Michael Whitney Straight (September 1, 1916 – January 4, 2004) was an American
magazine publisher,
novelist
A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire to ...
, patron of the arts, a member of the prominent
Whitney family
The Whitney family is an American family notable for their business enterprises, social prominence, wealth and philanthropy, founded by John Whitney (1592–1673), who came from London, England to Watertown, Massachusetts in 1635. The historic fa ...
, and a confessed spy for the
KGB
The KGB (russian: links=no, lit=Committee for State Security, Комитет государственной безопасности (КГБ), a=ru-KGB.ogg, p=kəmʲɪˈtʲet ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ, Komitet gosud ...
.
Early life
Straight was born in New York City, the son of
Willard Dickerman Straight
Willard Dickerman Straight (January 31, 1880 – December 1, 1918) was an American investment banker, publisher, reporter, diplomat and by marriage, a member of the very wealthy Whitney family. He was a promoter of Chinese arts and investments, an ...
(1880–1918), an investment banker who died in Michael's infancy, and
Dorothy Payne Whitney
Dorothy Payne Elmhirst ( Whitney; January 23, 1887 – December 14, 1968) was an American-born social activist, philanthropist, publisher and a member of the prominent Whitney family.
Life and work
Whitney was born in Washington, D.C., the daugh ...
(1887–1968), a philanthropist. Straight was educated at
Lincoln School in New York City and, after his mother's remarriage to
Leonard Knight Elmhirst
Leonard Knight Elmhirst (6 June 1893 – 16 April 1974) was a British philanthropist and agronomist who worked extensively in India. He co-founded with his wife, Dorothy, the Dartington Hall project in progressive education and rural reconstruc ...
(1893–1974), in England at his family's
Dartington Hall
Dartington Hall in Dartington, near Totnes, Devon, England, is an historic house and country estate of dating from medieval times. The group of late 14th century buildings are Grade I listed; described in Pevsner's Buildings of England as "on ...
, followed by studies at the
London School of Economics
, mottoeng = To understand the causes of things
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £240.8 million (2021)
, budget = £391.1 millio ...
. His siblings were racing driver
Whitney Straight
Air Commodore Whitney Willard Straight, (6 November 1912 – 5 April 1979) was a Grand Prix motor racing driver, aviator, businessman, and a member of the prominent Whitney family of the United States.
Early life
Born in New York City, Whitn ...
and
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
-winning actress
Beatrice Straight
Beatrice Whitney Straight (August 2, 1914 – April 7, 2001) was an American theatre, film and television actress and a member of the prominent Whitney family. She was an Academy Award and Tony Award winner as well as an Emmy Award nominee.
...
.
Straight's maternal grandparents were Flora Payne and
William Collins Whitney
William Collins Whitney (July 5, 1841February 2, 1904) was an American political leader and financier and a prominent descendant of the John Whitney family. He served as Secretary of the Navy in the first administration of President Grover Clev ...
(1841–1904), the United States
Secretary of the Navy
The secretary of the Navy (or SECNAV) is a statutory officer () and the head (chief executive officer) of the Department of the Navy, a military department (component organization) within the United States Department of Defense.
By law, the se ...
during the first
Cleveland
Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...
administration. Flora was the daughter of Senator
Henry B. Payne
Henry B. Payne (November 30, 1810September 9, 1896) was an American politician from Ohio. Moving to Ohio from his native New York in 1833, he quickly established himself in law and business while becoming a local leader in Democratic politics. ...
of
Ohio
Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
and sister of Colonel
Oliver Hazard Payne
Oliver Hazard Payne (July 21, 1839 – June 27, 1917) was an American businessman, organizer of the American Tobacco trust, and assisted with the formation of U.S. Steel, and was affiliated with Standard Oil.
Early life
Oliver Hazard Payne w ...
.
Career
While a student at
Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...
in the mid-1930s, Straight became a
Communist Party
A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...
member and a part of an intellectual secret society known as the
Cambridge Apostles
The Cambridge Apostles (also known as ''Conversazione Society'') is an intellectual society at the University of Cambridge founded in 1820 by George Tomlinson, a Cambridge student who became the first Bishop of Gibraltar.W. C. Lubenow, ''The Ca ...
