DODD
GENEALOGY
LINE
Martha
Eccles
Dodd
(1905 - 1952)
William
Edward
Dodd, Sr.
(1869 - 1940)
John
Daniel
Dodd
(1848 - 1941)
John
Dodd
(1812 - 1896)
Dempsey
Dodd
(1765 - 1851)
William
Dodd
(1738 - 1813)
David
Dodd
(1690 - 1746)
_______ LINKS
WHERE
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FIND 'EM
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FAMILY
NAMES
WEEKS:
Cobb
Van
Weeks
HARRELL:
Harrell
King
EASON:
Avera
Eason
Liles
Medlin
GRISWOLD:
Dodd
Exum
Griswold
Hocutt
O'Neil
Tomlinson
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Martha
Eccles Dodd |
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Born: 08 Aug 1908, Hanover County, VA Died:
10 Aug 1990, Prague, CZECH REPUBLIC |
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Martha Eccles Dodd was the second child born to
Dr. William Edward Dodd, Sr., and Martha "Mattie" Ida
Johns. Martha was born 08 Oct 1908 in Hanover County, VA.
She was named after her mother "Martha" and her maternal
grandmother, "Martha Eccles Johns". Martha had one sibling, an
older brother named
William "Bill" Edward Dodd, Jr. |
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Children of William Edward Dodd, Sr. and Martha Ida
Johns |
Name |
Birth |
Death |
Spouse |
William Edward
Dodd, Jr. |
08 Aug 1905
Hanover Co, VA |
18 Oct 1952
San Francisco, CA |
1) Audrey Ruth
Koolish
2) Katherine Hubbard |
Martha Eccles
Dodd |
08 Oct 1908
Hanover Co, VA |
10 Aug 1990
Prague, Czech Republic |
1) George Barrett
Roberts
2)Alfred Kaufman
Stern |
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(Left to Right) Martha Eccles Dodd and William Edward Dodd, Jr. |
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The 1910 Census shows the Dodd family living in
Chicago, Cook County, Illinois. Martha's father, William, Sr.,
was teaching history at the University of Chicago. Brother
William Jr. was 4 years old and Martha was one year old. |
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1910 Chicago, Cook County,
IL, Census |
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|
Name |
Relation |
Personal Description |
Birth |
Occupation |
Last |
First |
Sex |
Race |
Age |
S/M |
Years
Married |
Children |
Self |
Father |
Mother |
Occ. |
Trade |
Born |
Living |
Dodd |
William E. |
Head |
M |
W |
40 |
M |
5 |
|
|
NC |
NC |
NC |
Teacher |
University |
------ |
Martha J. |
Wife |
F |
W |
34 |
M |
5 |
2 |
2 |
NC |
NC |
NC |
None |
|
------ |
William E. |
Son |
M |
W |
4 |
S |
|
|
|
VA |
NC |
NC |
None |
|
------ |
Martha E. |
Daughter |
F |
W |
1 |
S |
|
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|
VA |
NC |
NC |
None |
|
Carr |
Nora |
Servant |
F |
W |
23 |
S |
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Ireland |
Ireland |
Ireland |
Cook |
Private Family |
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The 1920 Census shows the Dodd family still living in Chicago,
Cook County, IL. Father, William Sr., was still working as a
teacher/professor of history at the University of Chicago.
