Nathan Gregory Silvermaster (November 27, 1898 – October 7, 1964), an

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

with the United States

War Production Board The War Production Board (WPB) was an agency of the United States government that supervised war production during World War II. President Franklin D. Roosevelt established it in January 1942, with Executive Order 9024. The WPB replaced the Sup ...

(WPB) during World War II, was the head of a large ring of

Communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

spies Spies most commonly refers to people who engage in spying, espionage or clandestine operations. Spies or The Spies may also refer to: * Spies (surname), a German surname * Spies (band), a jazz fusion band * "Spies" (song), a song by Coldplay * ...

in the U.S. government. It is from him that the

FBI Silvermaster File The Silvermaster File of the United States' Federal Bureau of Investigation is a 162-volume compendium totalling 26,000 pages of documents relating to the FBI's investigation of GRU and NKVD moles inside the U.S. federal government both before and ...

, documenting the Bureau's investigation into Communist penetration of the

Federal government A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governin ...

during the 1930s and 1940s, takes its name. His wife,

Helen Helen may refer to: People * Helen of Troy, in Greek mythology, the most beautiful woman in the world * Helen (actress) (born 1938), Indian actress * Helen (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) Places * Helen, ...

and stepson,

Anatole Volkov Anatole Boris Volkov (October 29, 1924 – November 28, 2000) was an American physicist, allegedly serving as a courier for the FBI Silvermaster File, Silvermaster spy ring between Washington, D.C., and New York City. Volkov taught both abroad and ...

, were members of his ring. He was identified as a

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

agent in the WPB operating under the code names Pel, Pal, "Paul" in the

Venona The Venona project was a United States counterintelligence program initiated during World War II by the United States Army's Signal Intelligence Service (later absorbed by the National Security Agency), which ran from February 1, 1943, until Octob ...

decrypts; and as "Robert" both in Venona and independently by defecting

Soviet intelligence This is a list of historical secret police organizations. In most cases they are no longer current because the regime that ran them was overthrown or changed, or they changed their names. Few still exist under the same name as legitimate police fo ...

courier

Elizabeth Bentley Elizabeth Terrill Bentley (January 1, 1908 – December 3, 1963) was an American spy and member of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA). She served the Soviet Union from 1938 to 1945 until she defected from the Communist Party and Soviet intelligenc ...

Background

Silvermaster was born to a Jewish family in

Odessa Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrativ ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

(present-day

Odessa, Ukraine Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrative ...

) in 1898. He moved with his family to

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, where he learned to speak perfect English with a British accent. He emigrated to the United States and earned his

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

from the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

(where he was "stated to be a known Communist") and a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

, where his thesis was entitled ''Lenin's Economic Thought Prior to the October Revolution''. He became a

naturalized Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the in ...

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

citizen in 1926. He was reported to be in contact with a very large number of

Communist Party USA The Communist Party USA, officially the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA), is a communist party in the United States which was established in 1919 after a split in the Socialist Party of America following the Russian Revo ...

officials, and was active in a number of Communist

front groups A front organization is any entity set up by and controlled by another organization, such as intelligence agencies, organized crime groups, terrorist organizations, secret societies, banned organizations, religious or political groups, advocacy gro ...

Career

Civil service

From August 1935 to November 1938, Silvermaster worked in the

Farm Security Administration The Farm Security Administration (FSA) was a New Deal agency created in 1937 to combat rural poverty during the Great Depression in the United States. It succeeded the Resettlement Administration (1935–1937). The FSA is famous for its small but ...

. From November 1938 to July 1940, he worked on the

Maritime Labor Board The Maritime Labor Board (MLB) was an independent US government agency with responsibilities for mediating and researching US labor law in relation to labor disputes in the maritime industry. In 1941, its mediation function lapsed, after which it ...

. From July 1940 to December 1944, he worked in the Department of Agriculture. While nominally remaining on the employment rolls of the Farm Security Administration, Silvermaster arranged in 1942 to be detailed to the

Board of Economic Warfare The Office of Administrator of Export Control (also referred to as the Export Control Administration) was established in the United States by Presidential Proclamation 2413, July 2, 1940, to administer export licensing provisions of the act of July ...

. The transfer, however, triggered objections from military counter-intelligence who suspected he was a hidden

and regarded him as a security risk. On July 16, 1942 the U.S. Civil Service Commission recommended ''"Cancel eligibilities ... and bar him for the duration of the

National Emergency A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to be able to put through policies that it would normally not be permitted to do, for the safety and protection of its citizens. A government can declare such a state du ...

