Last of the Cold War Spies: The Life of Michael Straight

The most damaging spy network of the Cold War—the infamous Cambridge Spy Ring—was comprised of several powerful and influential British citizens—and one American, Michael Straight. Born to a wealthy New England family, Straight attended Cambridge University in the 1930s, and there he fell in with the notorious circle of young men working for Soviet intelligence —Guy Burgess, Donald Maclean, Anthony Blunt, and Kim Philby, who was to become the most famous spy of the century.For the next several decades, Michael Straight led a secret life: While working at the State Department, he passed intelligence reports to a Russian agent; while running his family's magazine, The New Republic , he funded several communist fronts; and while serving U.S. presidents, including John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon, he continued to meet with agents around the world.Despite Michael Straight's 1963 “confession” to the FBI that his covert activity ceased in 1941, investigative journalist and author Roland Perry has unearthed a different story. Incorporating material from exclusive interviews with Michael Straight, members of his family, and former KGB agents (Perry has been careful to corroborate all KGB-supplied information), as well as archival research from the CIA, FBI, and Soviet intelligence, Perry presents a full and complete portrait of Michael Straight, the last of the Cold War spies.