Martha was 11 years old. |
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1920 Chicago, Cook County,
IL, Census |
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Name |
Relation |
Home |
Personal Description |
Education |
Birth |
Occupation |
Last |
First |
O/R |
F/M |
Sex |
Race |
Age |
S/M |
Attend
School
in 1919 |
Able
to
Read |
Able
to
Write |
Self |
Father |
Mother |
Occ. |
Trade |
Dodd |
Wm. E. |
Head |
O |
F |
M |
W |
50 |
M |
|
Yes |
Yes |
NC |
NC |
NC |
Professor |
University |
------ |
Martha J. |
Wife |
|
|
F |
W |
43 |
M |
|
Yes |
Yes |
NC |
NC |
NC |
None |
|
------ |
Wm. E. |
Son |
|
|
M |
W |
14 |
S |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
VA |
NC |
NC |
None |
|
------ |
Martha E. |
Daughter |
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|
F |
W |
11 |
S |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
VA |
NC |
NC |
None |
|
Closson |
Ruth |
Lodger |
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|
F |
W |
30 |
S |
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Yes |
Yes |
Indiana |
Michigan |
Indiana |
Asst. Chief Operator |
Telegraph Op. |
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The 1930 Census shows the Dodd family living in Chicago, Cook
County, Illinois. William Sr.'s age was 60, wife Martha/Mattie
was 54 and daughter Martha Eccles was 21. The census
shows that the Dodd family own their home and that the value of
their home is $10,00. William's occupation is listed as a
"Professor" at "University". |
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1930 Chicago, Cook County,
IL, Census |
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|
Name |
Relation |
Home |
Personal Description |
Education |
Birth |
Occupation |
Last |
First |
O/R |
Value |
Sex |
Race |
Age |
S/M |
Age
First
Md. |
Attend
Sch/College
1929 |
Able
Read &
Write |
Self |
Father |
Mother |
Occ. |
Trade |
Dodd |
William |
Head |
O |
10,000 |
M |
W |
60 |
M |
31 |
No |
Yes |
NC |
NC |
NC |
Professor |
University |
------ |
Martha J. |
Wife |
|
|
F |
W |
54 |
M |
25 |
No |
Yes |
NC |
NC |
NC |
None |
|
------ |
Martha |
Daughter |
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|
F |
W |
21 |
S |
|
Yes |
Yes |
VA |
NC |
NC |
None |
|
Wilkinson |
Mildred |
Lodger |
|
|
F |
W |
29 |
S |
|
Yes |
Yes |
IL |
OH |
IL |
Teacher |
Parochial
School |
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Martha grew up in Chicago where her father, Dr. William Edward
Dodd, Sr., was a senior history professor at the University of
Chicago, specializing in George Washington and Woodrow Wilson.
Martha was brought up in the liberal tradition of her father’s
historic idols and on the Bible which Professor Dodd used to
read each day at the dinner table. |
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Martha studied at the University of Chicago before spending
time in Paris. She served briefly as assistant literary editor
of The Chicago Tribune. |
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(Left) Martha Eccles Dodd; (Right) Memorial
Stadium at the University of Illinois in Chicago |
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Martha Eccles Dodd |
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On 14 March 1932, a 22-year-old Martha married George Bassett Roberts,
Vice President of National City Bank of New York. George was
born 24 Jan 1894 in Fort Dodge, Webster County, Iowa.
He was the son of George Bassett Roberts and Georgia
Kirkup. |
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The following newspaper article from the CHICAGO TRIBUNE, from
02 Nov 1933, tells of the secret marriage of Martha and George
and of her plans for a divorce when she returns from Germany. The couple
were divorced two years later in 1934. |
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CHICAGO TRIBUNE |
Nov. 2, 1933 |
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REVEAL WEDDING OF AMBASSADOR DODD'S
DAUGHTER |
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Married in 1932; Say She Plans
Divorce |
A disclosure that Miss Martha Dodd,
only daughter of Prof. William E. Dodd, American
Ambassador to Germany, was married to George Bassett
Roberts, Vice President of the National City Bank of New
York, in March 1932, came as a surprise yesterday to
nearly all of the former Miss Dodd’s friends.
One of them, however, admitted that she knew of the
circumstances of the wedding; and also of reports that
the bride wishes a divorce and plans to sue for one, or
for an annulment, when she returns from Germany.
Mr. Roberts, found in his office in the New York bank,
declined to make any comment of any kind about the
reports. He would not, however, deny that there had been
a marriage ceremony. |
Married in New York Church |
This ceremony, it
was learned, was read by the Rev. Von Ogden Vogt of the
First Unitarian Church on or about March 14, 1932. The
bride and bridegroom were attended only by two young
friends, said to have been connected with the University
of Chicago, where Prof. Dodd was a faculty member. The
families of the contracting parties learned of the
wedding soon afterward, but no public announcement was
made. |
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A few days after the
wedding Mr. Roberts returned to New York. The friend who
gave the information about the hitherto suppressed facts
of the marriage said that the couple planned to make a
formal announcement just before Mr. Roberts sailed for
Europe to be one of the American representatives at a
gold conference in Switzerland. Later Mrs. Roberts found
that she did not care to make such a hurried trip and it
was decided not to announce the marriage until Mr.
Roberts’ return to the United States. |
Gossip of Divorce Plan |
Gossip has it that a divorce was
discussed last fall, but that the bridegroom was
unwilling to go through with one.
