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Harry Gold

Harry Gold (born Henrich Golodnitsky, December 11, 1910 – August 28, 1972) was an American laboratory chemist who became a key figure in Soviet espionage during and after World War II. Born Henrich Golodnitsky in Bern, Switzerland, to Russian Jewish immigrants, he moved to the United States with his family at the age of four, settling in Philadelphia. Gold's early experiences of anti-Semitism and economic hardship influenced his later actions. In 1935, Gold was recruited by Soviet agent Jacob Golos to steal industrial information from his employer, the Pennsylvania Sugar Company. By 1940, he was formally enlisted as a Soviet agent, operating under the code names "GOOSE" and "ARNOLD."

As historian Allan Hornblum of Temple University explained: “[I]f Gold had not confessed, he would not likely have been convicted and jailed for 16 years. The authorities would not likely have discovered David Greenglass and the Rosenbergs. The Rosenbergs would not have been executed; Greenglass, [Morton] Sobell, William Perl, and others would not have been imprisoned, and several Soviet spy rings would not have been dismantled.”

During the Manhattan Project, Gold served as a courier, transmitting atomic secrets from physicist Klaus Fuchs to Soviet intelligence. Gold's espionage activities were uncovered in 1950 when Fuchs confessed to spying. Under interrogation, Gold admitted his role and provided information that led to the arrest of other spies, including David Greenglass and Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. Gold testified that he was engaged in Soviet espionage from 1935 up to the time of his arrest in May 1950 and that from 1944 to 1946 his espionage superior was a Russian known to him as “John.” He identified a picture of Anatoliy A. Yakovlev, former Soviet vice consul in New York, as John.

In the middle of June 1944, Gold had an espionage meeting with Dr. Klaus Fuchs in Woodside, New York. Fuchs said it would be difficult to provide the names of everyone involved and what they were specifically working on, since everyone worked in "tight compartments, and one group did not know what the other group was doing." Much of his own work dealt with "the separation of the fissionable isotope of uranium 235" through either gaseous diffusion or electromagnetic separation.44 It was a small part of a very difficult and complicated project that he felt "was bound to be of very long duration" so long, in fact, that "he doubted very much whether it would ever be utilized in the present conflict." Fuchs didn't believe their effort would ever have "any wartime utility.” It was too complicated and “far too long range a job.”

As a result of this meeting, Gold wrote a report for Yakovlev. He also informed Yakovlev that at the next meeting, Fuchs would give Gold information relating to the application of nuclear fission to the production of military weapons. In the latter part of June 1944, Gold met Fuchs in the vicinity of Borough Hall, Brooklyn, and received a package from Fuchs, which Gold later turned over to Yakovlev.

Gold’s next meeting with Fuchs was in the middle of July 1944, in the vicinity of 90th Street and Central Park West, New York. About a week or two later, Gold turned over to Yakovlev a report he had written concerning this conversation and told Yakovlev that Fuchs had given further information concerning the work of a joint American and British project to produce an atom bomb. Subsequently, Gold had a regularly scheduled series of meetings with Yakovlev, who instructed Gold how to continue his contacts with Fuchs.

In this connection, Gold stated that it was his duty to obtain information from a number of American espionage agents and to pass the information to Yakovlev. He pointed out that he effected his meetings with these sources by using recognition signals such as an object or a piece of paper and a code phrase in the form of a greeting, always using a pseudonym. He also stated that his sources lived in cities other than Philadelphia and that he paid money to these sources, which he had in turn received from Yakovlev.

Early in January 1945, Gold met Fuchs in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and received a package of papers which he later turned over to Yakovlev in New York City. He told Yakovlev that Fuchs had mentioned that a lens was being worked on in connection with the atom bomb.His next meeting with Fuchs was to be in Santa Fe on the first Saturday of June 1945. Early in February 1945, Gold met Yakovlev on 23rd Street between Ninth and Tenth Avenues in New York. At this meeting, Yakovlev indicated the interests of the Russians in the plans mentioned by Fuchs.

