Laurence Duggan

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For other people called Laurence Duggan, see Laurence Duggan (disambiguation)

Laurence Duggan was head of the South American desk at the United States Department of State during World War II. It is disputed whether Duggan was a Soviet spy, or an innocent bystander trapped in the first wave of McCarthy era witchhunts.

Duggan was supposedly recruited by journalist Hede Massing as a Soviet spy since the mid 1930s. Duggan told the FBI that Henry Collins of the Ware group had also tried to recruit him. Duggan was a close friend of Noel Field of the State Department. The GRU had also tried to recruit him through Frederick Field.

Duggan supposedly provided the NKVD (Soviet intelligence) with confidential diplomatic cables, including from American Ambassador William Bullitt. He later served with the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA).

According to Boris Bazarov, Duggan told his Soviet handlers: "The only thing which kept him at his hateful job in the State Department where he did not get out of his tuxedo for two weeks, every night attending a reception, was the idea of being useful for our cause."

Five days after the indictment of Alger Hiss (15 December 1948) by a grand jury, Duggan "jumped" to his death from the 16th floor of a building in midtown Manhattan. Duggan's supposed code name in Soviet intelligence and in the Venona files is "Frank".

However, the circumstances surrounding Duggan's death and reporting of evidence doesn't create a complete picture. Much of the information used to indict Duggan as a spy comes from the short period in the 1990s when the former USSR opened its secret files to outsiders. Information containing "Frank's" actions were put into book form. Yet, the former USSR closed the files and no one was able to return to the files to confirm the data found. Many claim there was no actually reference to Duggan as being "Frank".

Friends attempted to clear Duggan's name. In December 1948, Edward R. Murrow denounced, on air, the communist witchhunt who had latched onto Duggan. 2005's Good Night, and Good Luck highlighted this fight between Murrow and McCarthy.

In addition, Duggan's death did not appear to be a suicide. He was happily married and had 5 children, the youngest being around 4 at the time of his death. Some contend that Duggan was killed, perhaps that he knew too much. Duggan fell to his death while wearing his glasses, an article the majority of suicidal people take off before jumping. In addition, his shoes were untied. Those against Duggan claim he feared the investigation against him, but the investigation was merely a meeting, and nothing more at that point. Laurence Duggan was simply an innocent government worker who was swept into the beginning of the McCarthy witchhunts with very dire consequences.