Miss Dodd and Mr. Roberts met in October, 1929. Miss
Dodd attended the University High School and the
University of Chicago and later studied in Europe. She
in now with her parents in Berlin. |
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Martha and her brother, William E. Dodd Jr., joined their
parents in Berlin when her father, Dr. William Edward Dodd, Sr.,
was appointed as the first US Ambassador to Germany. At
first she was impressed with Adolf Hitler and "became
temporarily an ardent defender of everything going on" and
admired "the good that was being done for
the unemployed." |
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(Left to Right) Martha Eccles Dodd,
William Edward Dodd Jr., William Edward Dodd Sr., and Martha
"Mattie" Ida Johns Dodd |
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Martha lived a very "colorful" life.
During this period she developed a very active social life and
her name was associated with a large number of men. John Lewis
Carver recalled: " Martha was a vivacious, flirtatious,
fair-skinned sexy girl, far more interested in amorous escapades
than in those serious matters. But she, too, had her serious
side. She wrote short stories and poetry, and made up her mind
to become a writer." |
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Martha had affairs with several leading figures in Nazi Germany
including Ernst Hanfstaengel (intimate friend of Hitler) and
Ernst Udet (German pilot and German Air Force general). Other lovers
included the journalist, Louis Fischer, French diplomat,
Armand Berard and the scientist, Max Delbrück. |
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Ernst Hanfstaengel, Ernst Udet, Louis
Fischer, Armand Berard, Max Delbruck |
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Martha also began a relationship with Hitler's adjutant,
Fritz Wiedemann, during those years in Germany. In her book, My Years in Germany
(also titled Through Embassy Eyes, 1939) she pointed out: "Tall, dark, muscular, he
certainly had great physical brawn and the appearance of
bravery... Wiedemann's heavy face, with beetling eyebrows,
friendly eyes and an extremely low forehead, was rather
attractive... But I got the impression of an uncultivated,
primitive mind, with the shrewdness and cunning of an animal,
and completely without delicacy or subtlety... Certainly
Wiedemann was a dangerous man to cross, for despite his social
naivety and beguiling clumsiness, he was as ruthless a fighter
and schemer as some of his compatriots." |
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Fritz Wiedemann |
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Her biographer, John Lewis Carver, said about her: " Nazism
meant good-looking, tall, blond men to her and she liked what
she saw. She was painting the Nazi capital red, but in a social
way. She went out on the town every night, flirting, drinking
and dancing, mostly with young men who happened to be Nazis. She
gained a dual reputation. Insiders described her as a
nymphomaniac in her sex life and a Nazi sympathizer in her
politics." |
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This reputation gained confirmation when she started an affair
with a sinisterly handsome Nazi official, Rudolf "Rolf" Diels. At the time, he was Chief of the Nazi Secret Service (Gestapo)
and his objectives included spying on Martha’s own father and
the American Embassy in Berlin. |
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(Left) Rudolf Diels; (Center) Heinrich
Himmler and Rudolf Diels; (Right) Rudolf in uniform on the right |
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Martha disapproved of the way the
Jews were being treated in Germany. In her book, My
Years in Germany (1939), she wrote: "There
was a street-car in the centre of the road from which a young
girl was being brutally pushed and shoved. We moved closer and
saw her tragic and tortured face. She looked ghastly. Her head
had been shaved clean of hair and she was wearing a placard
across her breast that said 'I have offered myself to a Jew'. We
followed her for a moment, watching the crowd insult, jibe
and drive her. Quentin and my brother asked several people
around us, what was the matter. We understood from their German
that she was a Gentile who had been consorting with a Jew." |
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In March of 1934, a Soviet Union Communist Party agent, Boris Vinogradov, was ordered to recruit Martha Dodd. |
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(Left) Boris Vinogradov
This message was sent to the Berlin station chief: "Let Boris
Vinogradov know that we want to use him for the realization of
an affair we are interested in.... According to our data, the
mood of his acquaintance (Martha Dodd) is quite ripe for finally
drawing her into our work. Therefore we ask Vinogradov to write
her a warm friendly letter and to invite her to a meeting in
Paris where... they will carry out necessary measures to draw
Martha into our work."
