Morris H. Childs (born Moishe Chilovsky; June 10, 1902 – June 5, 1991) was a Ukrainian-American political activist and American Communist Party

functionary An official is someone who holds an office (function or mandate, regardless of whether it carries an actual working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority (either their own or that of the ...

who became a Soviet espionage agent (1929) and then a

double agent In the field of counterintelligence, a double agent is an employee of a secret intelligence service for one country, whose primary purpose is to spy on a target organization of another country, but who is now spying on their own country's organi ...

for the

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

(1952) until leaving both services by 1982. Beginning in 1958, Childs acted as a secret courier on behalf of the American party, briefing

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

officials on political affairs in the American party and carrying funds to support the American Communist movement from

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, reporting details all the while to his FBI handlers. Over the course of two decades of activity in this role, Childs played a major part in the transfer of more than $28 million in Soviet subsidies to the American movement. For his activity as a courier on behalf of the Soviet government, Childs was awarded the

Order of the Red Banner The Order of the Red Banner () was the first Soviet military decoration. The Order was established on 16 September 1918, during the Russian Civil War by decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. It was the highest award of S ...

in 1975. His work as a spy for the American intelligence community was recognized in 1987 when Childs (together with his brother Jack) was awarded the

Presidential Medal of Freedom The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest civilian award of the United States, alongside the Congressional Gold Medal. It is an award bestowed by decision of the president of the United States to "any person recommended to the President ...

by President

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...

Early years

Morris H. Childs was born Moishe Chilovsky on June 10, 1902, in

Kiev Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

, to an ethnic

Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

ish family. The family spoke

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

in the home, not Ukrainian or

Yiddish Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...

.John Barron, ''Operation SOLO: The FBI's Man in the Kremlin.'' Washington, DC: Regnery Publishing Co., 1996; pg. 22. Morris's father, Josef Chilovsky, engaged in revolutionary activities against the

Tsar Tsar (; also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar''; ; ; sr-Cyrl-Latn, цар, car) is a title historically used by Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word '' caesar'', which was intended to mean ''emperor'' in the Euro ...

ist regime, for which he was imprisoned and subsequently exiled to

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

.Barron, ''Operation SOLO,'' pg. 18. Josef was able to flee Russia via the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...

and he emigrated to the United States, landing in

Galveston, Texas Galveston ( ) is a Gulf Coast of the United States, coastal resort town, resort city and port off the Southeast Texas coast on Galveston Island and Pelican Island (Texas), Pelican Island in the U.S. state of Texas. The community of , with a pop ...

, in March 1910. Josef Chilovsky moved to

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, where he worked as a

cobbler Cobbler(s) may refer to: *A person who repairs shoes * Cobbler (food), a type of pie Places * The Cobbler, a mountain located near the head of Loch Long in Scotland * Mount Cobbler, Australia Art, entertainment and media * ''The Cobbler' ...

and bootmaker. As soon as his living situation was established and a small sum of money raised, Josef sent for his wife, Nechame Chilovsky, and their boys, including Moishe and Jakob. The family arrived at

Ellis Island Ellis Island is an island in New York Harbor, within the U.S. states of New Jersey and New York (state), New York. Owned by the U.S. government, Ellis Island was once the busiest immigrant inspection and processing station in the United State ...

in December 1911.Clyde Tolson, "Background Data Regarding Development of CG 5824-S orris Childsas FBI Informant and his Subsequent Advancement to National Leadership Position in Communist Party USA," memorandum to J. Edgar Hoover, March 12, 1959, pg. 1. Published in
"FBI SOLO Files - March 1958 to August 1960."
Washington, DC: Federal Bureau of Investigation, August 2011; part 10, pdf pg. 1350. The

family name In many societies, a surname, family name, or last name is the mostly hereditary portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family. It is typically combined with a given name to form the full name of a person, although several give ...

was Americanized from Chilovsky to "Childs" in Chicago. Morris, as Moishe was now known, attended a demanding Jewish school in the city and worked in his father's shoemaking shop and as a messenger in the Chicago financial district. Childs read extensively, favoring particularly works of literature and history, and took courses at the

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States. The museum is based in the Art Institute of Chicago Building in Chicago's Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park. Its collection, stewa ...

. There he was exposed to radical ideas among his peers, echoing the dissent which his father felt towards the autocracy in imperial Russia.

