Donald Wheeler
Encyclopedia
Donald Niven Wheeler was a lifelong social activist, teacher
and member of the Communist Party
, as well as an accused Soviet
spy. Allegations of espionage
made against him were never proved, and he was never convicted despite repeated investigations.
and also attended college in England
. He was a brilliant scholar who received a Rhodes Scholarship
to Oxford University, and there, spurred by what he learned through his studies in economics, he joined the university branch of the Communist Party. He did post-graduate work at the University of Paris
but dropped out to join the International Brigades
during the Spanish Civil War
. There he met Mary Lukes Vause, a fellow graduate of Reed College, a new mother and the widow of his best friend, Clare Vause. They were married in 1938. He later returned to Oxford (1968) and completed his doctoral studies.
Duncan Lee
, a college classmate, described him as a really "progressive person".
" organizations before being employed by the government, first in the United States Department of Agriculture
, later the Department of Treasury
. From 1941 to 1946, Wheeler was employed by the Office of Strategic Services
(OSS) in Washington, D.C.
Wheeler was allegedly a member of the white collar unit of the Communist Party of the District of Columbia. Franz Neumann
, who worked with him in the OSS, allegedly gave a good report to Moscow
, describing him as "a calm and progressive man".
, Chairman of the CPUSA, turned control of the Perlo group
of Soviet spies over to Jacob Golos
two months before his death,and the group was subsequently taken over by his girlfriend, Elizabeth Bentley
.
As a member of the OSS Research and Analysis Division, Wheeler received secret and confidential 'ditto' copies of monthly and semi-monthly reports of political developments throughout the world. He had received government security clearance to do so. Wheeler is alleged to have passed these reports as well as handwritten and typewritten material of cable reports from the State Department and the OSS to Soviet intelligence. Wheeler is alleged to have provided information on the organization and policies of British intelligence services and furnished memoranda prepared by the Foreign Nationalities Branch of OSS on material relating to the particular racial groups and activities within the United States. None of these allegations, launched at the height of the McCarthyite witch-hunts of the early 1950s, were ever proved, and no charges were ever brought against Wheeler, who contended that the charges of espionage were a response to his outspoken criticism of the failings of the American economic and political system.
Beginning in 1944, the entire range of OSS planning documents on the postwar occupation of Germany
are alleged - by a single uncorroborated source - to have been supplied to KGB head Pavel Fitin
through Wheeler. Some observers considered Wheeler the most active operative within the Perlo group, and his complicity was alleged to have been corroborated by information exhumed from the NKVD
archives in the 1990s. Wheeler allegedly appears in Venona - a much disputed reference - as a Soviet source under the cover name "Izra". Again, there is no objective corroboration to prove that Wheeler was "Izra".
In the 1950s, Wheeler became a dairy farmer in Washington state because he was unable to find teaching work. Wheeler was subpoena
ed as a hostile witness before federal grand juries in Washington, D.C., and San Francisco, leaving his pregnant wife and four children to milk the cows. He was also summoned three times before the House Un-American Activities Committee
. His sister, Margaret Jean Schuddakopf, said that his courage and steadfastness was her beacon as she fought her own battle for the right to teach.
He had a long and distinguished teaching career, despite constant harassment and "blacklist
ing" because of his unconventional political views and his forthright and well-argued criticism of accepted apologetics for the political and economic status quo in the US. He taught at Yale University
, at Franconia College
in Franconia, New Hampshire
, and at Brandon University
in Manitoba
, Canada.
, and his library will be donated to the George A. Meyers Collection at Frostburg State University
in Maryland
.
Teacher
A teacher or schoolteacher is a person who provides education for pupils and students . The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out at a school or other place of formal education. In many countries, a person who wishes to become a teacher must first obtain specified professional...
and member of the Communist Party
Communist party
A political party described as a Communist party includes those that advocate the application of the social principles of communism through a communist form of government...
, as well as an accused Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
spy. Allegations of espionage
Espionage
Espionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, lest the legitimate holder of the information change plans or take other countermeasures once it...
made against him were never proved, and he was never convicted despite repeated investigations.