The couple became lovers while in Paris. They also visited
Moscow before retuning to Berlin. On 05 June 1935, Vinogradov
wrote to his spymaster: "Currently the case with the American
(Martha Dodd) is proceeding in the following way. Now she is in
Berlin, and I received a letter from her in which she writes
that she still loves me and dreams of marrying me. It is
possible to work with her only with help from our good
relations." |
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In October 1935, Boris Vinogradov was recalled to Moscow and another
agent, Emir Bukhartsev, took over her case. He reported: "Martha
argues that she is a convinced partisan of the Communist Party
and the USSR. With the State Department's knowledge, Martha
helps her father in his diplomatic work and is aware of all his
ambassadorial affairs. The entire Dodd family hates National
Socialists. Martha has interesting connections that she uses in
getting information for her father. She has intimate relations
with some of her acquaintances... Martha claims that the main
interest of her life is to assist secretly the revolutionary
cause. She is prepared to use her position for work in this
direction, provided that the possibility of failure and of
discrediting her father can be eliminated. She claimed that a
former official of the Soviet Embassy in Berlin - Boris Vinogradov - has had intimate relations with her." In January
1936, Emir Bukhartsev reported on the progress he was making
with Martha Dodd. "For the last 2-3 weeks, I met with
(Martha) Dodd
several times. At the first meeting, she told me about Bullitt's
(U.S. Ambassador to France William Bullitt) swinish behavior
during his sojourn in Berlin. According to her, Bullitt severely
scolded the USSR in the American Embassy, arguing that in the
next few months the Japanese would capture Vladivostok and the
Russians would do nothing against it.... All of this exasperated
the American Ambassador Dodd, who reported the talks in a letter
to Washington.... During previous meetings Martha Dodd frankly
expressed her willingness to help the Soviet Embassy with her
information. Now she is studying hard the theory of communism
and Matters of Leninism by Stalin. Her teacher is Arvid
Harnack to whom she goes often. According to her, she now has to
hide her Communist convictions due to her father's official
status." |
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Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia |
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Emir
Bukhartsev also revealed that Martha Dodd was having an affair
with Louis Ferdinand, the Prince of Prussia. She claimed that
this was for political reasons: "This year her father will
retire, and then she will be able to conduct Communist
activities more openly. However, this circumstance does not
prevent her from maintaining rather intimate relations with
Louis-Ferdinand, the Crown Prince's son. According to Dodd, this
is a perfect disguise, because those who earlier treated her
suspiciously because of her open relations with Boris Vinogradov now
consider her previous passion
hearty rather than political."
Boris Vinogradov, himself, was now working in Bucharest and in October
1936 Martha Dodd wrote to him via the Soviet embassy: "Boris,
this week it was a year since I saw you last. On the 8th I gave
you a farewell kiss at the railway station, and since then we
haven't seen one another. But I never, not for a minute, forgot
you and everything you gave me in my life. This week, every
night I thought about you - every night, and about that night we
had such a stupid and mean quarrel - do you forgive me?" |
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Martha's letter to Boris continues, "I was scared and in a wild condition that
night because I knew that I wouldn't see you for so long. I
strongly wanted you to stay with me that night and forever, and
I knew that I would never be able to have you. What have you
been doing all this time? Have you been thinking about me and
asking yourself how my personal life has gone? From various
sources I know that soon you will go home. Will you go via
Berlin? Write me and let me know your plans. I would like to see
you once more. On December 8 I will be at home all night. Won't
you call me, won't you talk to me from Bucharest - I want so
much to hear your voice again - and on the 8th it will be the
anniversary of our folly. We should blame our cowardice for this
absence. Please, call me that night." |
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Boris Vinogradov was then posted to Warsaw and asked Martha to
travel to Poland. On 29th January, 1937, he wrote: "You can't
imagine, honey, how often you were with me, how I have been
constantly thinking about you, worrying about you and craving to
see you, how I adjusted to the inevitable when I heard the first
news and how I was glad to know the truth. I want to see you so
much, honey. Couldn't I come before the end of the month? I
would like to come on February 6, I think ... and to stay for
about a week. It is extremely important for me to see you and I
promise to do it as soon as possible. I would like to stay in a
small hotel not far from you, and I want nobody to know I'm
there because I don't want to be entertained. I only want to see
you as much as possible incognito. Probably, we'll be able to
leave from Warsaw to the countryside for one or two days. I will
come alone. After all, my parents quite agree that I do what I
want. I am 28 and very independent!" |
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In February 1937 Martha Dodd was told that Emir Bukhartsev had
been recalled to Moscow and executed as "a Gestapo agent".
Boris Vinogradov, once again became her main controller
and in March, 1937, he was able to tell his Soviet intelligence
supervisors that she was now working for Earl Browder, the
leader of the American Communist Party, and an agent of the
Soviet Union: "Today Martha Dodd left for Moscow. Since her
father will retire sooner or later, she wants to work in her
motherland. She established a connection with Browder who
invited her to work for him. She also established a connection
(through her brother, William) with The World Committee of
Struggle for Peace in Geneva. An
authoritative comrade in Moscow must talk to her and convince
her to stay in Europe and work only for us." |
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On her arrival in Moscow on 14th March she sent a letter to the
Soviet Government: "I, Martha Dodd, U.S. citizen, have known
Boris Vinogradov for three years in Berlin and other places, and
we have agreed to ask official permission to marry." She had a
meeting with Abram Slutsky, the head of the Foreign Department (INO)
of the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD).
