During the 1940s, when Ernest Hemingway was writing as a war correspondent and working on the book that would become “The Old Man and the Sea,” he also was being recruited as a Russian spy by the KGB.
So say authors John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr, whose recent book, “Spies: The Rise and Fall of the KGB in America,” relies on never-before-seen Soviet records transcribed by KGB agent Alexander Vassiliev.
“Hemingway met several times with KGB agents,” Klehr said, speaking with Haynes at the International Spy Museum on Thursday. “He agreed to be helpful, but never provided any information, despite several attempts by the KGB.”
In the book, they write that Hemingway grew close to the Communist movement while covering the Spanish Civil War.
They reveal a 1941 missive from Jacob Golos, the KGB’s liaison with the Communist Party of the USA, to Moscow, stating, “A few days ago I found out that Ernest Hemingway is traveling to China via the Soviet Union. … I arranged that our people will meet with him in China.”
Although contact in China between Hemingway and the KGB was not established, he did receive a code name, “Argo,” and met with agents four more times.
