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The Librarian Spies Philip and Mary Jane Keeney and Cold War Espionage
Rosalee McReynolds, Louise S. Robbins
ISBN: 0-275-99448-1
ISBN-13: 978-0-275-99448-8
183 pages
Praeger Publishers
Publication: 3/20/2009
List Price: $44.95 (UK Sterling Price: £31.95)
Availability: In Stock
Media Type: Hardcover
Trim Size: 6 1/8 x 9 1/4
Subjects: Reviews:
  • "A major achievement of Cold War scholarship, and a must read for all library professionals. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels/libraries."
    —CHOICE     9/1/2009
Description: In 1950, Senator Joseph McCarthy declared that the State Department was a haven for communists and traitors. Among famous targets, like Alger Hiss, the senator also named librarian Mary Jane Keeney and her husband Philip, who had been called before the House UnAmerican Activities Committee to account for friendships with suspected communists, memberships in communist fronts, and authorship of articles that had been published in leftist periodicals. Conservative journalists and politicians had seized the occasion to denounce the pair as communist sympathizers and spies for the Soviet Union. If the accusations were true, the Keeneys had provided the Soviets with classified information about American defense and economic policies that could alter the balance of power between those rival nations. If false, the Keeneys had been shamefully wronged by their own government, for the accusations tumbled them into grief and poverty.

In 1950, Senator Joseph McCarthy declared that the State Department was a haven for communists and traitors. Among famous targets, like Alger Hiss, the senator also named librarian Mary Jane Keeney and her husband Philip, who had been called before The House UnAmerican Activities Committee to account for friendships with suspected communists, memberships in communist fronts, and authorship of articles that had been published in leftist periodicals. Conservative journalists and politicians had seized the occasion to denounce the pair as communist sympathizers and spies for the Soviet Union. If the accusations were true, the Keeneys had provided the Soviets with classified information about American defense and economic policies that could alter the balance of power between those rival nations. If false, the Keeneys had been shamefully wronged by their own government, for the accusations tumbled them into grief and poverty.

This book draws on a wide range of archival materials, especialy FBI files, interviews, and extensive reading from secondary sources to tell the story of Philip Olin Keeney and his wife Mary Jane, who became part of the famed Silvermaster Spy Ring in the 1940s. It paints a picture of two ordinary people who took an extraordinary path in life and, while they were never charged and tried as spies, were punished through blacklisting. It also reaveals the means by which the FBI investigated suspected spies through black bag jobs, phone tapping, and mail interceptions. Spies compromise national security by stealing secrets, but secrets can be defined to suit individual political designs and ambitions. Philip and Mary Jane Keeney constantly tested the boundaries of free access to information - to the point of risking disloyalty to their country - but the American government responded in a manner that risked its democratic foundations.
Table of Contents:
  • List of Illustrations
    Preface
    List of Abbreviations
    Introduction
    Chapter 1:Philip
    Chapter 2:Mary Jane
    Chapter 3:The Librarians
    Chapter 4:Struggle
    Chapter 5:Progressive Librarians Council
    Chapter 6:The Spies at Home
    Chapter 7:The Spies Abroad
    Chapter 8:Caught in the Web
    Chapter 9:Un-Americans
    Chapter 10: Guilt and Association
    Notes
    Bibliography
About the Author: ROSALEE MCREYNOLDS was a library historian and Director of Serials and Special Collections at Loyola University in New Orleans.

LOUISE S. ROBBINS, is Director of the School of Library and Information Studies at the University of Madison, Wisconsin.
LCC Class: 327.12092-dc22
PDF Catalogs:
PSI Catalog Fall 2008.pdf
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