."'' Silvermaster denied any Communist links and appealed to Under Secretary of War

Robert Patterson Robert Patterson (January 12, 1792 – August 7, 1881) was an Irish-born United States major general during the American Civil War, chiefly remembered for inflicting an early defeat on Stonewall Jackson, but crucially failing to stop Confede ...

to overrule the security officials. Both White House advisor

Lauchlin Currie Lauchlin Bernard Currie (October 8, 1902 – December 23, 1993) worked as White House economic adviser to President Franklin Roosevelt during World War II (1939–45). From 1949 to 1953, he directed a major World Bank mission to Colombia and re ...

(identified in

as the Soviet agent operating under the cover name "Page"Robert J. Hanyok
''Eavesdropping on Hell: Historical Guide to Western Communications Intelligence and the Holocaust'', 1939-45
(Washington, DC: Center for Cryptologic History, National Security Agency, 2005, 2nd edition), pg. 119 (PDF pg. 124)) and Assistant Secretary of the Treasury

Harry Dexter White Harry Dexter White (October 29, 1892 – August 16, 1948) was a senior U.S. Treasury department official. Working closely with the Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau Jr., he helped set American financial policy toward the Allies of World W ...

(identified in Venona as the Soviet agent operating under the cover names "Lawyer"; "Jurist"; "Richard") intervened on his behalf. Silvermaster subsequently received two promotions and pay raises. From 1942 to 1945, he was also assigned to the

United States Treasury The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States, where it serves as an executive department. The department oversees the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and t ...

. In mid-1945, he joined the

Reconstruction Finance Corporation The Reconstruction Finance Corporation was a government corporation administered by the United States Federal Government between 1932 and 1957 that provided financial support to state and local governments and made loans to banks, railroads, mortgag ...

(later

War Assets Corporation War is an intense armed conflict between State (polity), states, governments, Society, societies, or paramilitary groups such as Mercenary, mercenaries, Insurgency, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violenc ...

). In March 1946, he resigned from government. On August 28, 1950,

Lee Pressman Lee Pressman (July 1, 1906 – November 20, 1969) was a labor attorney and earlier a US government functionary, publicly alleged in 1948 to have been a spy for Soviet intelligence during the mid-1930s (as a member of the Ware Group), following hi ...

(a member of the

Ware Group The Ware Group was a covert organization of Communist Party USA operatives within the United States government in the 1930s, run first by Harold Ware (1889–1935) and then by Whittaker Chambers (1901–1961) after Ware's accidental death on Augus ...

, a precursor to the Silvermaster and Perlo) said of Silvermaster, "I believe he was with the Maritime Labor Board when I was with the CIO, and in that connection I may have had some business dealings with him" (apparently referring to Silvermasters time with that union 1938–1940).

Espionage: Silvermaster Group

Kathryn S. Olmsted, the author of ''Red Spy Queen'' (2002), points out: "Every two weeks, Elizabeth would travel to Washington to pick up documents from the Silvermasters, collect their Party dues, and deliver Communist literature. Soon the flow of documents grew so large that Ullmann, an amateur photographer, set up a darkroom in their basement. Elizabeth usually collected at least two or three rolls of microfilmed secret documents, and one time received as many as forty. She would stuff all the film and documents into a knitting bag or other innocent feminine accessory, then take it back to New York on the train." Moscow complained that around half of the photographed documents received in the summer of 1944 were unreadable and suggested that Ullmann receive more training. However, Pavel Fitin, who was responsible for analyzing the material, described it as very important data. At the

, Silvermaster was able to provide the Soviet Union with a large amount of data on arms, aircraft, and shipping production. In June 1943, Silvermaster sent a War Production Board report on arms production in the United States, including bombers, pursuit planes, tanks, propelled guns, howitzers, radar and submarines, sub chasers, and the like, to Soviet intelligence. Then, in December 1944, the New York MGB office cabled another Silvermaster report stating: "(Silvermaster) has sent us a 50-page Top Secret War Production Board report ... on arms production in the U.S." In 1944, Silvermaster was associated with

at the

Bretton Woods conference The Bretton Woods Conference, formally known as the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference, was the gathering of 730 delegates from all 44 Allied nations at the Mount Washington Hotel, situated in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, Unite ...

, and his testimony before the US

Senate Internal Security Subcommittee The United States Senate's Special Subcommittee to Investigate the Administration of the Internal Security Act and Other Internal Security Laws, 1951–77, known more commonly as the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee (SISS) and sometimes the M ...

covers "175 pages of interrogation and exhibits" regarding his espionage activities in the U.S. The Silvermaster spy ring operated primarily in the Department of the Treasury but also had contacts in the

Army Air Force The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

and in the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...

. Sixty-one of the Venona cables concern the activities of the Silvermaster spy ring. This represents 1% of the total (approx 6,000 cables) and 3% of the (2,000) translated/partially translated VENONA cables. *Nathan Gregory Silvermaster, Chief Planning Technician, Procurement Division,

United States Department of the Treasury The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States, where it serves as an executive department. The department oversees the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and t ...

