Louis Dolivet

Louis Dolivet (1908 to 1989), also known as Ludovic Brecher, was a Romanian-origin writer, magazine editor and film producer whom an MI5 file describes as a secret Communist in the pre-war European peace movement.¹ He edited Free World in New York City during the Second World War, and married Beatrice Straight, sister of Michael Whitney Straight.²

Names and Origins

The National Archives catalogue describes the subject of its file KV 2/4366 as "Louis DOLIVET alias DOLIVEUX, Ludovic BRECHER, ULIANU, BOVET: Romanian, Czech, French, Swiss."¹ MI5 kept five files on him, KV 2/4365 (October 5, 1935 to December 2, 1937) through KV 2/4369 (July 9, 1955 to February 16, 1959), with identical scope notes.³ The Wilson Center concordance to the Vassiliev notebooks and the Venona decrypts gives Dolivet as also known as Ludovici Udeanu and Ludwig Brecher, describes him as Romanian born and a naturalized French citizen, says he "Escaped the fall of France and came to the United States in 1940," and cites Vassiliev's White Notebook #3, pages 123 to 124, for the Romanian names.⁴

The accounts of his birth differ. A 1968 FBI letter calls him a Romanian by birth.² A Washington Field Office report of 1945, summarizing a July 1945 report by Special Agent John N. Doran of the New York office, states that he "was born in France of Roumanian origin and became a naturalized French citizen in 1937," and that he was "alleged to be a member of the Swiss Communist Party but no substantiation has been obtained regarding this allegation."⁵

The British Library authority record for him, within the Cecil of Chelwood Papers, gives the years 1908 to 1989 and the description "writer, editor, producer and alleged spy."⁶

The Peace Campaign and the Comintern Link

The MI5 scope note for KV 2/4366, covering December 18, 1937 to March 22, 1951, ties Dolivet to the Comintern and to its leader Willi Münzenberg in these words: "A secret Communist, DOLIVET was active in the pre-war European peace movement, apparently acting under the instructions of Comintern leader Willi MUNZENBERG. From 1937 he was Secretary of the communist-influenced International Peace Campaign while continuing to present himself as a moderate socialist."¹ The earlier file, KV 2/4365, opens in October 1935.³

The British Library holds correspondence between Lord Cecil and "Louis Dolivet, Secretary, International Peace Campaign; 1936-1944."⁶ The concordance places Dolivet in French Communist politics in the 1930s in association with Pierre Cot and Münzenberg, and describes him as a leader of the Rassemblement Universel pour la Paix, which it calls an anti-Fascist front with strong Communist and Soviet ties.⁴ The Labour Party archive catalogue lists a letter of August 12, 1936 from Louis Launay to Lord Cecil "explaining reasons why he has resigned as Assistant Secretary of RUP," and correspondence of September 7, 1936 with Launay "re Communist influence in International Peace Campaign."⁷

A 1969 FBI summary records informants who described Dolivet as an active international Communist agent in Europe in the early 1930s, allegedly active in communist front organizations in France and Switzerland, and a close associate of Münzenberg. Other informants considered him an inactive but highly placed Soviet agent.⁸ The concordance also lists the cover name "Matus" for an unidentified KGB agent in France used to compromise Dolivet, and names Marta Jansen as Dolivet's secretary in France.⁴

The Vassiliev notes record a report of June 3, 1942, attributed to "Maxim," which described Michael Straight as ideologically corrupted and recorded the anti-Soviet influence of Dolivet, "who is married to N's sister."⁹ The notes use "Nigel" as the cover name for Michael Straight.⁴

Emigration, 1939 to 1941

The accounts of his arrival in the United States differ. The 1945 Doran report, as summarized by the Washington Field Office, states that he "entered the United States on January 9, 1941, and married the sister of MICHAEL STRAIGHT."⁵ The National Archives record says he moved to the USA in 1941.¹ The concordance says he came to the United States in 1940.⁴ The FBI's 1969 summary refers to his "arrival in the United States in 1939."⁸ The 1968 FBI letter places his emigration in "the late 1930s or early 1940s."²

