A Compassionate Spy... How an American Spy for the Soviets Saved the World from an Atomic Holocaust

Toward the end of World War Two, the US leadership had plans to use their newly developed atomic weapon not against Nazi Germany or Japan, but rather primarily to destroy the Soviet Union. A new documentary film, A Compassionate Spy, tells how that abomination against world peace was prevented. In this interview, award-winning journalist Dave Lindorff who co-produced the movie reveals the background and nerve-racking details of this little-known spy story. A young American physicist named Ted Hall prevented the treachery of the US against its supposed WWII ally by giving the Soviet Union the top-secret plans to build the bomb. Hall was working on the Manhattan Project. By giving the Soviets the atomic weapon secrets, Ted Hall reckoned that nuclear parity would prevent a preemptive attack by the United States on Russia. Understanding the international politics of that time and the thinly veiled fascism within the US leadership is crucial to our understanding of how the Cold War came about. It also explains the ongoing implacable enmity of the United States towards post-Soviet Russia. It is a shuddering fact that only one nuclear power today – the United States – continues to refuse to officially rule out a “first-strike nuclear attack”. Russia and China officially declare that they would only use nuclear weapons in a retaliatory action or if they were faced with an existential threat from conventional weapons. The story of Ted Hall tells us how world peace was and continues to be threatened by American imperialist arrogance and a monstrous self-ordained prerogative for unilaterally using weapons of mass destruction (WMD). Comprehensive arms control and eventually ridding the planet of WMD can only be achieved through genuine negotiations based on principles of equality. The US leadership has never adhered to such principles. The ongoing conflict in Ukraine between the US-led NATO bloc (using its Kiev proxy) and Russia has the nightmare potential for spiraling into a nuclear catastrophe of world-ending proportions. The nuclear powers are being drawn into an open direct confrontation while a Western anti-Russian mindset repudiates any kind of diplomatic resolution for longer-term peace and security. Dave Lindorff’s film, A Compassionate Spy, explains much of why the world is facing an abysmal situation today. But through a proper understanding that it provides there could be a peaceful way forward. However, only if those on the American side really begin to understand how their fascist leaders, imperialists, and militarists have always put the world under threat.