In response to:

Spy Story from the June 3, 1965 issue

To the Editors:

I enjoyed Richard Morrison’s letter in your June 3 issue; it is a fine example of espionage speculation.

However, the cat’s cradle does not quite hold together. If Lord Haw Haw was indeed a double agent, then Mr. Morrison’s visiting British Army officer must have known it and must have known further that a book bearing a recent dedication in William Joyce’s hand would seriously compromise the deception. His carrying the book about in his luggage and willingness to show it to an American acquaintance was thus a breach of security that one would not expect in a “brave, loyal, able and highly trusted British officer.”

Does the fact that Mr. Morrison’s friend was on leave for “battle fatigue” sufficiently explain the indiscretion? I used to listen to Haw Haw in London during the war and it struck me then that his phraseology was occasionally so odd that it could most readily be explained as concealing coded instructions beneath the innocuous chatter. A volume warmly inscribed by Joyce would be a convenient passport for anyone carrying out such orders.

I hope Mr. Morrison opened no locked doors in the camouflage factory for his appreciative British visitor.

Robert Hatch

The Nation

This Issue

July 1, 1965