Free World and the Free World Association

The first issue of Free World, dated October 1941, carries an article by Dolivet titled "Political War" and a statement that the "International Free World Association" broadcast several times a week to Europe and Latin America.¹⁰ The masthead names Free World, Inc., at 55 West Forty-second Street, New York, as owner and publisher, with Clark M. Eichelberger, Freda Kirchwey and Simon Marcovici Cleja as directors, Li Yu-Ying as chairman, J. Alvarez del Vayo as vice-chairman and Wou Saofong as secretary-treasurer.¹⁰ The issue's honorary board includes Lord Cecil, described there as "Co-President, International Peace Campaign," Albert Einstein, Thomas Mann and Harold L. Ickes; a second list carries the names of Norman Angell, Henri Bonnet, Pierre Cot, Dolivet, Eichelberger, Kirchwey, Louis Lipsky and Chih Meng.¹⁰ The December 1941 issue prints the same list with descriptions, among them "Pierre Cot ... Former Minister of the French Republic" and "Louis Dolivet ... Secretary-General, Free World Association," and names Michael Straight on the editorial board.¹¹ From the December 1941 issue the directors listed are Eichelberger, Kirchwey, S. M. Cleja and J. Wm. Terry.¹¹

The magazine was entered at the New York post office as second-class matter on September 17, 1941.¹² The November 1942 masthead replaces Cleja and Terry: Free World, Inc. is owned and published by Louis Dolivet, Freda Kirchwey, Clark M. Eichelberger and Frederick McKee as directors, with Hugh Moore and Alvarez del Vayo as vice-chairmen and Beatrice W. Straight as associate treasurer.¹³ A statement of ownership sworn on November 13, 1942 by Wou Saofong lists Beatrice Straight of 22 Gramercy Park among the names given with Kirchwey, Eichelberger and McKee.¹⁴ The February 1943 issue gives Dolivet as Secretary-General of the Free World Association and co-editor of the magazine.¹⁵

The July 1942 issue announces an American section of the Free World Association, chaired by Mrs. J. Borden Harriman, and carries an article by Dolivet titled "Planning for the Future" with the subtitle "Potential Forces of Asia."¹⁶ The June 1942 issue reports a speech by Henry A. Wallace at the dinner that closed the second Free World Congress held by the Free World Association, and says it had "awakened in this country and abroad a new interest."¹⁷ The December 1942 issue lists Michael Straight as chairman of the Commission on Federalism at the Free World congress.¹⁴

By the July 1944 masthead the board of Free World, Inc. is given as Li Yu-Ying (chairman), Hugh Moore (executive vice-chairman), Alvarez del Vayo (vice-chairman), Frederick McKee (treasurer) and Wou Saofong (secretary); Dolivet is listed as international editor in the issues of 1946.¹⁸ The statement of ownership for October 1, 1946 describes Free World, Inc. as a non-profit organization with no stockholders, names Dolivet as international editor, Michael Straight and Max Ascoli on the editorial board, and Dolivet and Michael Straight among the directors with Li Yu-Ying, Hugh Moore, McKee, William Emerson and Wou Saofong.¹⁹

A 1968 FBI letter records that through the marriage Dolivet became editor of Free World, which was later changed to United Nations World, and that the magazine was financed mainly by the Straight family.²

United Nations World

United Nations World began publication in February 1947 with an editorial board chaired by Richard J. Walsh, Dolivet as international editor, and Egbert White as publisher.²⁰ The statement of ownership dated October 1, 1947 and printed in the December 1947 issue names the owner as United Nations World, Inc., 385 Madison Avenue, and Beatrice S. Dolivet, and lists as security holders Nelson Rockefeller, J. H. Whitney (see John Hay Whitney), Max Ascoli and Editorial Publications, Inc.²¹ The corresponding statement for October 1, 1948, printed in the December 1948 issue and sworn by Egbert White as President of United Nations World, Inc., lists as owners a body of shareholders that includes T. W. Phillips Jr. of Butler, Pennsylvania, Atwell Company (account of John Hay Whitney), H. J. Heinz II, Eliot D. Pratt, Richard J. Walsh, Egbert White, Louis Dolivet and Beatrice S. Dolivet, with Max Ascoli and Atwell & Company among the preferred stockholders.²²

