Philby, Kim

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'''Harold Adrian Russell "Kim" Philby''' or '''H.A.R. Philby''' ([[OBE]]: 1946-1965), (1 January, 1912 – 11 May, 1988) was a high-ranking member of [[United Kingdom|British]] [[military intelligence|intelligence]] and spy for the [[Soviet Union]] who and served as an [[NKVD]] and [[KGB]] operative.
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'''Harold Adrian Russell "Kim" Philby''' (January 1, 1912 – May 11, 1988) was a high-ranking member of [[United Kingdom|British]] [[military intelligence|intelligence]] and also a spy for the [[Soviet Union]], serving as an [[NKVD]] and [[KGB]] operative and passed many crucial secrets to the Soviets in the early days of the [[Cold War]].
  
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In 1963, Philby was revealed as a member of the spy ring now known as the [[Cambridge Five]], along with [[Donald Duart Maclean|Donald Maclean]], [[Guy Burgess]], [[Anthony Blunt]] and [[John Cairncross]]. Of the five, Philby is believed to have been most successful in providing classified information to the [[Soviet Union]].
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Philby became a [[socialism|socialist]] and later a [[Marxism-Leninism|communist]] while attending the [[University of Cambridge]] in Cambridge, [[England]]. He was recruited into the Soviet intelligence apparatus after working for the [[Comintern]] in [[Vienna]] following graduation. He posed as a pro-[[fascism|fascist]] journalist and worked his way into British intelligence, where he came to serve as head of [[counter-espionage]] and other posts. This rise through the ranks enabled him to pass sensitive secrets to his Soviet handlers. Later, he was sent to Washington, where he coordinated British and American intelligence efforts, thus providing the Soviets with even more valuable information.
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In 1951, Philby's [[Washington, D.C.|Washington]] spy ring was nearly exposed, but he was able to warn his closest associates, [[Donald Duart Maclean|Donald Maclean]], and [[Guy Burgess]], who defected to the Soviet Union. Philby faced suspicion as the "third man" of the group, but after several years of investigation, he was publicly cleared of the charges and was re-posted to the [[Middle East]].
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{{toc}}
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In 1963, Philby was revealed as a spy now known as the member of the [[Cambridge Five]], along with Maclean, Burgess, [[Anthony Blunt]], and [[John Cairncross]]. Philby is believed to have been the most successful of the five in providing classified information to the [[USSR]]. He evaded capture and fled to Russia, where he worked with Soviet intelligence but fell into a life of [[alcohol]]ic [[depression]]. Only after his death was he honored as a [[hero of the Soviet Union]].
  
 
==Early life==
 
==Early life==
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Born in [[Ambala]], [[Punjab (British India)|Punjab]], [[British Raj|British India]], Philby was the son of [[Harry St. John Philby]], a British Army officer, [[diplomat]], explorer, [[author]], and [[Orientalist]] who converted to [[Islam]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9803EEDC133CF933A25754C0A962958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=6 |title= Kim Philby and the Age of Paranoia |accessdate=2008-02-17 |author=RON ROSENBAUM |date=1994-07-10 |publisher=The New York Times}}</ref> and was advisor to King [[Ibn Saud|Ibn Sa'ud of Saudi Arabia]]. Kim was [[nickname]]d after the [[protagonist]] in [[Rudyard Kipling]]'s novel ''[[Kim (novel)|Kim]]'' about a young Irish Indian boy who spies for the British in India during the nineteenth century.
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Born in [[Ambala]], [[Punjab (British India)|Punjab]], [[British Raj|India]], Philby was the son of [[Harry St. John Philby]], a British Army officer, [[diplomat]], explorer, [[author]], and [[Orientalist]] who converted to [[Islam]]<ref>''New York Times,'' [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9803EEDC133CF933A25754C0A962958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=6 Kim Philby and the Age of Paranoia.] Retrieved October 13, 2008.</ref> and was adviser to King [[Ibn Saud|Ibn Sa'ud of Saudi Arabia]]. Kim was [[nickname]]d after the [[protagonist]] in [[Rudyard Kipling]]'s novel, ''[[Kim (novel)|Kim]],'' about a young Irish-Indian boy who spies for the British in India during the nineteenth century.
  
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After graduating from [[Westminster School]] in 1928 at the age of 16, Philby studied history and economics at [[Trinity College, Cambridge]] where became an admirer of [[Marxism]]. Philby reportedly asked one of his tutors, [[Maurice Dobb]], how he could serve the Communist movement, and Dobbs referred him to a Communist front organization in Paris, known as the World Federation for the Relief of the Victims of German Fascism in [[Paris]]. This was one of several fronts operated by the German Communist [[Willi Münzenberg]], who was a leading Soviet agent in the [[Western world|West]]. Münzenberg in turn passed Philby to the [[Comintern]] underground in [[Vienna]], [[Austria]]
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After graduating from [[Westminster School]] in 1928, at the age of 16, Philby studied [[history]] and [[economics]] at [[Trinity College, Cambridge]], where became an admirer of [[Marxism]]. Philby reportedly asked one of his tutors, [[Maurice Dobb]], how he could serve the Communist movement, and Dobbs referred him to a Communist front organization in [[Paris]], known as the World Federation for the Relief of the Victims of German Fascism. This was one of several fronts operated by the German [[Willi Münzenberg]], a leading Soviet agent in the [[Western world|West]]. Münzenberg in turn passed Philby to the [[Comintern]] underground in [[Vienna]], [[Austria]].
  
 
==Espionage activities==
 
==Espionage activities==
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The Soviet intelligence service itself recruited Philby on the strength of his work for the Comintern. His case officers included [[Arnold Deutsch]] (codename OTTO), [[Theodore Maly]] (codename MAN), and [[Alexander Orlov]] (codename SWEDE).
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The Soviet intelligence service recruited Philby on the strength of his work for the Comintern. His case officers included [[Arnold Deutsch]] (codename OTTO), [[Theodore Maly]] (codename MAN), and [[Alexander Orlov]] (codename SWEDE).
  
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In 1933, Kim Philby went to Vienna to aid refugees who were fleeing Nazi Germany. However, in 1936, as ordered by [[Moscow]], Philby began cultivating a pro-fascist persona, appearing at Anglo-German meetings and editing a pro-[[Adolf Hitler|Hitler]] magazine. In 1937, he went to Spain as a freelance journalist, and then as correspondent for ''The Times'' of London—reporting on the war from a pro-[[Francisco Franco|Franco]] perspective. During this time he engaged in various espionage duties for the Soviets, including writing spurious love letters interlaced with codewords.
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In 1933, Philby was sent to Vienna to aid refugees who were fleeing [[Nazi Germany]]. However, in 1936, on orders from [[Moscow]], Philby began cultivating a pro-fascist persona, appearing at Anglo-German meetings, and editing a pro-[[Adolf Hitler|Hitler]] magazine. In 1937, he went to [[Spain]] as a freelance journalist and then as a correspondent for ''The Times'' of London—reporting on the war from a pro-[[Francisco Franco|Franco]] perspective. During this time, he engaged in various espionage duties for the Soviets, including writing spurious love letters interlaced with codewords.
  
