-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C943&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/C0293_B05_F007_001-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C943&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/C0293_B05_F007_001-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C943&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9893,"url":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=9893","url_meta":{"origin":9942,"position":2},"title":"Looking Over our Shoulder: Art and Entertainment During the Cold War","author":"admin","date":"November 8, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"This post is part of a series pertaining to SCRC's current exhibition, Looking Over Our Shoulder: The Cold War in American Culture. Through the Cold War years, artists working in a variety of mediums in both the United States and the Soviet Union used their work to challenge the narrative\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "exhibits"","block_context":{"text":"exhibits","link":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?cat=22"},"img":{"alt_text":"State department letter to Arena Stage","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/a5b5c2c0b3819f58adcad61d245af3e5.jpg?fit=982%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/a5b5c2c0b3819f58adcad61d245af3e5.jpg?fit=982%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/a5b5c2c0b3819f58adcad61d245af3e5.jpg?fit=982%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/a5b5c2c0b3819f58adcad61d245af3e5.jpg?fit=982%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9743,"url":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=9743","url_meta":{"origin":9942,"position":3},"title":"New Exhibition in SCRC – Looking Over Our Shoulder: The Cold War in American Culture","author":"Bob Vay","date":"September 21, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Growing up in the 1970s and 1980s, I was extremely conscious of the fact that my country was locked in a contentious rivalry with the U.S.S.R., China, East Germany, Cuba, and the other, in my father's words, \"Godless communist\" countries.\u00a0 This struggle seemed to span all facets of life on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "exhibits"","block_context":{"text":"exhibits","link":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?cat=22"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/C0036_B054_F118_12001_sm.jpg?fit=1200%2C947&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/C0036_B054_F118_12001_sm.jpg?fit=1200%2C947&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/C0036_B054_F118_12001_sm.jpg?fit=1200%2C947&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/C0036_B054_F118_12001_sm.jpg?fit=1200%2C947&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/C0036_B054_F118_12001_sm.jpg?fit=1200%2C947&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9895,"url":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=9895","url_meta":{"origin":9942,"position":4},"title":"Looking Over Our Shoulder: The Cold War and Civil Rights in the United States","author":"admin","date":"December 13, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"This blog post is most of the exhibit case text from \"The Cold War and Civil Rights in the United States,\" part of the Special Collections Research Center's \"Looking Over our Shoulder: the Cold War in American Culture\" exhibit, on display through January 2022. In the aftermath of World War\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "exhibits"","block_context":{"text":"exhibits","link":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?cat=22"},"img":{"alt_text":"Cover of pamphlet \"House Un-American Activities Committee: Bulwark of Segregation\" by Anne Braden","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/35e0b2737e167f9451346cc7c965eef4.jpg?fit=775%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/35e0b2737e167f9451346cc7c965eef4.jpg?fit=775%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/35e0b2737e167f9451346cc7c965eef4.jpg?fit=775%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/35e0b2737e167f9451346cc7c965eef4.jpg?fit=775%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7828,"url":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=7828","url_meta":{"origin":9942,"position":5},"title":"From Espionage to Academia: The Hayden B. Peake Historical Intelligence Collection","author":"admin","date":"August 8, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"This post was written by Mike Rynearson, Research Services Assistant. Mike has a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Security from Duquesne University and is currently earning his Masters Degree in International Security from George Mason University. Almost all of us are familiar with the world of espionage and spycraft\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "GMU Fairfax Campus"","block_context":{"text":"GMU Fairfax Campus","link":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?cat=272"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Iraq.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Iraq.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Iraq.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Iraq.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Iraq.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Iraq.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9942","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9942"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9942\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9956,"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9942\/revisions\/9956"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}