Louise Bransten Berman Explained

Louise Bransten Berman (October 9, 1908-August 1977) was a member of the Communist Party and a suspected Soviet spy.

Biography

Louise Rosenberg was born in Berkeley, the daughter of Abraham Rosenberg and Alice Greenbaum.[1] She inherited a fortune from her family's dried fruit importing business, which operated in sixty-five countries.[2] The family's business had previously been sold to a grocery chain for twenty million dollars.[3] She served on the board of The Rosenberg Foundation, a charity established by her family in 1937.[4]

In 1929 she married Richard Bransten, heir to the MJB Coffee fortune.[5] Their son Thomas was born in 1938 and later became a journalist for Ramparts and Fortune.[6] She became the lover of Soviet vice-consul Grigory Markovich Kheifets. J. Robert Oppenheimer met Kheifetz at a cocktail party hosted by Bransten.[7] Kheifets attempted to recruit Oppenheimer for Soviet espionage using Bransten's social connections with George Eltenton.[8] Her other friends involved in Communist Party activities included Nathan Silvermaster and Isaac Folkoff.[9]

In 1942, Bransten arranged a "Salute to Our Russian Ally" event at the San Francisco Opera House that was shut down by the mayor after protests by the American Legion.[10] Bransten worked with Bartley Crum to reverse the mayor's decision, later writing that the controversy showed "how strong the Fascist elements here are"[11]

She was the subject of intense surveillance by the FBI which described her pro-Communist activities as ranging from "mere membership in the Communist Party...to military and industrial espionage and political and propaganda activities".[12] Bransten was referred to in the Venona files by the code name "Map" and described as "a secret member of the CPUSA, a millionaire's daughter, doesn't work anywhere".[13]

Her second husband was Communist Party activist Lionel Berman (1906-1968).[14] He was in charge of the Cultural Section of the Communist Party.[15] Louise Berman and her husband were close friends of Vito Marcantonio, and she was a financial supporter of his campaigns with the American Labor Party.[16]

In 1948 she was question in front of the House Un-American Activities Committee about her links to Soviet espionage but refused to answer any questions on the grounds of the Fifth Amendment.[17] She testified again in front of the Committee in 1949 and stated that she had "never engaged in any espionage activity".[18] She defended her financial backing of left-wing causes to the press, stating "if I had $50,000,000 to offer for the perpetuation of racial segregation, some members of this committee might regard me quite favorably".[19] Due to her refusal to cooperate with the Committee, she was held in contempt of Congress.[20] She was acquitted of this charge in 1951.[21] She continued to be involved in politics through the 1960s, helping to raise funds for the Delano Grape strikers in 1963.[22]

Berman's papers are held at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.[23]

Notes and References

  1. Book: Cogan, Sara G. . The Jews of San Francisco & the Greater Bay Area, 1849-1919: An Annotated Bibliography . 1973 . Western Jewish History Center . 35.
  2. Book: Lonelyhearts: The Screwball World of Nathanael West and Eileen McKenney . 9780547488677 . 351.
  3. Book: Fariello, Griffin . Red Scare: Memories of the American Inquisition . 2008 . W.W. Norton . 9780393346411.
  4. Book: American Foundations and Their Fields . 1948 . Raymond Rich Associates . 103.
  5. Book: Pfaff, Lilian . J. R. Davidson: a european contribution to California Modernism . Davidson . Julius Ralph . 2019 . Birkhäuser . 978-3-0356-1937-9 . Basel . 112.
  6. Web site: Thomas Bransten '58 . 2024-07-28 . Reed Magazine In Memoriam . en-us.
  7. Book: Sibley, Katherine A. S. . Red spies in America: stolen secrets and the dawn of the Cold War . 2004 . University Press of Kansas . 978-0-7006-1351-9 . Lawrence . 155.
  8. News: Stanley . Alessandra . 2017-10-02 . Opinion The Communist Party’s Party People . 2024-07-28 . The New York Times . en-US . 0362-4331.
  9. Book: Haynes, John Earl . Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America . 1999 . Yale University Press . 9780300129878 . 232.
  10. Book: Cherny, Robert W. . San Francisco Reds: Communists in the Bay Area, 1919-1958, . 121.
  11. Book: Cherny, Robert W. . Victor Arnautoff and the politics of art . 2017 . University of Illinois press . 978-0-252-04078-8 . The working class in American history . Urbana.
  12. Book: Haynes, John Earl . Spies: The Rise and Fall of the KGB in America, . 2009 . Yale University Press . 9780300155723 . 2009 . 43.
  13. Herken . Gregg . Summer 2009 . Target Enormoz: Soviet Nuclear Espionage on the West Coast of the United States, 1942–1950 . Journal of Cold War Studies . 11 . 3 . 68–90 . 10.1162/jcws.2009.11.3.68 . 1520-3972.
  14. News: September 21, 1948 . Heiress Balks at Effort to Link Her to Spying . St. Louis Globe-Democrat . 19.
  15. Book: Fast, Howard . Being red . 1990 . Houghton Mifflin . 978-0-395-55130-1 . Boston, (Mass.) . 82.
  16. Book: Meyer, Gerald . Vito Marcantonio: radical politician 1902-1954 . 1989 . State Univ. of New York Press . 978-0-7914-0082-1 . SUNY series in American labor history . New York . 106.
  17. News: September 20, 1948 . Louise Bransten Defies Spy Probe on 'Constitutional Right' . The Pomona Progress Bulletin . 1.
  18. News: November 8, 1949 . California Heiress Balks at Communism Questions: Mrs. Louise Bransten Berman Stands on Constitutional Rights Before Congress Inquiry . The Times Leader . 1.
  19. News: November 14, 1949 . Subversive heiress: She bought no yacht . The National Guardian . 3.
  20. Book: Beck, Carl . Contempt of Congress; a study of the prosecutions initiated by the Committee on Un-American Activities, 1945-1957 . 1959 . Hauser Printing Company . 71.
  21. News: May 9, 1951 . The 11th Hour of WIllie McGee . The National Guardian . 3.
  22. News: Steinbacher . John . February 19, 1971 . Commies Make Move . Clovis News-Journal . 5.
  23. Web site: Archival Resources in Wisconsin: Descriptive Finding Aids: Summary Information . 2024-07-28 . digicoll.library.wisc.edu.

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