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Philby's right-wring cover worked to perfection. In 1940 he met British intelligence officer Marjorie Maxse and was recruited into the British intelligence service (SIS). Philby worked as an instructor in the arts of "[[black propaganda]]," and was later appointed to head SIS Section V, in charge of Spain, Portugal, [[Gibraltar]], and Africa. There, he performed his duties well and came to the attention of British intelligence chief Sir [[Stewart Menzies]], better known as "C," who in 1944 appointed him to the key position as head of the new Section IX: counter-espionage against the Soviet Union. As a deep-cover Soviet agent, Philby could hardly have positioned himself better.
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Philby's right-wing cover worked to perfection. In 1940, [[Guy Burgess]], a supposed British spy who was himself working for the Soviets, introduced him to British intelligence officer Marjorie Maxse, who in turn recruited Philby into the British intelligence service (SIS). Philby worked as an instructor in the arts of "[[black propaganda]]" and was later appointed to head SIS Section V, in charge of Spain, [[Portugal]], [[Gibraltar]], and [[Africa]]. There, he performed his duties well and came to the attention of British intelligence chief Sir [[Stewart Menzies]], better known as "C," who in 1944, appointed him to the key position as head of the new Section IX: Counter-espionage against the [[Soviet Union]]. As a deep-cover Soviet agent, Philby could hardly have positioned himself better.
  
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Philby faced possible discovery in August, 1945, when [[Konstantin Volkov (diplomat)|Konstantin Volkov]], an officer of the NKVD (later KGB) informed SIS that he planned to defect to Britain with the promise that he would reveal the names of Soviet agents in SIS and the Foreign Office. When the report reached Philby's desk, he tipped off Moscow, and the Russians were barely able to prevent Volkov's defection.  
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Philby faced possible discovery in August 1945, when [[Konstantin Volkov (diplomat)|Konstantin Volkov]], an officer of the [[NKVD]] (later [[KGB]]) informed SIS that he planned to defect to Britain with the promise that he would reveal the names of Soviet agents in SIS and the British Foreign Office. When the report reached Philby's desk, he tipped off Moscow, and the Russians were barely able to prevent Volkov's defection.  
  
 
===Postwar career===
 
===Postwar career===
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After the war, Philby was sent by SIS as Head of Station to [[Istanbul]] under the cover of First Secretary of the British Embassy. While there, he received a visit from fellow SIS officer and Soviet spy [[Guy Burgess]]. Philby is believed to have passed to Moscow information on the size of the [[United States]]' stockpile of atomic weapons and the U.S. capacity (at that time, severely limited) to produce new atomic bombs. Based in part on that information, Stalin went ahead with a 1948 [[Berlin Blockade|blockade of West Berlin]] and began a large-scale offensive armament of [[Kim Il Sung]]'s North Korean Army and Air Force, which would later culminate in the [[Korean War]].
  
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After the war, Philby was sent by SIS as Head of Station to Istanbul under the cover of First Secretary of the British Embassy. While there, he received a visit from fellow SIS officer and Soviet spy Guy Burgess.
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In January 1949, the British Government was informed that [[Venona project]] intercepts showed that nuclear secrets had been passed to the [[Soviet Union]] from the British Embassy in Washington in 1944 and 1945, by an agent code-named "Homer." Later in 1949, Philby was posted as First Secretary of the British Embassy in Washington, where he acted as liaison between British intelligence and the newly-formed [[CIA]].
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Philby is also believed to have passed to Moscow information on the size of the United States' stockpile of atomic weapons and the US capacity (at that time, severely limited) to produce new atomic bombs. Based in part on that information, Stalin went ahead with a 1948 [[Berlin Blockade|blockade of West Berlin]] and began a large-scale offensive armament of [[Kim Il Sung]]'s North Korean Army and Air Force, which would later culminate in the Korean War.
 
  
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In January 1949, the British Government was informed that [[Venona project]] intercepts showed that nuclear secrets had been passed to the Soviet Union from the British Embassy in Washington in 1944 and 1945 by an agent code-named "Homer." Later in 1949, Philby's was posted as First Secretary of the British Embassy in Washington, where he acted as liaison between the British Embassy and the newly formed CIA.
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The two agencies launched an attempted revolution in Soviet-influenced [[Albania]], but Philby was apparently able to inform the Soviets of these plans. The exiled King [[Zog of Albania]] had offered troops and other volunteers to help, but for three years, every attempted landing in Albania met with a Soviet or Albanian Communist ambush. A similar attempt was blocked in [[Ukraine]], due to Philby's efforts. In addition, couriers who traveled to Soviet territory would often disappear, and British and American networks were producing no useful information.
  
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The two agencies launched an attempted revolution in Soviet-influenced [[Albania]], but Philby was apparently able to inform the Soviets of these plans. The exiled [[Zog of Albania|King Zog]] had offered his troops and other volunteers to help, but, for three years, every attempted landing in Albania met with a Soviet or Albanian Communist ambush. A similar attempt was blocked in [[Ukraine]], due to Philby's efforts. In addition, couriers who traveled to Soviet territory would often disappear, and British and American networks were producing no useful information. After these two disasters, the CIA and MI6 largely gave up their attempts to plant agents in Soviet territory.
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[[Image:Burgess-maclean.JPG|thumb|British "wanted" poster for Philby's partners Burgess and McClean]]
  
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Philby was also able to tell Moscow just how much the CIA knew about its operations. He was also able to suppress several reports that revealed the names of other Soviet spies in the West.
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After these disasters, the CIA and [[MI6]] largely gave up their attempts to plant agents in Soviet territory. Philby was also able to tell Moscow just how much the CIA knew about its operations and to suppress several reports that revealed the names of Soviet spies in the West.
  
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In 1950, Philby was asked by the British to help track down the suspected traitor inside their Washington embassy. Knowing from the start that "Homer" was his old university friend, Second Secretary Donald MacLean, Philby warned MacLean early in 1951. Meanwhile Guy Burgess had been living in Philby's house but behaved recklessly and suspicion had fallen on him as well.
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In 1950, Philby was asked by the British to help track down the suspected traitor inside their Washington embassy. Knowing from the start that "Homer" was his old university friend [[Donald MacLean]], Philby warned MacLean early in 1951. Meanwhile, Guy Burgess had been living in Philby's house, but he behaved recklessly and suspicion had fallen on him as well.
  
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MacLean was identified in April 1951, and he defected to Moscow with Guy Burgess a month later in May 1951. Philby came under instant suspicion as the third man who had tipped them off.  
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MacLean was identified in April 1951, and he defected to Moscow with Guy Burgess a month later in May 1951. Philby came under instant suspicion as the third man who had tipped them off.
  
