I Led 3 Lives: Citizen, Communist, Counterspy

In the 1940s a “Red Scare” gripped the United States. Fear that communists were infiltrating and subverting American society and politics dominated many people’s thoughts.

In the aftermath of the Second World War the United States and the Soviet Union had emerged as the two world powers and tensions rose greatly between the competing ideologies of communism and capitalism.

As the Cold War developed America looked to ensure that there were no threats within its own borders.

The FBI approached men and women, like Herbert Philbrick, to aid their nation and discover if there were any threats to the security of the United States.

For nine long years he led three lives as a citizen, communist and counterspy.

Philbrick was a Boston advertising executive who was approached by Harold Leary, an FBI detective, who encouraged Philbrick to immerse himself in the world of American radical politics and pass on any information he found out.

Infiltrating the Communist Party USA Philbrick quickly gained the confidence and trust of many of its leading figures, which of course gave him brilliant insight into the thoughts and fears of the left-wing.

His activities and stressful life that he had been living only ended when he was used as witness during the Foley Square trial which helped convict eleven leaders of the Communist Party.


I Led 3 Lives provides fascinating insight into the political climate of the 1940s and how, even at the beginning of the Cold War, the United States government attempted to quell any sign of communist threat.

Herbert A. Philbrick’s account was later made into a television series which aired in the 1950s and starred Richard Carlson and Ed Hinton.
I Led 3 Lives was first published in 1952. In later life Philbrick continued to campaign and encourage youth and adult citizens to exercise their political rights and power, admonishing his listeners to be ever-watchful against those who would undermine the republican form of government. He died in 1993.