. Straight worked for the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
as part of a spy ring whose members included
Donald Maclean,
Guy Burgess
Guy Francis de Moncy Burgess (16 April 1911 – 30 August 1963) was a British diplomat and Soviet agent, and a member of the Cambridge Five spy ring that operated from the mid-1930s to the early years of the Cold War era. His defection in 1951 ...
,
Kim Philby
Harold Adrian Russell "Kim" Philby (1 January 191211 May 1988) was a British intelligence officer and a double agent for the Soviet Union. In 1963 he was revealed to be a member of the Cambridge Five, a spy ring which had divulged British secr ...
and KGB recruiter
Anthony Blunt
Anthony Frederick Blunt (26 September 1907 – 26 March 1983), styled Sir Anthony Blunt KCVO from 1956 to November 1979, was a leading British art historian and Soviet spy.
Blunt was professor of art history at the University of London, dire ...
.
A document from Soviet archives of a report that Blunt made in 1943 to the KGB states, "As you already know the actual recruits whom I took were Michael Straight".
Straight finished third in the 1934 South African Grand Prix, a race dominated by his brother Whitney.
After returning to the United States in 1937, Straight worked as a speechwriter for President
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
and was on the payroll of the
Department of the Interior
The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government headquartered at the Main Interior Building, located at 1849 C Street NW in Washington, D.C. It is responsible for the mana ...
. Beginning in 1938, Straight carried on a covert relationship with
Iskhak Akhmerov
Iskhak Abdulovich Akhmerov (russian: italic=yes, Исха́к Абду́лович Ахме́ров, tt-Cyrl, Исхак Габдулла улы Әхмәров, translit=İsxaq Ğabdulla ulı Əxmərov) (1901–1976) was a highly decorated OGPU/NK ...
, the KGB spy.
In 1940, Straight went to work in the Eastern Division of the
United States Department of State
The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other n ...
.
In 1942, Straight joined 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 ...
, where he served as the pilot of a
Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress
The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engined heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). Relatively fast and high-flying for a bomber of its era, the B-17 was used primarily in the European Theater ...
, although he never saw combat. After the war, he took over as publisher of ''
The New Republic
''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in hum ...
'', which was owned by his family. During his tenure, Straight hired former US vice president and future presidential candidate
Henry A. Wallace
Henry Agard Wallace (October 7, 1888 – November 18, 1965) was an American politician, journalist, farmer, and businessman who served as the 33rd vice president of the United States, the 11th U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, and the 10th U.S. S ...
to serve as the magazine's editor. Straight's writing for the magazine included a glowing review of
J. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philology, philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''.
From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was ...
's ''
The Lord of the Rings
''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's boo ...
'' when it was published. In 1956, Straight left the magazine and began writing novels.
However, in 1963, in response to an offer of government employment in
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
, Straight faced a background check, and decided voluntarily to inform family friend and
presidential
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
* President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese fu ...
special assistant
Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.
Arthur Meier Schlesinger Jr. (; born Arthur Bancroft Schlesinger; October 15, 1917 – February 28, 2007) was an American historian, social critic, and public intellectual. The son of the influential historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Sr. and a spe ...
about his communist connections at Cambridge. This led directly to the exposure of Blunt as the recruiter of the
Cambridge Five
The Cambridge Spy Ring was a ring of spies in the United Kingdom that passed information to the Soviet Union during World War II and was active from the 1930s until at least into the early 1950s. None of the known members were ever prosecuted for ...
spy ring.
Straight served as the deputy chairman of the
National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...
from 1969 to 1977. In 1988, he published ''
Nancy Hanks
Nancy Hanks Lincoln (February 5, 1784 – October 5, 1818) was the mother of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln. Her marriage to Thomas Lincoln also produced a daughter, Sarah, and a son, Thomas Jr. When Nancy and Thomas had been married for j ...
: An Intimate Portrait'', which told the story of the second chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, with whom he had worked.