Communist Party career

The

Russian Revolution of 1917 The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...

was a source of great inspiration to the entire Childs family, and news of its dramatic events were breathlessly followed over the next several years.Barron, ''Operation SOLO,'' pg. 19. Towards the end of the decade Childs joined a

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

in order to get a job driving a milk delivery wagon, where he first made the acquaintance of members of the then-underground American Communist movement. The combination of his family's radical heritage, the exciting news from Russia, and the enthusiasm of his radical peers caused Morris Childs to become politically engaged, and he took the step of joining the

United Communist Party of America United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two f ...

in 1921. During the bitter factional war within the American communist movement throughout the decade of the 1920s, Childs was a consistent supporter of the Chicago-based faction led by

William Z. Foster William Z. Foster (born William Edward Foster; February 25, 1881 – September 1, 1961) was a radical American labor organizer and Communist politician, whose career included serving as General Secretary of the Communist Party USA from 1945 to ...

, head of the party's trade union operations. From the mid-1920s, Childs was a

protégé Mentorship is the patronage, influence, guidance, or direction given by a mentor. A mentor is someone who teaches or gives help and advice to a less experienced and often younger person. In an organizational setting, a mentor influences the perso ...

and friend of the man who help bring the famous union organizer Foster into the Communist Party's orbit,

Earl Browder Earl Russell Browder (May 20, 1891 – June 27, 1973) was an American politician, spy for the Soviet Union, communist activist and leader of the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA). Browder was the General Secretary of the CP ...

. When in 1928 the

Communist International The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern and also known as the Third International, was a political international which existed from 1919 to 1943 and advocated world communism. Emerging from the collapse of the Second Internationa ...

sent Browder on a dangerous mission to China as a representative of the Communist International's trade union organizing section, the

Profintern The Red International of Labor Unions (, RILU), commonly known as the Profintern (), was an international body established by the Communist International (Comintern) with the aim of coordinating communist activities within trade unions. Formally ...

, Browder left his prized library and papers with Childs, telling him before he left, "if I don't come back, they're yours".Barron, ''Operation SOLO,'' pg. 20. In 1929, Childs was selected by the

Communist Party USA The Communist Party USA (CPUSA), officially the Communist Party of the United States of America, also referred to as the American Communist Party mainly during the 20th century, is a communist party in the United States. It was established ...

(CPUSA) to attend the elite

International Lenin School The International Lenin School (ILS) () was an official training school operated in Moscow, Soviet Union, by the Communist International from May 1926 to 1938. It was resumed after the Second World War and run by the Communist Party of the Soviet ...

in Moscow, a training school for

professional revolutionaries Leninism (, ) is a political ideology developed by Russian Marxist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin that proposes the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat led by a revolutionary vanguard party as the political prelude to the esta ...

.Lora Soroka and Xiuzhi Zhou
"Register of the Morris Childs Papers, 1938-1995,"
Palo Alto, CA: Hoover Institution Archives, Stanford University, 1999. Early in 1930, Childs was approached by an agent of the Soviet

secret police image:Putin-Stasi-Ausweis.png, 300px, Vladimir Putin's secret police identity card, issued by the East German Stasi while he was working as a Soviet KGB liaison officer from 1985 to 1989. Both organizations used similar forms of repression. Secre ...

, the

OGPU The Joint State Political Directorate ( rus, Объединённое государственное политическое управление, p=ɐbjɪdʲɪˈnʲɵn(ː)əjə ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əjə pəlʲɪˈtʲitɕɪskəjə ʊprɐˈv ...

, who had noted in Childs' file that he had helped to successfully identify a police spy in the Communist organization of Chicago.Barron, ''Operation SOLO,'' pg. 23. The man asked Childs to become an informer for the agency to help keep tabs on the ideological foibles of his Lenin School comrades. Childs agreed with the request and thereafter provided periodic reports. During his second year at the Lenin School, Childs made the personal acquaintance of a number of high-level Soviet officials who taught courses at the school, including exiled Finnish revolutionary leader

Otto Kuusinen Otto Wilhelm "Wille" Kuusinen (; ; 4 October 1881 – 17 May 1964) was a Finnish-born Soviet politician, literary historian, and poet. After the defeat of the Reds in the Finnish Civil War, he fled to the Soviet Union, where he worked unti ...

and a young ideology expert named

Mikhail Suslov Mikhail Andreyevich Suslov (; 25 January 1982) was a Soviet people, Soviet statesman during the Cold War. He served as Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union#Secretariat, Second Secretary of the Communist Party of the Sovi ...

