From 1947 through 1991, the United States and the Soviet Union was pit against each other in the Cold War.

During this time, there was a growing contingent of Communist sympathizers in the U.S. So much so, that there was an organized communist party in the U.S., and by the 1950s and 1960s this party was gaining a large number of new members.

At the time, U.S. authorities were unsure how this emerging party in America was communicating with its Soviet counterpart.

Therefore, in 1958, the FBI initiated Operation SOLO.The FBI describes the operation as a “long-running FBI program to infiltrate the Communist Party of the United States and gather intelligence about its relationship to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, China, and other communist nations.”









According to declassified FBI documents, American agents discovered information leading them to believe that both the Communist Party in the Soviet Union and the Communist Party in the U.S. (CPUSA) were unsatisfied about the lack of communication between the two parties.

Learning this information put the U.S. in a unique position. The two parties were looking for a courier to facilitate communication. The American plan was to get an FBI informant selected by the CPUSA as the party’s courier. That is exactly what happened.

The recently released documents only cover the first three SOLO missions, which spanned from 1958 through 1960. However, these early missions gave the FBI incredible insight into the global dynamic of Communism.

It helped them understand, in particular, how the CPUSA, the Soviets, Canadian Communists, and the Communist Party of China interacted with each other.

One interesting fact to come out of these missions was that China and the Soviet Union constantly competed for power in Communist circles.

Morris and Jack Childs

None of this information would have been available if it was not for Morris Childs and his brother Jack. The Childs brothers left the CPUSA, but re-entered the party as FBI informants.

Morris Childs used his vast contacts from when he was editor of the CPUSA’s flagship newspaper. With these contacts, and the new ones that he began to foster, Morris Childs made numerous important trips to the Soviet Union and China under the guise of re-establishing formal contact between the CPUSA with the rest of the Communist world.

Childs was able to meet with top influential communist leaders such as Chinese Premier Mao Tse Tung.

However, upon returningto the U.S. from these trips, Childs was also meeting with top influential American democratic leaders, such as the Secretary of State, the Vice President, and even President Dwight Eisenhower himself.

During these meetings, Childs would report everything that he had learned and would report to the top officials at the CPUSA. Morris Childs was able to inform the American leaders about the influence of the Soviets on the CPUSA and its clandestine financing of their American counterparts.

According to the FBI, Childs made more than 50 trips overseas over a 40-year span.

The FBI considers Morris Childs to be “one of the FBI’s greatest Cold War agents.”

The information that he provided to the government is considered to one of the most valuable bodies of knowledge to come out of the Cold War. Morris and Jack Childs were recognized for their service to the FBI in 1987 when they were awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Ronald Reagan.

Unfortunately, Jack Childs was awarded posthumously. Morris Childs died June 5, 1991, just five days short of his 89th birthday.

The FBI’s first and most recent installment of the Operation SOLO documents is divided into 22 parts and is in PDF format. To view these documents visit the Operation Solo page at the FBI Vault.

Image Credits:

(1) Wikipedia

Originally published on TopSecretWriters.com