Robert Magidoff: Correspondent,
'Spy,' Author and Educator
By THOMAS KABAKER
ROBERT MAGIDOFF, now a I learned that my secretary had
teaching fellow in the Slavic accused me of spying for the
languages department, once shot United States Defense Depart-
to international prominence by ment. The news actually came as
being the first man to be thrown a relief after a week of suspense.
out of Russia on the grounds that My wife and I had been followed
he was a spy. for seven days - it was spring
he was awak d uand you can always spot the po-
"I was awakened quite early In lice agents in the spring. They're
the morning by the head of the outside so much. They're the first
Moscow Bureau of the Associated ones to get a suntan. We used to
Press - my old boss before I went call them the Sunburned Com-
to work with the National Broad- rades.
casting Company," Magidoff said. "Anyway, I called our ambas-
He turned in his chair to face sador, Walter Smith, and broke
the window of his office although the news to him. I asked for an
his eyes never seemed to focus embassy car - not only to gain
on what was outside. time: I feared that I would be ar-
"It was then, for the first time, rested the moment I stepped out
of the house, and then I never
would get a chance to see the
. . . just published ambassador at all."
Leslie White's HE TURNED back from the win-
dow and frowned. "Mr. Smith
EVOLUTION wanted to give us asylum at the
OF CULTURE epused and seemed to be
McGraw-Hill Book Co making his decision all over
M lagain. "I had to refuse. Despite
the risk, I couldn't run; that
therefore made no attempt to an-
swer those queries.
"THE THIRD question con-
cerned Soviet air transport.
On the day I got the question-
naire the Soviet papers were full
of information in preparation for
Russia's "Aviation Day." ThereI
was nothing in the answer to Mc-
Graw-Hill's question that didn't
appear in the papers.
"The truth is that I didn't even
write that story. My assistant did
it for me and the article appeared
in three magazines in the United
States with his by-line.
"Well, I went to the office and
wrote an answer to the charges
which the letter had brought
against me. The letter, of course,
was never published, and Nila and
I were ordered to leave Russia
within two or three days,"
AND SO Robert and Nila Magi-
doff left the Soviet Union to
return to the United States and
for a brief while became celeb-
rities of international importance.
But people forget, and the world
forgot the first American to be
ejected from Russia as the world
entered the cold war.
"Covering the Soviet-German
war. That was the most interest-
ing," he said. "A most accurate
history of the war can be told
from the graves. I saw it at Sta-
lingrad. Neat graves with crosses
when the Germans were advanc-
(Concluded on Page 12)
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would give the Russians the
chance they were looking for. In
a way it would be a cwnfession of
my guilt. My guilt and the guilt
of the American Embassy. We
would wait and see what would
happen.
"My wife, Nila, and I left the
Embassy on foot. We were not
being followed. The Russians had
their case and needed to know
no more about us."
ROBERT MAGIDOFF leaned
back in his chair and half-
smiled.
"It was strange about Cecelia,
my secretary. She was born in
Michigan. It seems her family mi-
grated to Russia during the de-
pression. I don't think she wrote
that letter. It had a certain in-
evitable, hackneyed style which
only comes out of the Soviet For-
eign Office. I suppose it wasn't
her fault; she was a Sovietsciti-
zn and when the authorities tell
you to find something, you find
it."$
What Cecilia found was a ques-
tionnaire which McGraw-Hill
sent to all its bureaus. (Magidoff
was the head of their Moscow
Bureau.)
"I had no information, on the
first two questions, concerning
underground installations and
atomic research, nor did I have
any legitimate means of obtain-
ing the information desired, since
every aspect of such matters, in-
cluding their application to peace-
time industrial production, is con-
sidered top secret in Russia. I
MAGAZINE
Vol. V, No. 4 Saturday, January 17, 1959
A Talk With Robert Magidoff
,By Thomas Kabaker Page Two
Michigan's Search for More Doctors
By Lane Vanderslice Page Three
Dilemma of College Athletics
By Alan Jones _Page Five
Tunisia Today
By Ahmed Belkhodia Page Eight
A Liberal Education
By Harold Taylor Page Nine
Individualism in College
By Robert Krohn Page Thirteen
Herb Gardner-A Review
By Burton Beerman Page Fourteen
MAGAZINE EDITOR-David Tarr
COVER:-An eight-year-old Tunisian boy, bottom, is already profes-
sional in engraving silver plates and other metal work. See the
story sn Tunisia on psge eight.
Walk etween library and Mason Hall is shown in top photograph.
Harod Taylor discusses liberal education on page nine.
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THE MICHIGAN DAILY MAGAZINE