Slutsky reported: "Some time ago, Martha Dodd, daughter of the
American Ambassador in Germany, was recruited by us. We used her
short-term trip to the USSR for detailed negotiations with her
and established that she has very valuable possibilities and may
be widely used by us." |
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(Left) William Jr., Mattie, Martha and
William Sr.; (Right) William Jr., Martha, William Sr. and Mattie |
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Martha made a statement to Slutsky about her commitment to the
Soviet Union: "It goes without saying that my services of any
kind and at any time are proposed to the party for use at its
discretion. Currently, I have access mainly to the personal,
confidential correspondence of my father with the U.S. State
Department and the U.S. President. My source of information on
military and naval issues, as well as on aviation, is
exclusively personal contact with our embassy's staff... I have
established very close connections to journalists." |
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Martha admitted that she was unable to get much important
information from the Germany government: "I lost almost any
connection with the Germans except perhaps for casual,
high-society meetings which yield almost nothing. I still have a
connection to the diplomatic corps but, on the whole, it doesn't
yield great results. Germans, foreign diplomats, and our own
personnel treat us suspiciously, unfriendly, and (as far as the
Germans are concerned) insultingly. Is the information which I
get from my father, who is hated in Germany and who occupies an
isolated position among foreign diplomats and therefore has no
access to any secret information, important enough for me to
remain in Germany?" |
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She further suggested that she would be more use working in
the United States: "Couldn't I conduct more valuable work in
America or in some European organization such as the
International Conference for Peace. In America, I am suspected
of nothing, except for the Germans, and I have countless
valuable connections in all circles. In other words, is my
potential work valuable enough to stay in Germany even for the
remaining term of my father's sojourn there? I have done
everything possible to make my father remain in Germany. I'm
still going to do everything I can in this direction. However,
I'm afraid he will retire this summer or fall. He was of great
benefit to the Roosevelt administration, contributing an
anti-Nazi view." |
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Martha offered to persuade her father, Ambassador William Dodd, to help the Soviet
government: "He personally wants to leave. Shouldn't he arrange
his resignation with a provocation once he decides the question
of timing? Shouldn't he provoke the Germans to make them demand
his recall or create a scandal, after which he could speak
openly in America both orally and in the press.... To resign and
to publish a protest? He could be convinced to do it if it had
significance for the USSR. Roosevelt will be giving diplomatic
posts to many capitalists who financed him. Having little
experience with respect to European politics, Roosevelt will
appoint... people or groups who will be dangerous now and in
time of war. Nevertheless, my father has great influence on Hull
and Roosevelt, who are inclined to be slightly anti-Fascist...
Have you got anybody in mind who would be at least liberal and
democratic in this post (Dodd's replacement as Ambassador in Germany)? ... If
there is information concerning our candidates, it would be
important to know whose candidacy to the post of U.S. Ambassador
in Germany that the USSR would like to promote. If this man has at
least a slight chance, I will persuade my father to promote his
candidacy." |
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A copy of this statement was sent to Nikolai Yezhov, the head of
the NKVD. On 29th March, 1937, he sent it to Joseph Stalin with
the message: "The 7th department of the... NKVD recruited Martha
Dodd, daughter of the American Ambassador in Berlin, who came in
March 1937 to Moscow for business negotiations. She described in
her report her social status, her father's status, and prospects
of her further work for us. Forwarding a copy of the latter, I
ask instructions about Martha Dodd's use." |
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For the rest of the year Martha Dodd provided information from
the American embassy. A NKVD report stated: "Martha Dodd...