.Barron, ''Operation SOLO,'' pg. 24. Childs remained at the Lenin School until 1932. He remained a lifelong friend of Suslov, later a top expert in relations with foreign Communist Parties under Soviet leaders

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

Nikita Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and the Premier of the Soviet Union, Chai ...

, and

Leonid Brezhnev Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev (19 December 190610 November 1982) was a Soviet politician who served as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1964 until Death and state funeral of Leonid Brezhnev, his death in 1982 as w ...

. When he returned to the United States in 1933, a young Moscow-trained

on the rise, Childs went to work for a Communist Party organization now headed by his old Chicago acquaintance, Earl Browder. Childs was assigned the role of paid sub-district organizer in

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

. Childs was subsequently moved to

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

, where he served as State Secretary of the CPUSA for Illinois. Childs was a candidate for public office for the Communist Party, running for

US Congress The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...

in an Illinois at-large district in 1936. Childs was also a member of the CPUSA's governing Central Committee. Morris Childs remained a leading party worker in Illinois through 1945. In December 1945, Childs was named editor of ''

The Daily Worker The ''Daily Worker'' was a newspaper published in Chicago founded by communists, socialists, union members, and other activists. Publication began in 1924. It generally reflected the prevailing views of members of the Communist Party USA (CPU ...

,'' the official English-language newspaper of the Communist Party published in New York City and a member of the CPUSA's governing National Committee. In 1947, Childs, who, having attended the Lenin School was a fluent speaker of Russian, traveled to Moscow on an unspecified mission for the Communist Party, stopping off in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

during the return trip to have a conversation with

Jacques Duclos Jacques Duclos (; 2 October 189625 April 1975) was a French Communist politician and member of Communist International (Comintern) who played a key role in French politics from 1926, when he entered the French National Assembly after defeating ...

, the

French Communist Party The French Communist Party (, , PCF) is a Communism, communist list of political parties in France, party in France. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its Member of the European Parliament, MEPs sit with The Left in the ...

leader who in 1945, had published criticism of the policies of American CPUSA leader Earl Browder which ultimately led to Browder's ouster.David J. Garrow, ''The FBI and Martin Luther King, Jr.: From "SOLO" to Memphis.'' New York: WW Norton, 1981; pg. 35. Childs, a supporter of a majority faction headed by

Eugene Dennis Francis Xavier Waldron (August 10, 1905 – January 31, 1961), best known by the pseudonym Eugene Dennis and Tim Ryan, was an American communist politician and union organizer, best remembered as the long-time leader of the Communist Party USA ...

, was a target of a hardline minority group (which included William Z. Foster, Robert Thompson, and Benjamin Davis) which used Childs's absence from the ''Daily Worker'' to engineer his ouster as editor. The Dennis group assented to this maneuver in an attempt to calm troubled waters with the minority. Childs was surprised with the ''fait accompli'' at the June 27, 1947, plenary meeting of the National Committee, at which he was forced to resign the editorial post, ostensibly due to the heart ailment which plagued him. Exacerbating the situation, Childs was not even informed of Dennis's decision that he was to be removed until the matter was brought up at the meeting. On Dennis's motion, Childs was given an indefinite leave of absence as ''Daily Worker'' editor, replaced by

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

veteran Johnny Gates. Childs returned home to Chicago, smarting from his comrades' betrayal, and discontinued further party activities, citing reasons of health.

Jack Childs

Morris's younger brother Jakob "Jack" Childs was also a Communist. He, too, benefited from General Secretary Earl Browder's patronage, with Browder seeing to Jack's appointment as the business manager of the

Young Communist League The Young Communist League (YCL) is the name used by the youth wing of various Communist parties around the world. The name ''YCL of ountry' originates from the precedent established by the Communist Youth International. Examples of YCLs includ ...

in New York City in 1931.Barron, ''Operation SOLO,'' pg. 25. In 1932 Browder tapped Jack Childs to attend the Lenin school to be trained as a communications expert, since the Comintern now sought those holding American passports because of their versatility. Whereas Morris had been trained for work as a top party functionary and excelled in Moscow, Jack's training was more specialized and he was not a top student. He nevertheless proved himself courageous and useful as a courier transporting money to the

Communist Party of Germany The Communist Party of Germany (, ; KPD ) was a major Far-left politics, far-left political party in the Weimar Republic during the interwar period, German resistance to Nazism, underground resistance movement in Nazi Germany, and minor party ...

