At age thirteen, a young girl learns that her parents had been Communists during the 1930s and '40s while working for the U.S. Government. Her father is called before the House Committee on Un-American Activities and must decide how he will testify. His decision breaks his spirit and changes his family's life forever.
>> Read more about Legacy of a False Promise by Margaret Fuchs Singer.
The spate of recent books and articles dealing with Soviet Espionage and the early Cold War is evidence of the public's continued interest in this period of history even after more than fifty years have passed. The opening of formerly secret KGB archives and release of intercepted Venona cables have fueled this interest. Historians hold conflicting views regarding the true meaning of the revelations and they continue to argue over the role of the Communist Party in Soviet espionage. The controversy has kept these topics current.
>> MEMOIRS
We learn of the impact of an American Communist past on the lives of children of famous left-wingers in memoirs by Ronald Radosh, Robert Meeropol, Tony Hiss and Thai Jones. Fitting nicely along side Legacy of a False Promise, each of these books portrays a dramatically different red diaper baby experience and perspective.
Radosh, Ronald
Commies: A Journey Through the Old Left, the New Left
and the Leftover Left.
San Francisco: Encounter Books, 2001.
In Commies, we learn about the life of author, Ronald Radosh, a former New Left activist with a bona fide red diaper baby pedigree. During his years as an activist on the Left, Radosh crossed paths with many of the best-known people in the movement. But it was while writing his book, The Rosenberg Files (in which he sets out to prove the Rosenbergs were innocent) that Radosh begins to have a "crisis of faith." While doing the research for his book, he learns that the Rosenberg case was far more complex than he had believed. Radosh and co-author Joyce Milton become convinced that Julius Rosenberg was spying for the Russians. Ultimately, Radosh leaves the Left, disillusioned.
Meeropol, Robert
An Execution in the Family: One Son's Journey.
New York: St. Martin's Press, 2003.
When Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed in June 1953 for conspiracy to commit espionage, their younger son, Robbie, was only six years old. Adopted by Abel and Anne Meeropol, Robbie and his older brother, Michael, kept their true identity secret until the 1970s when they decided to go public with their campaign to prove their parents' innocence.
In Execution in the Family, Robbie Meeropol describes his personal life journey: its burdens, its joys, its challenges. He explains his efforts to be true to his commitments as a political activist and, at the same time, to fulfill his need for a normal family life.
In the late 1980s, Meeropol faced the possibility that his father Julius Rosenberg, while innocent of the charges for which he was convicted, was in fact guilty of some form of espionage. In the end, Meeropol faces the truth about his father's involvement with the Russians and, at the same time, reminds his readers about the dangers of sacrificing civil liberties in the name of national security.
The tragic story of the Rosenberg brothers affected the life of every red diaper baby. "There but for the grace of God go I," each said to himself. Every red diaper baby recalls fear and concern for the boys at the time of their parents' execution; each remembers his/her unquestioned belief that the Rosenbergs were innocent. With the release of the files and cables, red diaper babies have learned new facts about the case; some have felt betrayed by the movement that falsely proclaimed the Rosenbergs' innocence.
Hiss, Tony
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2000.
In A View from Alger's Window, Alger Hiss's son Tony uses never-before-released letters to paint a sympathetic, balanced portrait of the man, Alger Hiss, whom he had known as a sensitive, loving and generous father. Hiss is convinced that his father was innocent of the charges against him and that he was never the "monster" spy that Whittaker Chambers described.
Jones, Thai
New York: Free Press, 2004.
Journalist Thai Jones was only four-years-old when he first surfaced with his parents Eleanor Stein and Jeff Jones from the Weather Underground in October 1981. The grandson of Communists (on his mother's side) and pacifists (on his father's), Thai traces his family's dramatic "radical" journey through the major events of their activist lives until the time of his parents' arrest.
As readers, we learn that
Thai's grandfather Arthur Stein was named by Herbert Fuchs in the Investigation
of Communism in Government HUAC hearings in December, 1955. After reading A
Radical Line, Thai's audience will be intrigued to read Legacy of a
False Promise, to learn about the motivation and experience of the man who
named Thai Jones' grandfather.