 
===Cleared, caught, and defected===
 
===Cleared, caught, and defected===
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Philby resigned under a cloud, and was denied his pension and spent the next several years being questioned by MI5 and SIS. He did not admit his true identify, however, and on October 25, 1955, against all expectations, he was cleared by Foreign Secretary [[Harold Macmillan]] in an ill-timed statement made in the [[British House of Commons|House of Commons]]: "While in government service he carried out his duties ably and conscientiously, and I have no reason to conclude that Mr. Philby has at any time betrayed the interests of his country, or to identify him with the so-called 'Third Man,' if indeed there was one."
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Philby resigned under a cloud. He was denied his pension and spent the next several years under investigation. He did not admit his true identity, however, and on October 25, 1955, against all expectations, he was cleared. Foreign Secretary [[Harold Macmillan]] made the public announcement exonerating Philby in the [[British House of Commons|House of Commons]]: "While in government service he carried out his duties ably and conscientiously, and I have no reason to conclude that Mr. Philby has at any time betrayed the interests of his country, or to identify him with the so-called 'Third Man,' if indeed there was one."
  
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Philby was then re-employed by MI6 as an "informant on retainer" agent, working under cover as a correspondent in Beirut for ''[[The Observer]]'' and ''[[The Economist]]''. He was supposedly involved in [[Operation Musketeer (1956)|Operation Musketeer]], the British, French, and Israeli plan to attack [[Egypt]] and depose [[Gamal Abdel Nasser]].
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Philby was then re-employed by MI6 as an "informant on retainer" agent, working under cover as a correspondent in Beirut for ''[[The Observer]]'' and ''[[The Economist]]''. There, he was reportedly involved in [[Operation Musketeer (1956)|Operation Musketeer]], the British, French, and Israeli plan to attack [[Egypt]] and depose [[Gamal Abdel Nasser]].
  
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Suspicion again fell on Philby, however. There seemed to be a constant leak of information and it was alleged that there was a high-level mole in MI5 those days. Philby apparently became aware that the net was closing around him, and there is evidence that in the last few months of 1962 he began to drink heavily and his behavior became increasingly erratic. Some believe that Philby was warned by Soviet spy handler [[Yuri Modin]], who served in the Soviet embassy in London, when he traveled to Beirut in December 1962.
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Suspicion again fell on Philby, however. There seemed to be a constant leak of information, and it was alleged that the Soviets had placed a high-level mole in British intelligence. Philby apparently became aware that the net was closing around him. In the last few months of 1962, he began to drink heavily and his behavior became increasingly erratic. Some believe that Philby was warned by Soviet spy handler [[Yuri Modin]], who served in the Soviet embassy in London, when he traveled to Beirut in December 1962.
  
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Always in danger of having his cover blown by the next Soviet defector, Philby was soon confronted on behalf of British intelligence by SIS friend Nicholas Elliott with new evidence. Before a second interview could take place, he defected to the Soviet Union in January 1963, departing Beirut on the Soviet freighter ''Dolmatova.'' Records later revealed that the ''Dolmatova'' left port so quickly its cargo remained scattered on the dock.
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Philby was soon confronted with new evidence on behalf of British intelligence by an old SIS friend, Nicholas Elliott. Before a second interview could take place, he defected to the Soviet Union in January 1963, departing Beirut on the Soviet freighter ''Dolmatova.'' Records later revealed that the ''Dolmatova'' left port so quickly its cargo remained scattered on the dock.
  
 
===In Moscow===
 
===In Moscow===
 
[[Image:1990 CPA 6266.jpg|thumb|right|Kim Philby on the 1990 [[USSR]] commemorative stamp]]
 
[[Image:1990 CPA 6266.jpg|thumb|right|Kim Philby on the 1990 [[USSR]] commemorative stamp]]
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Kim Philby soon surfaced in Moscow, and quickly discovered that he was not a colonel in the [[KGB]] as he thought, but still just agent TOM. It was 10 years before he walked through the doors of KGB headquarters. He suffered severe bouts of [[alcoholism]]. In Moscow, he seduced MacLean's American wife, Melinda, and abandoned his own wife, Eleanor, who left Russia in 1965.<ref>Eleanor Philby, ''Kim Philby: The Spy I Loved'', 1967, London: Hamish Hamilton. Eleanor Philby died in 1968.</ref> According to information contained in the [[Mitrokhin Archive]], the head of KGB counterintelligence, [[Oleg Kalugin]] met Philby in 1972 and found him to be "a wreck of a man."
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Philby soon surfaced in Moscow, and quickly discovered that he was not a colonel in the [[KGB]] as he thought, but still just agent TOM. It was 10 years before he walked through the doors of KGB headquarters. He suffered severe bouts of [[alcoholism]]. In Moscow, he seduced MacLean's American wife, Melinda, and abandoned his own wife, Eleanor, who left Russia in 1965.<ref>Eleanor Philby, 1968.</ref> According to information contained in the [[Mitrokhin Archive]], the head of KGB counterintelligence, [[Oleg Kalugin]] met Philby in 1972 and found him to be "a wreck of a man."
  
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Over the next few years Kalugin and his colleagues in the Foreign Intelligence Directorate rehabilitated Philby, using him to help devise active measures in the West and to run seminars for young agents about to be sent to [[Great Britain]], [[Australia]], or [[Ireland]]. In 1972 he married a Russian woman, [[Rufina Ivanova Pukhova]], who was 20 years his junior, with whom he lived until his death at age 76, in 1988.
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Over the next few years, Kalugin and his colleagues in the Foreign Intelligence Directorate rehabilitated Philby, using him to help devise active measures in the West and to run seminars for young agents about to be sent to [[Great Britain]], [[Australia]], or [[Ireland]]. In 1972, he married a Russian woman, [[Rufina Ivanova Pukhova]], who was 20 years his junior, with whom he lived until his death at age 76 in 1988.
  
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==Chronology==
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==Legacy==
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*1912 Birth in India
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Kim Philby and his associates did severe damage to British and U.S. efforts in the early stages of the [[Cold War]]. He gave the Soviets information that they used to kill Western intelligence agents, withdraw their own agents who were in danger of exposure, and prevent defectors from coming to the West. He provided vital national security secrets regarding the state of the U.S. [[atomic weapons]] program, which encouraged [[Stalin]] to blockade [[Berlin]] and arm[[Kim Il Sung]] with weapons to launch the [[Korean War]]. The most highly-placed foreign spy ever known to penetrate the Western intelligence agencies, he was a master of deception, and one of the most effective spies in history.
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*1919 Attended [[Aldro]] preparatory school in Eastbourne
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*1924 Was a Queen's Scholar at Westminster School
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Yet, he ended his life not as a hero of the Soviet Union for which he had sacrificed so much of his life and his integrity, but as a depressed [[alcoholism|alcoholic]] who was still very much an Englishman at heart. Only posthumously did he receive from the Soviets the public praise and appreciation which had escaped him in life. He was awarded a hero's funeral and numerous posthumous medals by the USSR. The Soviet Union itself collapsed in late 1991.
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*1929 Entered Trinity College, Cambridge at the age of 17 to read [[history]].
 