checks Ambassador Dodd's reports to Roosevelt in the archive and
communicates to us short summaries of the contents, whose
numbers we gave to her. She continues providing us with
materials from the American Embassy, trying mainly to get data
about Germany, Japan, and Poland." Her controller reported
giving her "200 American dollars, 10 rubles, and gifts bought
for 500 rubles." |
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In a memo from her handler, Boris Vinogradov, he pointed out that it was
important for Martha to believe that she would eventually be
allowed to marry him. He wrote that "her dream is to be my wife,
at least virtually, and that I will come to work in America and
she would help me." Boris' code name for Martha was "Juliet
2" - making you wonder who "Juliet 1" might be. In a memo dated 12th November 1937,
Boris
mentioned that Louis Fischer had proposed to her. "The meeting
with Martha went off well. She was in a good mood. On December
15, she leaves for New York where a meeting with her is fixed
(with NKVD operatives in that city). She is still busy with our
marriage plans and waits for the fulfillment of our promise
despite her parents' warning that nothing would come of it. Not
unknown to you, journalist Louis Fischer proposed to her. She
did not accept since she hopes to marry me. But if we tell her
that I will by no means and never marry her, she will accept
Fischer's proposal. I think that she shouldn't be left in
ignorance with regard to the real situation, for if we deceive
her, she may become embittered and lose faith in us. Now she
agrees to work for us even if it turns out that I won't marry
her. I proposed giving money to her, but she turned me down." |
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(Left) Itzhak Akhmerov
Itzhak Akhmerov was a Soviet agent born in 1901. In April 1934
he was sent to the United States where he posed as a foreign
student. Adopting the name Michael Green he became the station
chief in New York City.
In January, 1938, Itzhak Akhmerov was informed of a new agent,
Martha Dodd who had been living in Nazi Germany, known by the
code name "Liza". "We inform you
that our source, 'Liza' (Martha Dodd), daughter of the
former American Ambassador in Germany, is currently in your
city. You should contact her after receiving a special cable.
Her address: Irving Place, New York City. You should come to her
early in the morning between 8 and 9 A.M." |
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Agent Akhmerov reported that Martha Dodd had started a
relationship with the millionaire Alfred Stern, a supporter of
the American Communist Party. "At present she has a fiancé....
If Boris Vinogradov reiterates his promise, she will wait for him and
reject the other man (Alfred Stern). Her fiancé is Alfred Stern, 40 years old,
Jew, a man with an independent material status who stayed in
Germany a couple of years ago and helped the Communist Party
financially.... She doesn't think her marriage would prevent her
from working with us, though she doesn't understand completely
what she should do." |
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On 28 May 1838, less than five months after her return to the US
from Germany, Martha's mother (Martha "Mattie" Ida Johns Dodd)
died as a result of a "heart lesion" (a
stress or trauma delivered to the interior walls of the heart). |
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In the summer of 1938, while still romantically involved with
the filmmaker Sidney Kaufman, with whom she lived for
several months, Martha started seeing New York millionaire
Alfred Kaufman Stern, an investment broker who acquired
great wealth in a prior divorce from the daughter of Sears
Roebuck tycoon Julius Rosenwald. |
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Alfred
Kaufman Stern was born into a wealthy family on 29 November
1897, in Fargo, North Dakota and was educated at Phillips Exeter
Academy and Harvard University. In 1921 Alfred Stern married Marion Rosenwald, daughter of one of the richest men in America,
Julius Rosenwald. They had two children, but the marriage ended
in divorce. Alfred retired from business and, as a supporter of
President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal, became
chairman of the Illinois Housing Commission. Even though Alfred
was a registered Democrat, he showed interest in American
Communism. Since Communism teaches the abolition of private
property, it was strange for a businessman with a lavish country
estate in Lewisboro, New York, a big town house in New York
City, offices in Rockefeller Center — and literally millions in
the bank - to move in this direction. |
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Martha Eccles Dodd married Alfred Kaufman Stern on 04 Sep 1938
in Hamilton, Loudoun County, Virginia. Alfred was born 29 Nov 1897 in Fargo,
North Dakota. Alfred was 40 and she was 29. Alfred was the son
of Max Stern and Fanny Kaufman and he was living
at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, New York. The marriage was
performed by Henry B. Cole, a Baptist minister, in Norfolk,
Hamilton, Virginia. |
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(Left) Martha and Alfred Stern; (Center)
William Dodd, Sr., Martha and Alfred; (Right) Martha and Alfred
Stern |
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Marriage License for Alfred Kaufman Stern
and Martha Eccles Dodd |
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Martha wrote to Soviet agent Boris Vinogradov with the news: "You haven't had
time yet to know that I really got married. On *June 16, I
married an American whom I love very much. I wanted to tell you
a lot, but I will wait until our meeting. We are supposed to be
in the USSR in late August or early September this year. I hope
you'll be there or will let me know where I can meet you. You
know, honey, that for me, you meant more in my life than anybody
else. You also know that, if I am needed, I will be ready to
come when called. Let me know your plan if you get another post.