Education
He was a graduate of Reed CollegeReed College
Reed College is a private, independent, liberal arts college located in southeast Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1908, Reed is a residential college with a campus located in Portland's Eastmoreland neighborhood, featuring architecture based on the Tudor-Gothic style, and a forested canyon wilderness...
and also attended college in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. He was a brilliant scholar who received a Rhodes Scholarship
Rhodes Scholarship
The Rhodes Scholarship, named after Cecil Rhodes, is an international postgraduate award for study at the University of Oxford. It was the first large-scale programme of international scholarships, and is widely considered the "world's most prestigious scholarship" by many public sources such as...
to Oxford University, and there, spurred by what he learned through his studies in economics, he joined the university branch of the Communist Party. He did post-graduate work at the University of Paris
University of Paris
The University of Paris was a university located in Paris, France and one of the earliest to be established in Europe. It was founded in the mid 12th century, and officially recognized as a university probably between 1160 and 1250...
but dropped out to join the International Brigades
International Brigades
The International Brigades were military units made up of volunteers from different countries, who traveled to Spain to defend the Second Spanish Republic in the Spanish Civil War between 1936 and 1939....
during the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
. There he met Mary Lukes Vause, a fellow graduate of Reed College, a new mother and the widow of his best friend, Clare Vause. They were married in 1938. He later returned to Oxford (1968) and completed his doctoral studies.
Duncan Lee
Duncan Lee
Lt. Col. Duncan Chaplin Lee was confidential assistant to Maj. Gen. William Donovan, founder and director of the Office of Strategic Services , World War II-era predecessor of the CIA, during 1942-46...
, a college classmate, described him as a really "progressive person".
Government
Wheeler was associated with various so-called "CominternComintern
The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern, also known as the Third International, was an international communist organization initiated in Moscow during March 1919...
" organizations before being employed by the government, first in the United States Department of Agriculture
United States Department of Agriculture
The United States Department of Agriculture is the United States federal executive department responsible for developing and executing U.S. federal government policy on farming, agriculture, and food...
, later the Department of Treasury
United States Department of the Treasury
The Department of the Treasury is an executive department and the treasury of the United States federal government. It was established by an Act of Congress in 1789 to manage government revenue...
. From 1941 to 1946, Wheeler was employed by the Office of Strategic Services
Office of Strategic Services
The Office of Strategic Services was a United States intelligence agency formed during World War II. It was the wartime intelligence agency, and it was a predecessor of the Central Intelligence Agency...
(OSS) in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
Wheeler was allegedly a member of the white collar unit of the Communist Party of the District of Columbia. Franz Neumann
Franz Leopold Neumann
Franz Leopold Neumann was a German-Jewish left-wing political activist, Marxist theorist and labor lawyer, who became a political scientist in exile and is best known for his theoretical analyses of National Socialism. He studied in Germany and the United Kingdom, and spent the last phase of...
, who worked with him in the OSS, allegedly gave a good report to Moscow
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, describing him as "a calm and progressive man".
Perlo group
In November 1943, Earl BrowderEarl Browder
Earl Russell Browder was an American communist and General Secretary of the Communist Party USA from 1934 to 1945. He was expelled from the party in 1946.- Early years :...
, Chairman of the CPUSA, turned control of the Perlo group
Perlo group
Headed by Victor Perlo, the Perlo group is the name given to a group of Americans who provided information which was given to Soviet intelligence agencies; it was active during the World War II period, until the entire group was exposed to the FBI by the defection of Elizabeth Bentley...
of Soviet spies over to Jacob Golos
Jacob Golos
Jacob Golos, , was a Ukrainian-born Bolshevik revolutionary of ethnic Jewish heritage who became a secret police operative on behalf of the USSR in the United States...
two months before his death,and the group was subsequently taken over by his girlfriend, Elizabeth Bentley
Elizabeth Bentley
Elizabeth Terrill Bentley was an American spy for the Soviet Union from 1938 until 1945. In 1945 she defected from the Communist Party and Soviet intelligence and became an informer for the U.S. She exposed two networks of spies, ultimately naming over 80 Americans who had engaged in espionage for...
.