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*1930 Guy Burgess arrived at Trinity from [[Eton College|Eton]].
 
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*1931 Joined the [[Cambridge University Socialist Society]]. Labour government of [[Ramsay MacDonald]] defeated 27th October. Philby became a more ardent socialist. After obtaining only a third in his history exams he transferred to [[economics]].
 
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*1932 Became treasurer of the Cambridge University Socialist Society.
 
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*1933 Left Cambridge a convinced Communist with a degree in economics, then went to Vienna where Chancellor Dr [[Engelbert Dollfuss]] was preparing the first 'putsch' in February 1934. Philby became a Soviet agent.
 
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*1934 Clash between the Austrian government and socialists in Vienna. On 24 February Philby married Alice (Litzy) Friedmann, born Kohlmann; then in May, after the collapse of the socialist movement in Vienna, he returned with his wife to England. He began work as a sub-editor of a Liberal monthly review, and joined Guy Burgess as a member of the Anglo-German Fellowship. (Philby edited the fellowship's pro-Hitler magazine, supported by Nazi funds). To cover up his communist background he also made repeated visits to Berlin for talks with the German Propaganda Ministry and with [[Joachim von Ribbentrop|von Ribbentrop]]'s Foreign Office.
 
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*1937 In February Philby arrived in Spain to report on the Spanish Civil War from [[Francisco Franco|Franco]]'s side. 20 May, 1937 he became correspondent of ''The Times'' with Franco's forces.
 
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*1938 Awarded the 'Red Cross of Military Merit' by Franco personally.
 
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*1939 In July, left [[Spain]] and became war correspondent of ''The Times'' at the British Headquarters in [[Arras]].
 
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*1940 In June, after the evacuation of British Forces from the European mainland, he returned to Britain. Recruited by the British Secret Service and attached to the Secret Intelligence Service under Guy Burgess in Section D. Assigned to school for under-cover work, but later transferred to the teaching staff of a new school for general training in techniques of sabotage and subversion at [[Beaulieu, Hampshire|Beaulieu]], [[Hampshire]].
 
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*1941 Transferred to MI6, Section V (Five). Philby took charge of the Iberian sub-section, responsible for British Intelligence in Spain and [[Portugal]]. Trained [[James Jesus Angleton]] in the arts and crafts of counterespionage.
 
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*1941 Begins to live with Aileen Furse, later his second wife. [[Office of Strategic Services]] group under Norman Pearson arrived in [[London]] for liaison with British Secret Service. Philby's area of responsibility grew to include [[North Africa]]n and [[Italy|Italian]] espionage under newly formed counter-intelligence units.
 
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*1943 Section V moved from [[St Albans]] to London, bringing Philby closer to the centres of power.
 
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*1944 Appointed head of Section IX, newly created to operate against communism and the Soviet Union.
 
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*1945 In September Soviet intelligence officer [[Konstantin Volkov (diplomat)|Konstantin Volkov]] based at the Soviet embassy in [[Ankara]] seriously threatened Philby's position by offering to defect and provide the names of two agents working in the [[Foreign Office]] and one in MI6 (probably Philby). The offer was sent to Philby as head of the Section IX, Soviet counterintelligence. Soon afterwards, Volkov was kidnapped by Soviet agents and taken to the [[Lubyanka (KGB)|Lubyanka]] in Moscow for [[interrogation]] and [[execution (legal)|execution]].
 
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*1946 Took a field appointment - officially as First Secretary with the British embassy in Turkey, actually as head of the Turkish MI6 station.
 
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*1946 In December, divorce from his first wife, Litzi, finalized, marries Aileen Furse.
 
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*1949 Became MI6 representative in Washington, as senior British Secret Service officer working in liaison with the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] and the newly created CIA. He occasionally visited [[Arlington Hall]] for discussions about [[VENONA]]; furthermore, he regularly received copies of summaries of VENONA translations as part of his official duties. He sat in on a Special Policy Committee directing the ill-fated Anglo-US attempt to infiltrate anti-communist agents into Albania to topple the [[Enver Hoxha]] régime.
 
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*1950 Guy Burgess arrived in Washington on assignment as Second Secretary of the British Embassy, and Philby invited him to stay at his house.
 
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*1951 Philby learnt of the tightening net of suspicion surrounding Foreign Office diplomat and Soviet agent Donald Maclean, whose British embassy position at the end of the war had placed him on the Combined Policy Committee on Atomic Energy as its British joint secretary. Burgess's alcoholism caused Ambassador Franks to remove him and he returned to England. On 25 May, Burgess and Maclean disappeared from Britain, with help from Philby, having escaped via the [[Baltic Sea|Baltic]] to the Soviet Union. Philby summoned to London for interrogation and asked to resign from the Foreign Service.
 
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*1952 In the summer a [[secret trial]] took place in which Philby underwent questioning about his activities.
 
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*1955 The British Government published a '[[White Paper]]' (report) on the Burgess-Maclean affair. On October 25, questions tabled in [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|parliament]] asking about the 'third man', Philby. Harold Macmillan, foreign secretary in the [[Anthony Eden|Eden]] cabinet, stated that no evidence existed of Philby having betrayed the interests of Britain. Nevertheless, the Foreign Service dismissed him because of his association with Burgess.
 
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*1956 In September British secret service arranged Philby to work for ''[[The Observer]]'' in [[Beirut]] as correspondent of and also ''The Economist''; But that year [[Dick White]], who suspected Philby of working as a Soviet agent, became head of MI6.
 
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*1957 Aileen, Philby's second wife, died.
 
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*1958 Married Eleanor Brewer.
 
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*1962 George Blake unmasked. Philby then confirmed as an identified Soviet agent.
 
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*1963 23 January, Philby disappeared in Beirut. The Soviet Union announced that it had granted Philby political asylum in Moscow. On 3 March, Eleanor Philby received a telegram from Philby postmarked [[Cairo]], Egypt. On 3 June ''[[Izvestia]]'' located Philby with the Imam of [[Yemen]]. On 1 July, the British Government admitted that Philby had worked as a Soviet agent before 1946 and identified him as the 'third man'.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/1/newsid_2699000/2699879.stm |title=BBC ON THIS DAY {{!}} 1 {{!}} 1963: Philby confirmed as 'third man' |accessdate=2008-02-17 |publisher=BBC}}</ref>
 
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*1965 Stripped of [[Order of the British Empire|OBE]] following his exposure as a [[double agent]].
 
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*1965 Awarded the [[Order of the Red Banner]], one of the highest honours of the Soviet Union.
 