I look into the future and see you in Russia again. Your
Martha." Martha was unaware that she would never see Boris Vinogradov
again. He had already been
arrested and executed as a "traitor to the motherland". |
*Not sure why this date,
June 16, differs from her Marriage License, Sept 4. |
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Iskhak Akhmerov further reported on 1st December, 1938: "Since
'Liza' (Martha Dodd) became the wife of a millionaire, her
everyday life has changed considerably. She lives in a rich
apartment on 57th Street, has two servants, a driver, and a
personal secretary. She is very keen on her plan to go to Moscow
as the wife of the American Ambassador." He pointed out that
Stein was willing to contribute $50,000 to the Democratic Party
in order to get the post but he considered "his chances are
still very weak." Martha's dreams were never fulfilled.
Alfred Stern was never appointed US Ambassador to the Soviet
Union. |
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Martha's father, Ambassador William Edward Dodd, Sr.,
died 09 Feb 1940, in Rock Hill, Loudoun County, VA, at the age
of 70. Cause of death was listed as "Aspiration Pneumonia".
Martha and her brother William Jr. edited their father's diary
from his years as US Ambassador to Germany for publication by
Harcourt, Brace and Company. |
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William's children (William Jr. and Martha)
Edited their father's Diary from 1933-38 for publication after
his death |
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The NKVD (the Soviet Communist Party) ordered Martha Dodd to use her influence with important
figures such as Eleanor Roosevelt. One report
said: "Let her (Martha Dodd) move in
the circles interesting to us ... It is necessary to continue
activating her activities as a successful journalist. She should
also be guided to approach and deepen her relationship with the
President's wife, Eleanor, through different social
organizations, committees, and societies." |
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Another Soviet agent was rather disapproving of Martha's behavior
and wrote: "She
considers herself a Communist and claims to accept the party's
program. In reality, 'Liza' is a typical representative of
American bohemia, a sexually decayed woman ready to sleep with
any handsome man." |
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Zalmond Franklin (a Communist Party of the United States
member and KGB asset during World War II) asked Martha to control her
sexual behavior. Martha replied: "Why? What's wrong with it?"
Franklin explained: "It may be demoralizing. The work may
suffer. Relations suffer because they become too intimate.
Lovers chatter too much, especially in bed."
Zalmond Franklin went on to say: "Bluntly but frankly, I asked
Martha if her sexual relations with her husband were
satisfactory. She, of course, asked why. I explained that I was
interested because she had twice remarked that she would divorce
her husband if she stood in... the way of his political
development. I suggested that one does not talk of divorce quite
so casually unless one wanted a divorce. Martha explained: She
loved her husband very much. Their relationship was quite
satisfactory in every way. She loved him, not the wild love she
felt for Boris Vinogradov, but still a satisfactory love. Having
once started, Martha, as in the past, talked quite freely...
Martha's life in Berlin can be summed up in one word - sleep.
Seemingly, she spent most of her time in bed. In addition to the
Russian or Russians, she had slept with a full-blown
fascist, General Ernest Udet, second in command of the German air force;
Louis Ferdinand, grandson of the
Kaiser (and Prince of Prussia); and some guy at the French Embassy in Berlin. (A real
internationalist!)" |
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Martha Dodd eventually recruited her husband, Alfred Stern,
as a Soviet agent. In December 1941, Vassily Zarubin
arranged for Alfred Stern and Boris Morros to form a
music publishing house in the United States. (Boris Morros was
born in Saint Petersburg, Russia, on 1st January, 1891. He
emigrated to the United States in 1922 and soon afterwards
joined the American Communist Party. On 2nd November, 1940,
another Soviet agent in New York contacted Morros and proposed
several ideas for activating him. However, it was only in
December 1941, that Morros agreed to the request. In exchange,
Vassily Zarubin promised Morros that he would assist in seeing
that his father would be granted an exit permit from the Soviet
Union, allowing him to travel to the United States. He was also
promised that his two brothers, Yuli and Savely, would be
released from a Soviet prison. Another brother, Alexander, had
been executed in 1940.) Stern agreed to invest $130,000 in the
venture and Boris Morros agreed to put $62,000 in the Boris
Morros Music Company. According to Allen Weinstein, the author
of The Hunted Wood: Soviet Espionage in America
(1999): "Using funds provided by the NKGB, Morros would
establish a music publishing house in the United States - a
business that could also serve as a cover for Soviet illegals...