Memoirs and novels
Straight wrote several novels, including ''Carrington'' (1960), about the
Fetterman massacre
The Fetterman Fight, also known as the Fetterman Massacre or the Battle of the Hundred-in-the-Hands or the Battle of a Hundred Slain, was a battle during Red Cloud's War on December 21, 1866, between a confederation of the Lakota, Cheyenne, and ...
of 1866, and ''A Very Small Remnant'' (1963), about the
Sand Creek massacre of 1864, both
Westerns
The Western is a genre set in the American frontier and commonly associated with folk tales of the Western United States, particularly the Southwestern United States, as well as Northern Mexico and Western Canada. It is commonly referred ...
that received respectful reviews, as well as ''Happy and Hopeless'' (1979), a love story set in the
Kennedy Administration
John F. Kennedy's tenure as the 35th president of the United States, began with his inauguration on January 20, 1961, and ended with his assassination on November 22, 1963. A Democrat from Massachusetts, he took office following the 1960 p ...
that he published himself. In 1983, Straight detailed his Communist activities in a memoir entitled ''After Long Silence.'' His second memoir, ''On Green Spring Farm: The Life and Times of One Family in Fairfax County, Va., 1942 to 1966'' was published posthumously by Devon Press.
Personal life
In September 1939, he married Belinda Crompton (1920–2015) of
Wilton, New Hampshire
Wilton is a town in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 3,896 at the 2020 census. Like many small New England towns, it grew up around water-powered textile mills, but is now a rural bedroom community with some m ...
who was a
child psychiatrist
Child and adolescent psychiatry (or pediatric psychiatry) is a branch of psychiatry that focuses on the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of mental disorders in children, adolescents, and their families. It investigates the biopsychosocial fact ...
. Together with Belinda, until their divorce in 1969, he had five children:
* David Straight, who became a
computer science
Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to Applied science, practical discipli ...
professor at the
University of Tennessee
The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state, ...
* Michael Straight Jr.
* Susan Straight
* Diana Straight (Krosnick)
*
Dorothy Straight
Dorothy Elmhirst Straight (born May 25, 1958 in Washington, D.C.) is an American author who wrote '' How the World Began'' in 1962 at the age of 4 for her grandmother, Dorothy Payne Whitney, making her among the youngest published authors in hist ...
(b. 1958), who was the youngest published author.
In 1965,
Straight purchased the former
Georgetown home of
Jackie Kennedy
Jacqueline Lee Kennedy Onassis ( ; July 28, 1929 – May 19, 1994) was an American socialite, writer, photographer, and book editor who served as first lady of the United States from 1961 to 1963, as the wife of President John F. Kennedy. A pop ...
, located at
3017 N Street, for $200,000 (). Kennedy bought the home when she moved out of 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. ...
and Straight purchased it when Kennedy moved to
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
.
In 1974, Straight married his second wife,
Nina G. Auchincloss Steers, the daughter of Nina Gore and
Hugh D. Auchincloss
Hugh Dudley Auchincloss Jr. (August 15, 1897 – November 20, 1976) was an American stockbroker and lawyer who became the second husband of Nina S. Gore, mother of Gore Vidal, and also the second husband of Janet Lee Bouvier, the mother of Firs ...
. Steers was the half-sister of writer
Gore Vidal
Eugene Luther Gore Vidal (; born Eugene Louis Vidal, October 3, 1925 – July 31, 2012) was an American writer and public intellectual known for his epigrammatic wit, erudition, and patrician manner. Vidal was bisexual, and in his novels and ...
and, coincidentally, a stepsister of
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
Jacqueline Lee Kennedy Onassis ( ; July 28, 1929 – May 19, 1994) was an American socialite, writer, photographer, and book editor who served as first lady of the United States from 1961 to 1963, as the wife of President John F. Kennedy. A pop ...
. Nina had previously been married to
Newton Steers
Newton Ivan Steers Jr. (January 13, 1917 – February 11, 1993), was a U.S. Congressman who represented Maryland's 8th congressional district from January 3, 1977, to January 3, 1979.
Early life
Newton Ivan Steers Jr. was born on January 13, 19 ...
from 1957–1974 and with him she had three children:
Hugh Auchincloss Steers
Hugh Auchincloss Steers (June 12, 1962 – March 1, 1995) was an American painter whose work is in the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Walker Art Center, and the Denver Art Museum. He died of AIDS at the age of 32.
Early life
Steers was born ...
(1963–1995), Ivan Steers, and
Burr Steers
Burr Gore Steers is an American actor, screenwriter, and director. His films include ''Igby Goes Down'' (2002) and '' 17 Again'' (2009). He is a nephew of writer Gore Vidal.