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*1965 Eleanor Philby leaves Moscow, returns to US. Philby begins affair with Melinda Maclean, wife of [[Donald Duart Maclean|Donald Maclean]].
 
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*1968 Wife Eleanor Philby dies.
 
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*1971 marries Rufina Ivanovna in Moscow.
 
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*1988 Death at the age of 76.
 
  
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==Philby in popular culture==
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===Books===
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Philby's  autobiography, ''My Silent War,'' was published in the West in 1968, as was his wife Eleanor's book, ''Kim Philby: The Spy I Loved''. Many other books and films have been based on his life:
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*[[John le Carré]]'s novel (also a BBC television mini-series) ''[[Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy]]'' (1974) focuses on the hunt for a Soviet agent patterned after Philby.
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*Graham Greene's novel, ''[[The Human Factor]]'' (1978), explores the moral themes of Philby's story, although Green claims none of the characters are based on Philby.
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*In the Ted Allbeury novel, ''The Other Side of Silence'' (1981), Philby, near the end of his life, asks to return to Britain.
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*The [[Frederick Forsyth]] novel, ''[[The Fourth Protocol]],'' features an elderly Kim Philby advising a Soviet leader on a plot to influence a British election in 1987.
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*The [[Robert Littell (author)|Robert Littell]] novel, ''[[The Company (novel)|The Company]]'' (2002), features Philby as a confidant of former CIA Counter-Intelligence chief [[James Angleton]].
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*The novel, ''[[Fox at the Front]]'' (2003), by [[Douglas Niles]] and [[Michael Dobson (author)|Michael Dobson]] depicts a fictional Philby selling secrets to the Soviet Union during the alternate Battle of the Bulge.
  
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===Literature===
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===Film and television===
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*The [[Tim Powers]] novel ''[[Declare]]'' is partly based on unexplained aspects of Philby's life, providing a [[supernatural]] context for his behavior (described by Powers as "[[tradecraft]] meets [[Cthulhu Mythos|Lovecraft]]").
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* The character "Harry Lime" in the 1949 film, ''[[The Third Man]],'' has been said to be based on Kim Philby. A few years later, Philby was suspected of being the "third man" in the spy scandal.
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*In the Ted Allbeury novel ''The Other Side of Silence'' (1981) Philby, near the end of his life, asks to return to Britain.
 
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*The [[Frederick Forsyth]] novel, ''[[The Fourth Protocol]]'', features an elderly Kim Philby advising a Soviet leader on a plot to influence a British election in 1987.  
 
−
*The [[Robert Littell (author)|Robert Littell]] novel ''[[The Company (novel)|The Company]]'' features Philby as a confidant of former CIA Counter-Intelligence chief [[James Angleton]].
 
−
*Graham Greene's novel ''[[The Human Factor]]'' explores aspects of Philby's story.
 
−
*[[William F. Buckley, Jr.]]'s novel ''Spytime: The Undoing of James Jesus Angleton''
 
−
*William F. Buckley, Jr.'s novel ''Last Call for Blackford Oakes''
 
−
*[[Chris Petit]]'s novel ''[[The Passenger]]''.
 
−
*[[John le Carré]]'s novel (also a BBC television mini-series) ''[[Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy]]'' focuses on the hunt for a Soviet agent patterned after Philby.
 
−
*The novel ''[[Fox at the Front]]'' by [[Douglas Niles]] and [[Michael Dobson (author)|Michael Dobson]] depicts Philby selling secrets to the Soviet Union during the alternate Battle of the Bulge where German Field Marshall Erwin Rommel turns on the Nazis and assists the Allies in capturing all of Berlin. Before he can sell the secret of the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union, he is discovered by the British and is killed by members of [[MI5]] who stage his death as a heart attack.
 
−
*He appears in the [[Doctor Who]] [[Eighth Doctor]] novel's [[The Turing Test]] as a cameo, [[Endgame]] and [[History 101]] as a cameo.
 
  
−
===Film and television===
 
 
* ''[[Cambridge Spies]],'' a 2003 four-part BBC drama, starring Toby Stephens as Kim Philby, Tom Hollander as Guy Burgess, Rupert Penry-Jones as Donald Maclean, and Samuel West as Anthony Blunt, which is told from Philby's point of view, recounts their lives and adventures from Cambridge days in the 1930s, through World War II, until the defection of Burgess and Maclean in 1951.
 
* ''[[Cambridge Spies]],'' a 2003 four-part BBC drama, starring Toby Stephens as Kim Philby, Tom Hollander as Guy Burgess, Rupert Penry-Jones as Donald Maclean, and Samuel West as Anthony Blunt, which is told from Philby's point of view, recounts their lives and adventures from Cambridge days in the 1930s, through World War II, until the defection of Burgess and Maclean in 1951.
  
−
* The 2005 film ''[[A Different Loyalty]]'' is an unattributed account taken from Eleanor Philby's book, "Kim Philby: The Spy I Loved." The film recounts Philby's love affair and marriage to Eleanor Brewer during his time in Beirut, and his eventual defection to the Soviet Union in late January of 1963. The names of all characters, including the lead characters, have been changed, and the film becomes highly speculative at the end.
+
* The 2005 film, ''[[A Different Loyalty]],'' is an unattributed account taken from Eleanor Philby's book, ''Kim Philby: The Spy I Loved.'' The names of all characters, including the lead characters, have been changed.
−
 
 
−
*  In the 1987 film ''[[The Fourth Protocol (film)|The Fourth Protocol]]'' starring [[Michael Caine]] and [[Pierce Brosnan]], Kim Philby is portrayed by [[Michael Bilton]].
 
−
 
 
−
*  The character "Harry Lime" in the 1949 film ''[[The Third Man]]'' has been said to be based on Kim Philby, although Graham Greene has denied this. It is ironic that a few years later, Philby was suspected of being the "third man" in the spy scandal.
 
−
 
 
−
* The 2006 film ''[[The Good Shepherd]]'', is a fictionalized take on the life of CIA agent [[James Jesus Angleton]]. In the film, [[MI6]] agent Arch Cummings, played by [[Billy Crudup]], is very loosely based on Philby.  
 
  
−
* ''[[Traitor (TV drama)|Traitor]]'' is a television play loosely based on Philby's life.
+
* In the 2007 (TNT) television three-part series ''[[The Company (TV miniseries)|The Company]],''  Philby is portrayed by [[Tom Hollander]].
−
 
 
−
* ''[[Joseph Brodsky]]'s'' essay, Collector's Item, in his 1996 book, On Grief and Reason, contains a conjectured description of Philby's career, as well as speculations into his motivations and general thoughts on espionage and politics. The title of the essay refers to a postal stamp commemorating Philby - it was issued in the Soviet Union in the late 1980s.
 
−
 
 
−
* In the 2007 (TNT) television three-part series "[[The Company (TV miniseries)]]," produced by Ridley Scott, Tony Scott, and John Calley, Philby is portrayed by [[Tom Hollander]].
 