Soviet intelligence's adventure in the American commercial music
industry was launched at a September 1944 meeting of Morros and
Stern brokered by Zarubin." |
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Allen Weinstein, the author of The Hunted Wood: Soviet
Espionage in America (1999), pointed out
that Martha Dodd was not a very important spy during the Second
World War. "Beyond Martha Dodd's occasional help as a spotter,
identifying potential agents from among her circles of radical
friends, and Alfred Stern's cheerful willingness to invest and
lose personal funds in an NKCB cover business, Moscow now found
little of value in Stern (known as "the Red millionaire")
and his socially active spouse." Martha Dodd published
My Years in Germany (1939) which
"focused mainly on Germany but was also filled with euphoric
commentary on the Soviet Union, observations made during her
trip around the country with Boris Vinogradov (though discreetly
omitting any mention of him)." |
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In 1944 Jack Soble became the Alfred and Martha's new
NKVD handler. Soble reported to Moscow on 18th August 1947: "One
has to be an iron man to tolerate Alfred Stern in a commercial
affair, especially in America, where risk, broad scope, and
timeliness are the basic elements in any commercial enterprise." |
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The FBI became suspicious of Boris Morros and in 1947 he
was arrested and charged with being a Soviet spy. He agreed to
become a double agent and provided information on the Soviet spy
network. Jack Soble was eventually arrested and convicted
on espionage charges and sentenced to seven years in prison.
With Soble’s arrest, the ring was compromised and Boris Morros’
double-agent status with it had to be revealed. That was the
last-minute tip-off for Martha, Alfred and their son. They
quickly picked up a few hundred thousand dollars of the Stern
family millions, and on the eve of their scheduled appearance
before a grand jury, they fled across the unguarded border to
Mexico. |
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In July 1956 Martha and Alfred Stern moved to
Prague in Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic). They tried to
gain entry into the Soviet Union but this was initially refused.
However, On 12th August 1957, Boris Morros appeared
before the House of Un-American Activities Committee and named
Martha Dodd and Alfred Stern as being members of a
Soviet spy ring in the United States. Allen Weinstein, the
author of The Hunted Wood: Soviet Espionage in America
(1999),
pointed out: "Within days, on August 28, the KGB recommended to
the Central Committee of the Communist Party that Martha and
Alfred Stern be allowed to settle in the USSR. The Sterns
arrived in Moscow the following month, at the same time an
American court found them guilty in absentia of espionage on
behalf of the Soviet Union." |
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Unhappy in the Soviet Union, Martha and Alfred returned to
Czechoslovakia in January 1958 where Alfred Stern worked in the
export-import field and Martha Dodd edited English-language
books. |
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In 1963 the couple moved to Cuba but returned to Czechoslovakia
seven years later. During the 1970s, monitored by the KGB,
American lawyers for Martha and Alfred began negotiating with
the FBI for their return to America with out prosecution or
imprisonment for espionage. The KGB did not object to their
departure, according to a 14th October, 1975, memo: "Data that
the Sterns have about the activities of Soviet intelligence are
obsolete and mainly known to the adversary from the traitor
(Boris Morros's) testimonies." However, the negotiations proved
unsuccessful and the Sterns never returned to the US. |
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Alfred Kaufman Stern died 24 Jun 1986 in Prague, Czech Republic. |
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Martha Eccles Dodd Stern died 10 Aug 1990 in Prague, Czech
Republic, and was buried in the New Jewish Cemetery in the same
city. |
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Additional Information about |
George Bassett Roberts |
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Before retiring from Citibank in 1959, Mr. Roberts was director
of its economics department. For more than three decades, he
co-edited the bank's Monthly Economic Letter, which had been
established in 1914 by his father, George E. Roberts, who was
twice director of the United States Mint. Until the newsletter
was discontinued in 1981, it was widely read by government
officials, business leaders and academicians. |
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SOURCES |
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North Carolina Highway
Historical Marker Program - William E. Dodd 1869-1940 -
Click Here |
Ambassador William E. Dodd -
Wikipedia |
*William Dodd - The U.S.
Ambassador in Hitler's Germany -
Click Here |
**The University of Chicago
Faculty - William E. Dodd -
Click Here |
Hall of Holography - World War I -
Click Here |
Biography in Contest:
William E. Dodd -
Click Here |
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Martha Eccles Dodd -
Wikipedia |
Martha Eccles Dodd - Spy -
Click Here |
Spies & Spymasters - Martha Dodd -
Click
Here |
Martha Dodd and Boris Binogradov -
Click Here |
Eric Lawson, "Into the
Garden of the Beast" -
Click Here |
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George Bassett Roberts - Find-A-Grave -
Click Here |
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