On the last Saturday in May 1945, Gold met Yakovlev inside a restaurant on Third Avenue in New York, to discuss Gold’s next meeting with Fuchs in Santa Fe. Yakovlev instructed Gold to take on an additional mission in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Gold protested, but Yakovlev said it was vital, pointing out that a woman was supposed to go but was unable to. Yakovlev gave Gold an onionskin paper on which was typed the name Greenglass, an address on High Street, Albuquerque, New Mexico, and the recognition signal, “ I come from Julius.” Yakovlev also gave Gold a piece of cardboard cut from a food package. He stated that Greenglass would have the matching piece and that if Greenglass was not in his wife would pass him the information. Yakovlev then gave Gold $500 in an envelope to turn over to Greenglass.

Gold arrived in Santa Fe on Saturday, June 2, 1945, and met Fuchs, who gave him a package of papers. Gold left Santa Fe on the afternoon of June 2 by bus and arrived in Albuquerque that evening. He went to the High Street address, found that Greenglass and his wife were not in, and stayed at a rooming house overnight. The next day he went to the High Street address and found David Greenglass.

Greenglass told Gold that the visit was a surprise and that it would take several hours to prepare the A-bomb material for Gold. He started to tell Gold about possible recruits at Los Alamos but Gold cut him short and pointed out that recruitment was very hazardous, and he should be more circumspect in his behavior. Gold left and returned later that afternoon, when Greenglass gave him material, which he said contained information on the atomic bomb. Gold turned over to Greenglass the envelope containing the $500. Greenglass mentioned to Gold that he expected to get a furlough sometime around Christmas and gave Gold the phone number of Julius in New York.

Gold returned to New York by train on June 5, 1945. While on route by train, he examined the material Greenglass had given him and put it in a manila envelope. He put the material he had received from Fuchs in another manila envelope. On the evening of June 5, 1945, Gold met Yakovlev along Metropolitan Avenue in Brooklyn and turned over to him both envelopes.

About two weeks later, Gold met Yakovlev on Main Street, Flushing, New York. Yakovlev told Gold that the information he had received from him on June 5 had been sent immediately to the Soviet Union and that the information provided by Greenglass had been considered “extremely excellent and valuable.” At this meeting, Gold related the details of his conversation with Fuchs and Greenglass. Fuchs had stated that tremendous progress had been made on the atom bomb, and the first test was set for July 1945.

In early July 1945, Gold met Yakovlev in a seafood restaurant. Yakovlev said it was necessary to make arrangements for another Soviet agent to get in touch with Gold. At Yakovlev’s instructions, Gold took a sheet of paper from his pocket that had the heading of a company in Philadelphia. Gold tore off the top portion containing the name and on the reverse side of the sheet wrote in diagonal fashion, “directions to Paul Street.” Yakovlev then tore the paper in an irregular fashion. He kept one portion and Gold kept the other. Yakovlev said that if Gold received two tickets in the mail without a letter, it would mean that on a definite number of days after the date on the ticket Gold was to go to the Broadway stop of the Astoria line for a meeting, which would take place in a restaurant-bar. Gold’s Soviet contact would be standing at the bar and approach Gold and ask to be directed to Paul Street. They would then match the torn pieces of paper. In August 1945, Gold again met Yakovlev in Brooklyn and was told by Yakovlev that Gold was to take a trip in September 1945, to see Fuchs. Gold suggested to Yakovlev that since he was going to see Fuchs, he might as well go to Albuquerque to see David Greenglass also. Yakovlev answered that it was inadvisable because it might endanger Gold to have further contact with Greenglass.