−
 
 
−
===Music===
 
−
* "Philby" by [[Rory Gallagher]] from the ''[[Top Priority]]'' album (1979) in which he draws parallels between his life on the road and Philby's.
 
−
* [[Pet Shop Boys]]' song ''Jack the Lad'' has four or five lines referencing Kim Philby. It is available on the album ''Alternative'' (1995).
 
−
* ''Philby'', an unproduced musical by Katie Baldwin (book and lyrics) and Alan Moon (music).
 
−
* "Kim Philby," by the now-defunct Vancouver band Terror of Tiny Town, is a [[polka]]-esque retelling of some of Philby's story.
 
−
* "Up on the Catwalk" from [[Simple Minds]]' 1984 album ''[[Sparkle in the Rain]]'' makes a reference to Kim Philby.
 
−
* The downstairs bar of the [[Manchester]] night club [[The Haçienda]] was known as "The Kim Philby Bar."
 
  
 
==Notes==
 
==Notes==
−
{{reflist|2}}
+
<references/>
  
 
==References==
 
==References==
−
* Kim Philby, ''My Silent War'', published by Macgibbon & Kee Ltd, London, 1968, or Granda Publishing, ISBN 0-586-02860-9. Introduction by Graham Greene
+
*Borovik, Genrikh Aviėzerovich, and Phillip Knightley (ed.). ''The Philby Files: The Secret Life of Master Spy Kim Philby''. Boston: Little, Brown, 1994. ISBN 9780316910156.
−
* Bruce Page, David Leitch and Phillip Knightley, ''Philby: The Spy Who Betrayed a Generation'', 1968, published by André Deutsch, Ltd., London.
+
*Boyle, Andrew. ''The Fourth Man: The Definitive Account of Kim Philby, Guy Burgess, and Donald Maclean and Who Recruited Them to Spy for Russia''. New York: Dial Press, 1998. ASIN B000NPUZYI.
−
* Eleanor Philby, ''Kim Philby: The Spy I Married'', 1967, published by Ballantine Books, New York. Published in the UK as ''Kim Philby: The Spy I Loved'' by Hamish Hamilton (1967).
+
*Hamrick, S. J. ''Deceiving the Deceivers: Kim Philby, Donald Maclean and Guy Burgess''. New Haven, Conn: Yale University Press, 2004. ISBN 9780300104165.
−
* Patrick Seale and Maureen McConville, ''Philby: The Long Road to Moscow'', 1973, published by Hamish Hamilton, London.
+
*Knightley, Phillip. ''The Master Spy: The Story of Kim Philby''. New York: Knopf, 1989. ISBN 0233000488.  
−
* [[Peter Wright]], ''Spycatcher: The Autobiography of a Senior Intelligence Officer'', 1987.
+
*Philby, Eleanor. ''Kim Philby: The Spy I Loved''. London: H. Hamilton, 1968. ISBN 9780241015698.  
−
*Hayden Peake, "The Philby Literature" in ''The Private Life of Kim Philby: The Moscow Years'' by Rufina Philby, Mikhail Lyubimov, and Hayden Peake. St. Ermin's Press, 1999.
+
*Philby, Kim. ''My Silent War''. London: Grafton, 1989. ISBN 0586028609.
−
* Rufina Philby, ''The Private Life of Kim Philby: The Moscow Years'', 1999, published by Fromm International, New York.
+
*Seale, Patrick, and Maureen McConville. ''Philby: The Long Road to Moscow''. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1973. ISBN 9780241023679.
−
* Genrikh Borovik, ''The Philby Files'', 1994, published by Little, Brown & Company Limited, Canada, ISBN 0316910155 . Introduction by Phillip Knightley.
 
−
* Vasily Mitrokhin and [[Christopher Andrew]], ''The Mitrokhin Archive, volume 1: The KGB in Europe and the West'', 1999.
 
−
* [[Phillip Knightley]], ''Philby: KGB Masterspy'' 2003, published by Andre Deutsch Ltd, London, ISBN 0233000488.
 
−
*{{cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/spies_cambridge.shtml |title=BBC - History - The Cambridge Spies |accessdate=2008-02-17 |publisher=BBC }}
 
−
 
 
−
==Further reading==
 
−
* Richard Beeston, ''Looking For Trouble: The Life and Times of a Foreign Correspondent'', 1997, published by Brassey's, London.
 
−
* Desmond Bristow, ''A Game of Moles'', 1993, published by Little Brown & Company, London.
 
−
* [[Miranda Carter]], ''Anthony Blunt: His Lives'', 2001, published by Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, New York.
 
−
* [[Anthony Cave Brown]], ''"C": The Secret Life of Sir Stewart Graham Menzies, Spymaster to Winston Churchill'', 1987, published by Macmillan, New York.  
 
−
* [[Anthony Cave Brown]], ''Treason in the Blood: H. St. John Philby, Kim Philby, and the Spy Case of the Century'', 1994, published by Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston.
 
−
* John Fisher, ''Burgess and Maclean'', 1977, published by Robert Hale, London.
 
−
* S. J. Hamrick, ''Deceiving the Deceivers'', 2004, published by Yale University Press, New Haven.
 
−
* [[Phillip Knightley]], ''The Second Oldest Profession: Spies and Spying in the Twentieth Century'', 1986, published by W.W. Norton & Company, London.
 
−
* Yuri Modin, ''My Five Cambridge Friends'', 1994, published by Farrar Strauss Giroux, Paris.
 
−
* [[Malcolm Muggeridge]], ''The Infernal Grove: Chronicles of Wasted Time: Number 2'', 1974, published by William Morrow & Company, New York.
 
−
*Barrie Penrose & Simon Freeman, ''Conspiracy of Silence: The Secret Life of Anthony Blunt'', 1986, published by Farrar Straus Giroux, New York.
 
−
* [[Nigel West]], editor, ''The [[Guy Liddell]] Diaries: Vol. I: 1939-1942'', 2005, published by Routledge, London
 
−
* [[Nigel West]] & Oleg Tsarev, ''The Crown Jewels: The British Secrets at the Heart of the KGB Archives'', 1998, published by Yale University Press, New Haven.
 
