How the Cold War Began: The Gouzenko Affair and the Hunt for Soviet Spies

by Amy Knight

Just weeks after World War II had ended, a young cipher clerk named Igor Gouzenko walked out of the Soviet Embassy in Ottawa with secret papers stuffed under his shirt and headed straight for the offices of a city newspaper. His action would change the course of the twentieth century.

Gouzenko’s defection sent shockwaves through Washington, London, Moscow, and Ottawa. It was the first from a Soviet Embassy, and the smuggled documents, which suggested that agents in North America were feeding atomic secrets to Moscow, sparked a witch-hunt for spies, including not only Americans and Canadians, but a leading British nuclear scientist, Allan Nunn May.

FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover used Gouzenko’s defection to demonize the Soviets and discredit the leftists in President Harry Truman’s White House. All he had needed to push his agenda was evidence of spying, and Gouzenko delivered the goods. The FBI and the House Un-American Activities Committee used Gouzenko’s revelations to go after Alger Hiss, Harry Dexter White, and many others. And all the while, infamous MI-5 double-agent Kim Philby kept his Soviet masters apprised. The Cold War had truly begun.

In this first book to tell the Gouzenko story, Amy Knight uses newly declassified files as well as interviews with several of the key players to examine the substance of Gouzenko’s revelations and delve into his hidden motives for defecting. She explains how Gouzenko was really a pawn in a much larger game. And she brilliantly connects these events to the hardening of relations between Moscow and the West, the practice of guilt by association, and the end of the movement for international control of the atomic bomb.

Genres: History, Canada, Nonfiction

368 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Gail Amendt · Rating 4 out of 5]

On a recent trip to Ottawa, our tour guide stopped outside a non-descript apartment building and told us that this was where the Cold War began. It was the apartment of Igor Gouzenko, a cypher clerk at the Soviet Embassy who defected to Canada in September 1945, right after the end of WWII, carrying over 200 documents from the embassy that gave ample proof that the Soviet Union was spying on its allies and was particularly interested in nuclear weapons. Of course I had to know more about this, so I bought this book to fill in this glaring gap in my Canadian history knowledge. This book is well researched and dense, written for public consumption by a leading scholar of the Cold War and Soviet history. She tells of the initial hesitation of Canada, the US and Britain to act on this knowledge, as the Soviets were their wartime allies, and then their huge over-reaction that resulted in a witch hunt for spies and communists, particularly in the US. She contradicts the commonly taught story that Canada only used its draconian War Measures Act during wartime and the FLQ Crisis, as they used it to hold and interrogate without due process several of the people implicated as spies by the Gouzenko papers. Several people went to jail in Canada, and even those acquitted had their reputations ruined. At least one committed suicide. The evidence in these prosecutions was pretty thin, and much if not all of the information passed by these alleged spies was already part of the public record and probably not of much use to the Soviets. And is it even really spying if the nation you are passing information to is an ally? The big story that Igor Gouzenko brought to the Allied nations was that the Soviet Union was not really their friend. None of the details really mattered. The story of Gouzenko as a man was also interesting and complicated, and I'm left questioning his motives and what I think of him. I think the author shares my ambivalence. Overall this was a really interesting read, and corrected a large hole in my Canadian education.

[Billhotto · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent account of the Sept. 1945 defection of Soviet cypher clerk Igor Gozchenko. He was working
for Soviet army intellegence in their Ottawa embassy. The information he provided led to the arrest of members of a Canadian spy ring. Although the information passed was of little use to the Soviets, the fact that they were spying on their WW II allies engendered the mistrust that led to the Cold War. It also fed the Red hunting of HUAC and the Senate Security Committee much of which was managed by J. Edgar Hoover. The major issue was control of the A bomb and civilian control of nuclear energy. Gozchenko's revelations led Truman to restrict nuclear secrets and give the military control of nuclear weapons.
Knight points out that although Gozchenko was generally reliable, his statements were recast to support the desire of the RCMP and the FBI to convict individuals suspected of espionage. She casts doubt on Alger Hiss' guilt (while cautioning we can't be certain). She also relates the tragic story
of Canadian diplomat Herbert Norman who committed suicide after years of being hounded by FBI and
the Senate committee. Norman fell under suspicion simply because Gozchenko mentioned a Soviet spy named Norman. Although the Canadians cleared Herbert Norman the Americans refused to give up their accusations.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finished reading my 80th book this year. It was another great Soviet history book by Amy Knight, "How the Cold War Began: The Gouzenko Affair and the Hunt for Soviet Spies." I have read a lot about the Cold War but honestly very little of the Gouzenko affair ans that is kind of surprising. I suspect it has to do with it being a Canadian Affair but this was the defection that ignited the Cold War. It probably would have still happened, but Ms. Knight presents and excellent case that it was the spark. #reading #history #coldwar #amyknight #howthecoldwarbegan

[César Augusto · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ofereceu muito menos do que prometia, por se tratar de espionagem soviética esperava mais do livro porém me decepcionou bastante, muito parado , moroso e bastante desinteressante. Há muitos livros melhores para abordar a guerra fria.

[George Hodgson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A remarkable book. Does a great job illustrating how Gouzenko’s defection started the Cold War. More importantly, how it set off the American and British investigations into the Soviet spy rings operating in the two Countries as well as in Canada.

[GreyAtlas · Rating 1 out of 5]

Boring.

[Judith the Book Gobbler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative and comprehensive.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This review can also be found on A Thousand Lives Lived, check it out for more!

I am telling you that I did not plan to read this book. I really wasn't interested in those boring American history books about subject matters that could be explained much better. BUT. (There's a but!) I needed to read this for a research essay for school about Igor Gouzenko and how he basically affected society politically and socially/culturally. This was the only book available about the Gouzenko Affair and to be honest, it wasn't too terrible. I based much of my research paper on this book and everything that Amy Knight highlighted. How the Cold War Began was an interesting novel that provided me with the just the right amount of information that I could base my paper on. I was able to learn more about the other Soviet spies who had similar jobs to Gouzenko, and I was able to also learn about how Gouzenko achieved the courage to defect and announce his role.

This was difficult to read, and that was a major flaw for me. I ended up skimming some parts because I felt that some chapters were not relevant for my paper. This is not the ordinary kind of book I would pick up and read, so I decided that I would only bookmark the important parts. On a road trip back home from the lovely New Orleans, I picked this one up and spent my two-day journey reading it, sticky-tabbing it, you name it. I would honestly prefer to read a contemporary-romance, but it was pretty enjoyable since I chose the subject matter.

Would I recommend this? Sure. If you are an avid history reader/lover who wants to learn more about the initial moments of the Cold War and how Russia, the United States and Canada played a role, go for this. It truly is quite interesting.

How the Cold War Began was the perfect book to read for the purpose of what I was writing about at the time. I wasn't 100% interested in the writing at all times, but that's history for me (and most people).

[Toula · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you are interested in a piece of forgotten Canadian history that had deep repercussions for American history, (Joe McCarthy, witch hunts o the 50's), then this book is for you ! It drags a bit in some parts, but overall very interesting.