; Chief Economist, War Assets Administration; Director of the Labor Division, Farm Security Administration;

;

Department of Commerce The United States Department of Commerce is an executive department of the U.S. federal government concerned with creating the conditions for economic growth and opportunity. Among its tasks are gathering economic and demographic data for bu ...

* Helen Silvermaster, wife *

Anatole Boris Volkov Anatole Boris Volkov (October 29, 1924 – November 28, 2000) was an American physicist, allegedly serving as a courier for the Silvermaster spy ring between Washington, D.C., and New York City. Volkov taught both abroad and in America, retiring i ...

, stepson * Solomon Adler aka Schlomer Adler, U.S. Department of the Treasury * Norman Chandler Bursler,

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United State ...

Anti-Trust Division * Frank Coe, Assistant Director, Division of Monetary Research, Treasury Department; Special Assistant to the U.S. Ambassador in London; Assistant to the Executive Director, Board of Economic Warfare; Assistant Administrator,

Foreign Economic Administration In the administration of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the Foreign Economic Administration (FEA) was formed to relieve friction between US agencies operating abroad on September 25, 1943. As described by the biographer of the FEA's chief, Leo Crowley ...

, Administrative Assistant to President Roosevelt; Deputy Administrator of Foreign Economic Administration; Special Representative to China *

Bela Gold Bela Gold, also Bill Gold, (1915–2012), was a Hungarian-born American businessman and professor. Biography Bela Gold was born on 30 January 1915, in Kolozsvár (then in Austria-Hungary, now Cluj-Napoca, in Romania). His parents were Esthe ...

, Assistant Head of Program Surveys, Bureau of Agricultural Economics,

United States Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the United States federal executive departments, federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, ...

; Senate Subcommittee on War Mobilization; Office of Economic Programs in Foreign Economic Administration *

Sonia Steinman Gold Sonia Steinman Gold (December 17, 1917 in New York City – August 31, 2009) was a United States government employee in the 1930s and 1940s, who has been alleged to be part of the Silvermaster spy ring in Washington D.C., spying for the Soviet ...

, Division of Monetary Research U.S. Treasury Department; U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee on Interstate Migration; U.S. Bureau of Employment Security * Irving Kaplan, Foreign Funds Control and Division of Monetary Research, United States Department of the Treasury Foreign Economic Administration; chief advisor to the Military Government of Germany *

George Silverman Abraham George Silverman was a mathematician and statistician who was a member of the Soviet Ware Group. Biography Silverman graduated from Harvard University. In the early days of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal, he worked for the ...

, civilian Chief Production Specialist, Material Division,

Air Staff,

War Department War Department may refer to: * War Department (United Kingdom) * United States Department of War (1789–1947) See also * War Office, a former department of the British Government * Ministry of defence * Ministry of War * Ministry of Defence * Dep ...

, Pentagon *

William Henry Taylor William Henry Taylor (30 March 1906 – January 1965) was a Canadian-born U.S. Treasury economist accused by Elizabeth Bentley of having been a Soviet spy. Life Taylor, born in British Columbia, studied at the University of British Columbia and ...

, Assistant Director of the Middle East Division of Monetary Research, United States Department of Treasury * William "Lud" Ullman, delegate to

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

Charter meeting and

; Division of Monetary Research, Department of Treasury; Material and Services Division, Air Corps Headquarters, Pentagon *

, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury; Head of the

International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution, headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 190 countries. Its stated mission is "working to foster globa ...

Death

He died on October 7, 1964, aged 65, possibly in

Harvey Cedars, New Jersey Harvey Cedars is a borough in Ocean County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 337,746, 747, 748 Venona New York KGB to Moscow, May 25 1942
Data on construction and distribution of U.S. military aircraft.
1061, 0162, 1063 Venona New York KGB to Moscow, July 3, 1943, pg. 1pg. 2
Numerical strength of the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

. *Richard C.S. Trahair and Robert Miller, ''Encyclopedia of Cold War Espionage, Spies, and Secret Operations'' (New York: Enigma Books, 2008) . *
The Cold War International History Project (CWIHP)
has the full text of former KGB agent Alexander Vassiliev's Notebooks, containing new evidence on Silvermaster's role in Soviet espionage in the United States

(26,000+ pages)

(1,950 pages) {{DEFAULTSORT:Silvermaster, Nathangregory 1898 births 1964 deaths Cold War spies Venona project Silvermaster spy ring University of California, Berkeley alumni University of Washington alumni Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States Jewish Chinese history Odesa Jews American spies for the Soviet Union American people in the Venona papers Place of death missing People from Harvey Cedars, New Jersey