−
 
 
−
==External links==
 
−
* [http://clark.cam.muskingum.edu/uk_folder/ukspycases_folder/ukspiestoc.html Annotated bibliography of the Philby Affair]
 
−
*[http://foia.fbi.gov/foiaindex/philby.htm Burgess, MacLean and Philby, FBI FOIA]
 
−
*[http://www.defenddemocracy.org/in_the_media/in_the_media_show.htm?doc_id=332842&attrib_id=7378 Kim Philby was here]
 
−
 
 
−
{{Persondata
 
−
|NAME= Philby, Kim
 
−
|ALTERNATIVE NAMES= Philby, Harold Adrian Russell
 
−
|SHORT DESCRIPTION= spy
 
−
|DATE OF BIRTH= January 1, 1912
 
−
|PLACE OF BIRTH= [[Ambala]], [[Punjab (British India)]], [[British Raj]]
 
−
|DATE OF DEATH= May 11, 1988
 
−
|PLACE OF DEATH= [[Moscow]], [[USSR]]
 
−
}}
 
−
{{DEFAULTSORT:Philby, Kim}}
 
−
 
 
  
 
[[Category:biography]]
 
[[Category:biography]]
 
[[Category:politics]]
 
[[Category:politics]]
 +
[[Category:history]]
 
{{credit|227417132}}
 
{{credit|227417132}}

Latest revision as of 14:31, 17 April 2018

Kim Philby
Kim philby.jpg
Old photo from the FBI's records
BornHarold Adrian Russell Philby
January 01 1912(1912-01-01)
Ambala, Punjab, British India
DiedMay 11 1988 (aged 76)
Moscow, USSR
Spouse(s)Alice (Litzi) Friedman
Aileen Furse
Eleanor Brewer
Rufina Ivanova

Harold Adrian Russell "Kim" Philby (January 1, 1912 – May 11, 1988) was a high-ranking member of British intelligence and also a spy for the Soviet Union, serving as an NKVD and KGB operative and passed many crucial secrets to the Soviets in the early days of the Cold War.

Philby became a socialist and later a communist while attending the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. He was recruited into the Soviet intelligence apparatus after working for the Comintern in Vienna following graduation. He posed as a pro-fascist journalist and worked his way into British intelligence, where he came to serve as head of counter-espionage and other posts. This rise through the ranks enabled him to pass sensitive secrets to his Soviet handlers. Later, he was sent to Washington, where he coordinated British and American intelligence efforts, thus providing the Soviets with even more valuable information.

In 1951, Philby's Washington spy ring was nearly exposed, but he was able to warn his closest associates, Donald Maclean, and Guy Burgess, who defected to the Soviet Union. Philby faced suspicion as the "third man" of the group, but after several years of investigation, he was publicly cleared of the charges and was re-posted to the Middle East.

In 1963, Philby was revealed as a spy now known as the member of the Cambridge Five, along with Maclean, Burgess, Anthony Blunt, and John Cairncross. Philby is believed to have been the most successful of the five in providing classified information to the USSR. He evaded capture and fled to Russia, where he worked with Soviet intelligence but fell into a life of alcoholic depression. Only after his death was he honored as a hero of the Soviet Union.

Early life

Born in Ambala, Punjab, India, Philby was the son of Harry St. John Philby, a British Army officer, diplomat, explorer, author, and Orientalist who converted to Islam[1] and was adviser to King Ibn Sa'ud of Saudi Arabia. Kim was nicknamed after the protagonist in Rudyard Kipling's novel, Kim, about a young Irish-Indian boy who spies for the British in India during the nineteenth century.

After graduating from Westminster School in 1928, at the age of 16, Philby studied history and economics at Trinity College, Cambridge, where became an admirer of Marxism. Philby reportedly asked one of his tutors, Maurice Dobb, how he could serve the Communist movement, and Dobbs referred him to a Communist front organization in Paris, known as the World Federation for the Relief of the Victims of German Fascism. This was one of several fronts operated by the German Willi Münzenberg, a leading Soviet agent in the West. Münzenberg in turn passed Philby to the Comintern underground in Vienna, Austria.

Espionage activities

The Soviet intelligence service recruited Philby on the strength of his work for the Comintern. His case officers included Arnold Deutsch (codename OTTO), Theodore Maly (codename MAN), and Alexander Orlov (codename SWEDE).

In 1933, Philby was sent to Vienna to aid refugees who were fleeing Nazi Germany. However, in 1936, on orders from Moscow, Philby began cultivating a pro-fascist persona, appearing at Anglo-German meetings, and editing a pro-Hitler magazine. In 1937, he went to Spain as a freelance journalist and then as a correspondent for The Times of London—reporting on the war from a pro-Franco perspective. During this time, he engaged in various espionage duties for the Soviets, including writing spurious love letters interlaced with codewords.

Philby's right-wing cover worked to perfection. In 1940, Guy Burgess, a supposed British spy who was himself working for the Soviets, introduced him to British intelligence officer Marjorie Maxse, who in turn recruited Philby into the British intelligence service (SIS). Philby worked as an instructor in the arts of "black propaganda" and was later appointed to head SIS Section V, in charge of Spain, Portugal, Gibraltar, and Africa. There, he performed his duties well and came to the attention of British intelligence chief Sir Stewart Menzies, better known as "C," who in 1944, appointed him to the key position as head of the new Section IX: Counter-espionage against the Soviet Union. As a deep-cover Soviet agent, Philby could hardly have positioned himself better.

Philby faced possible discovery in August 1945, when Konstantin Volkov, an officer of the NKVD (later KGB) informed SIS that he planned to defect to Britain with the promise that he would reveal the names of Soviet agents in SIS and the British Foreign Office. When the report reached Philby's desk, he tipped off Moscow, and the Russians were barely able to prevent Volkov's defection.

Postwar career

After the war, Philby was sent by SIS as Head of Station to Istanbul under the cover of First Secretary of the British Embassy. While there, he received a visit from fellow SIS officer and Soviet spy Guy Burgess. Philby is believed to have passed to Moscow information on the size of the United States' stockpile of atomic weapons and the U.S. capacity (at that time, severely limited) to produce new atomic bombs. Based in part on that information, Stalin went ahead with a 1948 blockade of West Berlin and began a large-scale offensive armament of Kim Il Sung's North Korean Army and Air Force, which would later culminate in the Korean War.

In January 1949, the British Government was informed that Venona project intercepts showed that nuclear secrets had been passed to the Soviet Union from the British Embassy in Washington in 1944 and 1945, by an agent code-named "Homer." Later in 1949, Philby was posted as First Secretary of the British Embassy in Washington, where he acted as liaison between British intelligence and the newly-formed CIA.

The two agencies launched an attempted revolution in Soviet-influenced Albania, but Philby was apparently able to inform the Soviets of these plans. The exiled King Zog of Albania had offered troops and other volunteers to help, but for three years, every attempted landing in Albania met with a Soviet or Albanian Communist ambush. A similar attempt was blocked in Ukraine, due to Philby's efforts. In addition, couriers who traveled to Soviet territory would often disappear, and British and American networks were producing no useful information.

British "wanted" poster for Philby's partners Burgess and McClean

After these disasters, the CIA and MI6 largely gave up their attempts to plant agents in Soviet territory. Philby was also able to tell Moscow just how much the CIA knew about its operations and to suppress several reports that revealed the names of Soviet spies in the West.

