Harry Gold

Harry Gold (b. December 12, 1910) was a laboratory chemist who was convicted of being the "courier" for a number of Soviet spy rings during the Manhattan Project.

Related Topics:
December 12 - 1910 - Manhattan Project

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Gold was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to poor Russian Jewish immigrants. As a young man he became interested in Socialism which eventually led him to contacts within the Communist movement.

Related Topics:
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - Socialism - Communist

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After leaving school Gold worked for the Pennsylvania Sugar Company as a laboratory assistant. He lost his job in 1932 as a result of the Depression. After a variety of menial jobs, Gold studied chemical engineering at Drexel Institute (1934-36). Gold was recrtuited into espionage on behalf of the Soviet Union in 1935 by Thomas Lessing Black. He eventually found work with Brothman Associates.

Related Topics:
Pennsylvania Sugar Company - Drexel Institute - Soviet Union - Thomas Lessing Black

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In 1940 Gold was activated for Soviet espionage by Jacob Golos, but he was not a recruited agent of the rezidentura. This changed in late 1940 when Soviet Case Officer Semyon Semenov appropriated Gold from Golos (Gold confession, KF-AS, p.196). Gold became a formally recruited Soviet agent at this time, and was assigned the covername GUS, or GOOSE. Semyonov remained Gold's control officer until March 1944.

Related Topics:
Jacob Golos - Soviet Case Officer - Semyon Semenov

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In 1950, Klaus Fuchs was arrested in England and charged with espionage. Fuchs confessed that while working in the United States during the Second World War he had passed information about the atom bomb to the Soviet Union. Though Fuchs would not or could not provide the names of other members of his spy ring, the FBI was able to use his descriptions to find and arrest Gold.

Related Topics:
Klaus Fuchs - Atom bomb - Soviet Union - FBI

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After being interrogated, Gold admitted that he had involved in espionage since 1934 and had helped Fuchs pass information about the Manhattan Project to the Soviet Union by way of Soviet General Consul Anatoli Yakovlev. Gold's confession led to the arrest of David Greenglass. His testimony resulted in the arrest, trial and execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, though in later trials he was revealed to be a somewhat unreliable witness.

Related Topics:
Manhattan Project - Anatoli Yakovlev - David Greenglass - Julius and Ethel Rosenberg

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Harry Gold was sentenced in 1951 to thirty years imprisonment. He was paroled in May 1966, after serving just over half of his sentence.

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