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

on behalf of the Comintern in 1933.Barron, ''Operation SOLO,'' pg. 26. Upon his return to the United States, Jack was put to work at the side of Earl Browder at party headquarters in New York City, acting as chauffeur, personal assistant, and bodyguard.Barron, ''Operation SOLO,'' pg. 28. This proximity to Browder was a blessing when the "man from Kansas" was General Secretary of the CPUSA but became a curse in 1945 when Browder was removed from his leadership position and expelled from the party, ostensibly for his " revisionism". As a so-called "Browderite", Childs also lost his party job, instead making use of his former radio training to open a small electrical and painting supply store in New York City. Jack Childs dropped out of the Communist Party in 1947 and spent his time and money taking care of his physically ailing brother as best he was able.Barron, ''Operation SOLO'', pg. 43. His sudden lack of party activity generated a routine September exploratory visit by two special agents of the FBI in an effort to gauge his level of disaffection and to see whether he might be a willing source of information about the top levels of the Communist Party. Jack was happy to lend assistance to the FBI, declaring to them that he "never really believed any of that communist bullshit" and that he had been active in the Communist Party merely for the sake of his brother, who had been a true believer and a figure of authority.Barron, ''Operation SOLO,'' pg. 44. As Morris had been abandoned, fired from his job and left penniless, as well as stricken by a heart attack and seemingly near death, he had begun to question the Communist Party. When his FBI interlocutors intimated to Jack Childs their desire to infiltrate the top level of the Communist Party with an informant, Jack had a potential solution, declaring "Morris is your ticket to the top".

Courier and informer

In April 1952, Special Agent Carl Freyman of the Chicago office of the FBI made a successful appeal to Morris Childs to go to work as a secret government informant. Acting on its own authority, the Chicago office undertook to pay for Morris's treatment at the

Mayo Clinic Mayo Clinic () is a Nonprofit organization, private American Academic health science centre, academic Medical centers in the United States, medical center focused on integrated health care, healthcare, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science ...

, managing to restore him physically. Over the next several years — a period during which the Communist Party was forced into retreat by the combined forces of government action and the public antipathy that was part and parcel of the

Second Red Scare McCarthyism is a political practice defined by the political repression and persecution of left-wing individuals and a campaign spreading fear of communist and Soviet influence on American institutions and of Soviet espionage in the United S ...

— the Childs brothers worked themselves back into the good graces of top party leaders. The oblique communications between the Communist Parties of the Soviet Union and the United States forced upon the Americans by the

Smith Act The Alien Registration Act, popularly known as the Smith Act, 76th United States Congress, 3rd session, ch. 439, , is a United States federal statute that was enacted on June 28, 1940. It set criminal penalties for advocating the overthrow of ...

proved inefficient and ineffectual and in 1956 the FBI learned that a move was planned to reestablish direct ties between Moscow and New York. Childs was picked as the secret FBI informant with the greatest likelihood of being named by the CPUSA's leadership as liaison between the Soviet and American Communist Parties. The FBI did their best to steer their informant towards this sensitive new position. This effort was rewarded in July 1957, when CP leader Eugene Dennis told Childs to begin making preparations to covertly travel to Moscow as the representative of the Secretariat of the CPUSA. In 1958, Childs made the first of what would ultimately be 52 secret trips to Moscow on behalf of the Communist Party USA,Richard Gid Powers
"Double Agent,"
''New York Times,'' April 21, 1996. bringing information on affairs in the turbulent American party and making arrangements for the delivery of cash for its support from the International Department of the

Communist Party of the Soviet Union The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU),. Abbreviated in Russian as КПСС, ''KPSS''. at some points known as the Russian Communist Party (RCP), All-Union Communist Party and Bolshevik Party, and sometimes referred to as the Soviet ...

. Childs was one of two delegates to the 21st Congress of the CPSU, held in Moscow from January 27 to February 5, 1959. Joining Childs in the Soviet Union as an official representative of the American Communist Party was James E. Jackson Jr., husband of

Esther Cooper Jackson Esther Victoria Cooper Jackson (August 21, 1917 – August 23, 2022) was an American civil rights activist, social worker, and communist activist. She worked with Shirley Graham Du Bois, W. E. B. Du Bois, Edward Strong, and Louis E. Burnham, an ...

. The CPSU held Childs in great esteem. In 1975, in honor of his 75th birthday, Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev hosted a banquet in Childs' honor at the

Kremlin The Moscow Kremlin (also the Kremlin) is a fortified complex in Moscow, Russia. Located in the centre of the country's capital city, the Moscow Kremlin (fortification), Kremlin comprises five palaces, four cathedrals, and the enclosing Mosco ...