In 1950, Philby was asked by the British to help track down the suspected traitor inside their Washington embassy. Knowing from the start that "Homer" was his old university friend Donald MacLean, Philby warned MacLean early in 1951. Meanwhile, Guy Burgess had been living in Philby's house, but he behaved recklessly and suspicion had fallen on him as well.

MacLean was identified in April 1951, and he defected to Moscow with Guy Burgess a month later in May 1951. Philby came under instant suspicion as the third man who had tipped them off.

Cleared, caught, and defected

Philby resigned under a cloud. He was denied his pension and spent the next several years under investigation. He did not admit his true identity, however, and on October 25, 1955, against all expectations, he was cleared. Foreign Secretary Harold Macmillan made the public announcement exonerating Philby in the House of Commons: "While in government service he carried out his duties ably and conscientiously, and I have no reason to conclude that Mr. Philby has at any time betrayed the interests of his country, or to identify him with the so-called 'Third Man,' if indeed there was one."

Philby was then re-employed by MI6 as an "informant on retainer" agent, working under cover as a correspondent in Beirut for The Observer and The Economist. There, he was reportedly involved in Operation Musketeer, the British, French, and Israeli plan to attack Egypt and depose Gamal Abdel Nasser.

Suspicion again fell on Philby, however. There seemed to be a constant leak of information, and it was alleged that the Soviets had placed a high-level mole in British intelligence. Philby apparently became aware that the net was closing around him. In the last few months of 1962, he began to drink heavily and his behavior became increasingly erratic. Some believe that Philby was warned by Soviet spy handler Yuri Modin, who served in the Soviet embassy in London, when he traveled to Beirut in December 1962.

Philby was soon confronted with new evidence on behalf of British intelligence by an old SIS friend, Nicholas Elliott. Before a second interview could take place, he defected to the Soviet Union in January 1963, departing Beirut on the Soviet freighter Dolmatova. Records later revealed that the Dolmatova left port so quickly its cargo remained scattered on the dock.

In Moscow

Kim Philby on the 1990 USSR commemorative stamp

Philby soon surfaced in Moscow, and quickly discovered that he was not a colonel in the KGB as he thought, but still just agent TOM. It was 10 years before he walked through the doors of KGB headquarters. He suffered severe bouts of alcoholism. In Moscow, he seduced MacLean's American wife, Melinda, and abandoned his own wife, Eleanor, who left Russia in 1965.[2] According to information contained in the Mitrokhin Archive, the head of KGB counterintelligence, Oleg Kalugin met Philby in 1972 and found him to be "a wreck of a man."

Over the next few years, Kalugin and his colleagues in the Foreign Intelligence Directorate rehabilitated Philby, using him to help devise active measures in the West and to run seminars for young agents about to be sent to Great Britain, Australia, or Ireland. In 1972, he married a Russian woman, Rufina Ivanova Pukhova, who was 20 years his junior, with whom he lived until his death at age 76 in 1988.

Legacy

Kim Philby and his associates did severe damage to British and U.S. efforts in the early stages of the Cold War. He gave the Soviets information that they used to kill Western intelligence agents, withdraw their own agents who were in danger of exposure, and prevent defectors from coming to the West. He provided vital national security secrets regarding the state of the U.S. atomic weapons program, which encouraged Stalin to blockade Berlin and armKim Il Sung with weapons to launch the Korean War. The most highly-placed foreign spy ever known to penetrate the Western intelligence agencies, he was a master of deception, and one of the most effective spies in history.

Yet, he ended his life not as a hero of the Soviet Union for which he had sacrificed so much of his life and his integrity, but as a depressed alcoholic who was still very much an Englishman at heart. Only posthumously did he receive from the Soviets the public praise and appreciation which had escaped him in life. He was awarded a hero's funeral and numerous posthumous medals by the USSR. The Soviet Union itself collapsed in late 1991.

Books

Philby's autobiography, My Silent War, was published in the West in 1968, as was his wife Eleanor's book, Kim Philby: The Spy I Loved. Many other books and films have been based on his life:

  • John le Carré's novel (also a BBC television mini-series) Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1974) focuses on the hunt for a Soviet agent patterned after Philby.
  • Graham Greene's novel, The Human Factor (1978), explores the moral themes of Philby's story, although Green claims none of the characters are based on Philby.
  • In the Ted Allbeury novel, The Other Side of Silence (1981), Philby, near the end of his life, asks to return to Britain.
  • The Frederick Forsyth novel, The Fourth Protocol, features an elderly Kim Philby advising a Soviet leader on a plot to influence a British election in 1987.
  • The Robert Littell novel, The Company (2002), features Philby as a confidant of former CIA Counter-Intelligence chief James Angleton.
  • The novel, Fox at the Front (2003), by Douglas Niles and Michael Dobson depicts a fictional Philby selling secrets to the Soviet Union during the alternate Battle of the Bulge.

Film and television

  • The character "Harry Lime" in the 1949 film, The Third Man, has been said to be based on Kim Philby. A few years later, Philby was suspected of being the "third man" in the spy scandal.
  • Cambridge Spies, a 2003 four-part BBC drama, starring Toby Stephens as Kim Philby, Tom Hollander as Guy Burgess, Rupert Penry-Jones as Donald Maclean, and Samuel West as Anthony Blunt, which is told from Philby's point of view, recounts their lives and adventures from Cambridge days in the 1930s, through World War II, until the defection of Burgess and Maclean in 1951.
  • The 2005 film, A Different Loyalty, is an unattributed account taken from Eleanor Philby's book, Kim Philby: The Spy I Loved. The names of all characters, including the lead characters, have been changed.
  • In the 2007 (TNT) television three-part series The Company, Philby is portrayed by Tom Hollander.

Notes

  1. ↑ New York Times, Kim Philby and the Age of Paranoia. Retrieved October 13, 2008.
  2. ↑ Eleanor Philby, 1968.

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

  • Borovik, Genrikh Aviėzerovich, and Phillip Knightley (ed.). The Philby Files: The Secret Life of Master Spy Kim Philby. Boston: Little, Brown, 1994. ISBN 9780316910156.
  • Boyle, Andrew. The Fourth Man: The Definitive Account of Kim Philby, Guy Burgess, and Donald Maclean and Who Recruited Them to Spy for Russia. New York: Dial Press, 1998. ASIN B000NPUZYI.
  • Hamrick, S. J. Deceiving the Deceivers: Kim Philby, Donald Maclean and Guy Burgess. New Haven, Conn: Yale University Press, 2004. ISBN 9780300104165.
  • Knightley, Phillip. The Master Spy: The Story of Kim Philby. New York: Knopf, 1989. ISBN 0233000488.
  • Philby, Eleanor. Kim Philby: The Spy I Loved. London: H. Hamilton, 1968. ISBN 9780241015698.
  • Philby, Kim. My Silent War. London: Grafton, 1989. ISBN 0586028609.
  • Seale, Patrick, and Maureen McConville. Philby: The Long Road to Moscow. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1973. ISBN 9780241023679.

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