As a member of the OSS Research and Analysis Division, Wheeler received secret and confidential 'ditto' copies of monthly and semi-monthly reports of political developments throughout the world. He had received government security clearance to do so. Wheeler is alleged to have passed these reports as well as handwritten and typewritten material of cable reports from the State Department and the OSS to Soviet intelligence. Wheeler is alleged to have provided information on the organization and policies of British intelligence services and furnished memoranda prepared by the Foreign Nationalities Branch of OSS on material relating to the particular racial groups and activities within the United States. None of these allegations, launched at the height of the McCarthyite witch-hunts of the early 1950s, were ever proved, and no charges were ever brought against Wheeler, who contended that the charges of espionage were a response to his outspoken criticism of the failings of the American economic and political system.
Beginning in 1944, the entire range of OSS planning documents on the postwar occupation of Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
are alleged - by a single uncorroborated source - to have been supplied to KGB head Pavel Fitin
Pavel Fitin
Lieutenant General Pavel Mikhailovich Fitin was a Soviet intelligence officer and was the director of Soviet intelligence during World War II, identified in the Venona cables under the code name "Viktor."- Education :Fitin graduated from a program in agricultural...
through Wheeler. Some observers considered Wheeler the most active operative within the Perlo group, and his complicity was alleged to have been corroborated by information exhumed from the NKVD
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
archives in the 1990s. Wheeler allegedly appears in Venona - a much disputed reference - as a Soviet source under the cover name "Izra". Again, there is no objective corroboration to prove that Wheeler was "Izra".
In the 1950s, Wheeler became a dairy farmer in Washington state because he was unable to find teaching work. Wheeler was subpoena
Subpoena
A subpoena is a writ by a government agency, most often a court, that has authority to compel testimony by a witness or production of evidence under a penalty for failure. There are two common types of subpoena:...
ed as a hostile witness before federal grand juries in Washington, D.C., and San Francisco, leaving his pregnant wife and four children to milk the cows. He was also summoned three times before the House Un-American Activities Committee
House Un-American Activities Committee
The House Committee on Un-American Activities or House Un-American Activities Committee was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives. In 1969, the House changed the committee's name to "House Committee on Internal Security"...
. His sister, Margaret Jean Schuddakopf, said that his courage and steadfastness was her beacon as she fought her own battle for the right to teach.
He had a long and distinguished teaching career, despite constant harassment and "blacklist
Blacklist
A blacklist is a list or register of entities who, for one reason or another, are being denied a particular privilege, service, mobility, access or recognition. As a verb, to blacklist can mean to deny someone work in a particular field, or to ostracize a person from a certain social circle...
ing" because of his unconventional political views and his forthright and well-argued criticism of accepted apologetics for the political and economic status quo in the US. He taught at Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
, at Franconia College
Franconia College
Franconia College was a small experimental liberal arts college in Franconia, New Hampshire, United States. It opened in 1963 on the site of The Forest Hills Hotel on Agassiz Road, and closed in 1978, after years of declining enrollment and increasing financial difficulties.A small, eclectic...
in Franconia, New Hampshire
Franconia, New Hampshire
Franconia is a town in Grafton County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 1,104 at the 2010 census. Set in the White Mountains, Franconia is home to the northern half of Franconia Notch State Park. Parts of the White Mountain National Forest are in the eastern and southern portions...
, and at Brandon University
Brandon University
Brandon University is a Canadian university located in the city of Brandon, Manitoba, with an enrolment of 3383 full-time and part-time students. The current location was founded on July 13, 1899, as Brandon College as a Baptist institution. It was chartered as a university by then President Dr....
in Manitoba
Manitoba
Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...
, Canada.
Death
He died on November 8, 2002 in Seattle, Washington. Wheeler’s papers are in the archives of the University of WashingtonUniversity of Washington
University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
, and his library will be donated to the George A. Meyers Collection at Frostburg State University
Frostburg State University
Frostburg State University is a four-year university located on a campus in Frostburg, Maryland, in Western Maryland, and is part of the University System of Maryland. FSU is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.-History:...
in Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
.
Further reading
- Harvey Klehr, John Earl Haynes, and Fridrikh Igorevich Firsov, The Secret World of American Communism (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995)
- Allen Weinstein and Alexander Vassiliev, The Haunted Wood: Soviet Espionage in America—the Stalin Era (New York: Random House, 1999), pgs. 106, 225, 251-56, 257, 259, 261, 264, 286.
External links
- The Cold War International History Project (CWIHP) has the full text of former KGB agent Alexander Vassiliev's notebooks containing new evidence on Wheeler's cooperation with the Soviet Union