Family
Steers was born in Washington, D.C. His father, Newton Ivan ...
(born 1965). The wedding was attended by
Hugh D. Auchincloss
Hugh Dudley Auchincloss Jr. (August 15, 1897 – November 20, 1976) was an American stockbroker and lawyer who became the second husband of Nina S. Gore, mother of Gore Vidal, and also the second husband of Janet Lee Bouvier, the mother of Firs ...
,
Janet Auchincloss,
Jackie Kennedy
Jacqueline Lee Kennedy Onassis ( ; July 28, 1929 – May 19, 1994) was an American socialite, writer, photographer, and book editor who served as first lady of the United States from 1961 to 1963, as the wife of President John F. Kennedy. A pop ...
,
Renata Adler
Renata Adler (born October 19, 1938) is an American author, journalist, and film critic. Adler was a staff writer-reporter for ''The New Yorker'', and in 1968–69, she served as chief film critic for ''The New York Times''. She is also a write ...
,
Beatrice Straight
Beatrice Whitney Straight (August 2, 1914 – April 7, 2001) was an American theatre, film and television actress and a member of the prominent Whitney family. She was an Academy Award and Tony Award winner as well as an Emmy Award nominee.
...
, and
Peter Cookson
Peter Cookson (May 8, 1913 – January 6, 1990) was an American stage and film actor of the 1940s and 1950s. He was known for his collaborations with his wife, Beatrice Straight, an actress and member of the Whitney family.
Early life
Cookso ...
.
Straight lived in the
Georgetown home from 1964 until 1976 when he sold it to
Yolande Betbeze Fox, the former
Miss America 1951
Miss America 1951, the 24th Miss America pageant, was held at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey on September 9, 1950. Based on the majority of Miss America's reign occurring during the year following her coronation, the pageant bega ...
.
Straight and his wife spent $125,000 () renovating the home and decided to move to
Bethesda, Maryland
Bethesda () is an unincorporated, census-designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland. It is located just northwest of Washington, D.C. It takes its name from a local church, the Bethesda Meeting House (1820, rebuilt 1849), which in ...
in 1976 when he was vice chairman of the
National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...
.
They subsequently divorced and in 1998, he married Katharine Gould, a
child psychiatrist
Child and adolescent psychiatry (or pediatric psychiatry) is a branch of psychiatry that focuses on the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of mental disorders in children, adolescents, and their families. It investigates the biopsychosocial fact ...
and art historian.
Straight died of
pancreatic cancer
Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of t ...
at his home in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
,
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...
, on January 4, 2004, aged 87.
He also had a home on
Martha's Vineyard
Martha's Vineyard, often simply called the Vineyard, is an island in the Northeastern United States, located south of Cape Cod in Dukes County, Massachusetts, known for being a popular, affluent summer colony. Martha's Vineyard includes the s ...
in
.
In popular culture
In
season 3
A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pola ...
of the popular television show, ''
The Crown
The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has different ...
'', actor
Paul Hilton plays Straight in the first episode.
References
Further reading
*Michael Straight, ''After Long Silence'', New York: Norton, (1983)
*Nigel West and Oleg Tsarev, ''The Crown Jewels: The British Secrets at the Heart of the KGB Archives'' (London: HarperCollins, 1998; New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999), pgs. 112, 116, 130, 133–134.
*Allen Weinstein, ''
Perjury: The Hiss–Chambers Case'', New York: Random House, (1997)
*John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr, ''Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America'', New Haven: Yale University Press (1999)
*Roland Perry,''The Last of the Cold War Spies: The Life of Michael Straight'', Da Capo Press (2005)
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 Straight's involvement in Soviet espionage.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Straight, Michael Whitney
1916 births
2004 deaths
Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge
Alumni of the London School of Economics
American magazine publishers (people)
Communist Party of Great Britain members
Deaths from pancreatic cancer
Writers from Chicago
Writers from New York City
Military personnel from New York City
American people of English descent
Grand Prix drivers
Whitney family
Deaths from cancer in Illinois
American spies for the Soviet Union
United States Army Air Forces officers
United States Army Air Forces pilots of World War II
Bisexual men
Bisexual writers
People from Georgetown (Washington, D.C.)