In September 1945, Gold met Fuchs in Santa Fe, New Mexico. On his return to New York on September 22, 1945, Gold went to a prearranged meeting place to see Yakovlev who failed to appear. About ten days later, Gold met Yakovlev on Main Street, Flushing, and turned over to him the package he had received from Fuchs. He told Yakovlev that Fuchs had said there was no longer the open and free cooperation between the Americans and the British and that many departments were closed to Fuchs. Fuchs also stated he would have to return to England and that he was worried because the British had gotten to Kiel, Germany, ahead of the Russians and might discover a Gestapo dossier on Fuchs that would reveal his strong Communist ties and background. Fuchs and Gold also discussed the details of a plan whereby Fuchs could be contacted in England.

In November 1945, Gold had another meeting with Yakovlev at which Gold mentioned that Greenglass would probably be coming home for a furlough at Christmas and that plans should be made to get in touch with Rosenberg in an effort to obtain more information from Greenglass. In January 1945, Gold again met with Yakovlev, who told Gold about a man Yakovlev had tried to contact and found out that the man was under continuous surveillance. Yakovlev used this story to illustrate that it was better to give up the contact than endanger their work.

Early in December 1946, Gold received two tickets to a boxing match in New York through the mail. The tickets were addressed to Gold’s Philadelphia home incorrectly and too late for Gold to keep the appointment. At 5 p.m. on December 26, 1946, Gold received a telephone call at his place of employment. The voice said “This is John.” Gold then arranged with John to meet an unidentified man in a certain movie theater that night. The man identified himself by handing Gold the torn piece of paper containing the heading, which Gold and Yakovlev had previously prepared. Gold was requested by this man to proceed to 42nd Street and Third Avenue to meet Yakovlev.

Gold met Yakovlev, who asked if Gold had anything further from Fuchs, apologized for his 10-month absence, and explained that he had to lie low. He stated that he was glad Gold was working in New York and told Gold that he should begin planning for a mission to Paris, in March 1947, where Gold would meet a physicist. He gave Gold an onionskin paper setting forth information for his proposed meeting in Paris.

During the conversation with Yakovlev, Gold mentioned the name of his employer, and upon hearing this, Yakovlev became very excited. He told Gold that he had ruined 11 years of work by working with this individual because the FBI had investigated him in 1945. Yakovlev rushed away stating that Gold would never see him again.

Gold's involvement in espionage had significant implications during the Cold War, contributing to the Soviet Union's acquisition of atomic bomb technology. His case remains a notable example of industrial and scientific espionage in American history. Gold returned to Philadelphia where he worked as a clinical chemist in the pathology lab of John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital, and ultimately for the chief pathologist. He died on August 28, 1972, during heart surgery, at the age of 61. He had never married.

The fact of Mr. Gold's death was turned up by accident in August 1973 by Alvin H. Goldstein, a writer-producer for the National Public Affairs Center for TV in Washington. He was then preparing a television documentary on the Rosenbergs, who were executed in 1953 for passing atomic secrets to the Soviet Union. Mr. Goldstein confirmed yesterday that, after conducting a routine obituary search, he had placed an advertisement in The Times in early July 1973, requesting anyone who knew Mr. Gold's whereabouts to get in touch with him. A week later, Mr. Goldstein recounted, he received a phone call from a woman who refused to identify herself, but who volunteered that Mr. Gold had died in Philadelphia the previous August. Goldstein subsequently attempted to ask Joseph Gold, Harry Gold's only surviving family member, for an explanation of the secrecy surrounding the death. Mr. Gold, according to Mr. Goldstein, refused to see him.

Augustus S. Ballard, Mr. Gold's lawyer and confident, also confirmed the death. Interviewed by telephone yesterday, Mr. Ballard said in explanation of the secrecy surrounding it, “The poor bastard was hounded all his life, and his brother was sick of it.”

Marshall Perlin, a lawyer who was counsel to the Rosenberg children, Michael and Robert, said 13 February 1972 that he had interviewed Dr. Fuchs in his British jail in 1959. According to Perlin, Fuchs said, “I never identified Gold. Gold insisted he was the courier, and I finally said [to the F.B.I.], ‘If he wants to be the guy, let him be the guy.’” The FBI, on the other hand, has always insisted that Fuchs positively identified Gold after having viewed motion pictures of him.