The statement for October 1, 1949 was sworn by Dolivet as President of United Nations World, Inc.; it names him as editor, lists Marshall Field III, Free World, Inc. and Funk & Wagnalls Co. among the security holders, and gives the name of the shareholder formerly printed as Beatrice S. Dolivet as Beatrice S. Cookson.²³ The July 1950 issue reports that the government of Chile had conferred the Star of Grand Officer of the Legion of Merit, "highest decoration awarded to non-nationals," on its editor, Louis Dolivet; the statement printed in the November 1950 issue still names Dolivet as editor, at 563 Park Avenue, and gives the magazine's editorial office as 319 East Forty-fourth Street.²⁴

United Nations Work

Dolivet's book The United Nations: A Handbook on the New World Organization was published by Farrar, Straus and Company with a preface by Trygve Lie; a review in the October 1946 issue of Free World gives it as 152 pages at $1.75, and the same issue prints a condensed chapter on the General Assembly.²⁵ The archive.org catalogue lists it under the creator name Louis Dolivet with a date of 1947.²⁶

A cable of April 20, 1953 from the United States High Commissioner for Austria, reporting the visit of Roy Cohn and David Schine of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations to the United States Information Service library in Vienna, records that "a volume called A Handbook to the U.N. by Louis Dolivet had been removed, because of the author’s subsequent political orientation."²⁷

Marriage to Beatrice Straight

The 1968 FBI letter gives the marriage as February 21, 1942, at Des Moines, Iowa.² The FBI's 1969 summary gives February 21, 1941 and records that the couple were reportedly separated as of September 1950; the 1945 Doran report places his arrival in the United States on January 9, 1941.⁸⁵ The same summary records that in about 1966 Beatrice Straight married the actor Peter Cookson; a September 1969 FBI teletype records Milton Rose of Mudge, Rose, Guthrie and Alexander stating that she was formerly married to Dolivet before her marriage to Cookson in or about 1966.⁸²⁸ The shareholder lists of United Nations World, Inc. print the name Beatrice S. Dolivet in the statements for October 1, 1947 and October 1, 1948 and Beatrice S. Cookson in the statement for October 1, 1949.²¹²²²³

The FBI Dan Inquiry and the 1950 Report

In 1968 the Bureau's investigation of an unidentified Soviet subject known as "Dan" considered Dolivet as a possible identity. A New York office letter reviewing its files records that he served in the United States Army from October 8 to November 23, 1943, that he was in Washington, D.C. on January 11, 1945 while residing in New York, and that he was suspected by the French of having acted as a British double agent in the United States. The same letter records him as a close friend of Philip Noel-Baker, British Minister of State from 1945 to 1946.²⁹ A Bureau memorandum of August 20, 1968 to the New York office found it "unlikely that Dolivet could be identical with the unknown subject."³⁰

The Bureau's letter of 1968 cites a New York report by Thomas G. Spencer of September 26, 1950, titled "Louis Dolivet, IS-R and FR," which states on page 71 that Dolivet attempted to establish a United Nations journal and tried to interest Nelson Rockefeller and John Hay Whitney in the venture. The same letter cites page 38 of the report, which states that Dolivet was leaving the United States to travel to London as a special correspondent for the General Assembly of the United Nations Organization, scheduled to begin January 10, 1946.²

Visa Denial and Later Life

The National Archives record for KV 2/4366 states: "In 1941 he moved to the USA where he continued similar activities until 1950, when he settled in Switzerland after being denied an entry visa by the USA. He later became a film producer and appeared to have given up any communist activity."¹ The scope notes for KV 2/4367 (March 20, 1951 to May 16, 1953), KV 2/4368 (August 1, 1953 to July 8, 1955) and KV 2/4369 repeat the same description and aliases.³ The concordance describes him as "Later a well-know figure in Hollywood."⁴

A 1969 FBI supplementary memorandum, which says it supplements the summary of September 10, 1969, states that Michael Straight had not been associated with his former brother-in-law in over twenty years, and that Dolivet reportedly resided in Paris, France, and travelled to the United States once or twice a year on business.³¹ A September 1969 teletype from the New York office records Milton Rose as saying that Dolivet was associated with the motion picture industry and comes to the United States once or twice a year on business, and an Episcopal clergyman, a friend of the Straight family, as saying Dolivet was a French citizen who "HAS NOT BEEN IN USA IN YEARS."³²