, where he quietly presented him with a medal, the

, for the services which he performed conducting funds on behalf of the CPSU's international department. Childs undertook his last mission to Moscow in 1977. Over the course of his two decades as a courier, Childs was instrumental in helping with the transfer of over $28 million from the Communist Party of the Soviet Union to the Communist Party of the US to help fund its activities.

John Earl Haynes John Earl Haynes (born 1944) is an American historian who worked as a specialist in 20th-century political history in the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress. He is known for his books on the subject of the American Communist and anti- ...

and

Harvey Klehr Harvey Elliott Klehr (born December 25, 1945) is a professor of politics and history at Emory University. Klehr is known for his books on the subject of the American Communist movement, and on Soviet espionage in America (many written jointly with ...

, ''In Denial: Historians, Communism and Espionage.'' San Francisco: Encounter Books, 2003; pg. 69. Each and every transaction was painstakingly reported by Childs to his FBI handlers, along with information about affairs in the Soviet and American communist parties, as well as inside information about the international communist movement. Childs remained on the FBI's payroll until his retirement in 1982. Owing to the sensitivity and critical importance of his mission only a very small group inside the FBI knew of Childs' identity and the Bureau further minimized the size by keeping four agents in the Chicago and New York field offices solely on Operation SOLO for 13 years or more — with Special Agent Walter Boyle putting in a full 20 years on the Childs case.Barron, ''Operation SOLO,'' pg. 12. Never before or since in the FBI's history has it kept agents on a single case for such a protracted period. In honor of their services rendered to the United States government as secret FBI informers, in 1987 Morris and Jack Childs were each awarded the

by President

, with Jack's award coming posthumously.Barron, ''Operation SOLO,'' pg. xiii.

Death and legacy

Morris Childs died June 5, 1991, aged 88, in

. In 1962, Morris was married to Eva Childs, who often took part in his frequent trips to Moscow and was herself an FBI informant. Morris Childs' papers are held by the

Hoover Institution The Hoover Institution (officially The Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace and formerly The Hoover Institute and Library on War, Revolution, and Peace) is an American public policy think tank which promotes personal and economic ...

Archives at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

Palo Alto, California Palo Alto ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for ) is a charter city in northwestern Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a Sequoia sempervirens, coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. Th ...

. Additional material relating to Morris Childs is to be found in the John Barron papers, also held by the Hoover Institution Archives. Barron, a former editor at ''

Reader's Digest ''Reader's Digest'' is an American general-interest family magazine, published ten times a year. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, it is now headquartered in midtown Manhattan. The magazine was founded in 1922 by DeWitt Wallace and his wi ...

'' magazine, was the author of a book on Operation SOLO which was published in 1996 and accumulated copious materials on the post-

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

CPUSA during the course of his research.Lora Soroka and Xiuzhi Zhou
"Register of the John Barron Papers, 1927-1996,"
Palo Alto, CA: Hoover Institution Archives, Stanford University, 1999.

Works

* ''Illinois Needs a Farmer-Labor Party.'' Chicago: Workers Literature Distributors, 1936. * Illinois Program and Publicity Committee, ''20th Anniversary USSR, 1917-1937: Souvenir Book.'' (Contributor.) Chicago: Communist Party of the United States of America, 1937. * ''Unite the People of Illinois for Jobs, Security, Peace and Democracy.'' Chicago: Illinois State Committee of the Communist Party, 1938.

Footnotes

Operation SOLO files

* FBI SOLO FBI files Washington, DC: Federal Bureau of Investigation —Very large file. * F.J. Baumgardner
"Baumgardner Memorandum of 19 June 1958."
Washington, DC: Federal Bureau of Investigation, August 2011. —Memo summarizing genesis of Operation SOLO.

External links

Operation SOLO website
www.fbi.gov/ —Contains SOLO files in 125 small parts. * Lora Soroka and Xiuzhi Zhou
"Register of the Morris Childs Papers, 1938-1995,"
Palo Alto, CA: Hoover Institution Archives, Stanford University, 1999. *
Register of the John Barron Papers, 1927-1996,"
Palo Alto, CA: Hoover Institution Archives, Stanford University, 1999. * FBI files on Jack Childs * FBI files on Morris Childs {{DEFAULTSORT:Childs, Morris 1902 births 1991 deaths Jews from the Russian Empire Activists from Chicago Members of the Communist Party USA Federal Bureau of Investigation informants Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients American anti-communists Jewish anti-communists International Lenin School alumni Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner People from Kyiv American people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent