#perseus cod

The majority of what we know about Perseus all comes from one man, Colonel Vladimir Chikov, a public relations manager for the KGB.

The earliest mentions of a spy known as Perseus appear in 1991, in newspaper articles published by Chikov, who wrote multiple books and articles throughout the 1990s in which he 'revealed' Soviet secrets following the collapse. Perseus is mentioned in many of these, and through these we get a limited picture of the 'real' man.

Perseus was allegedly the assigned codename of an American physicist at Chicago University. Chikov claimed that Perseus had been recruited by the KGB while visiting his parents in New York City sometime between autumn 1941 and summer 1942. While in New York he ran into an acquaintance whom he had met while volunteering in the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), Morris Cohen, codenamed by the Soviets as 'Volunteer' or 'Louis.' The two discussed Perseus' invitation to work on the Manhattan Project and, somehow, the conversation led to Cohen revealing that he was working as a spy for the Soviet Union. Perseus, in response, had expressed a desire to work for the Soviets himself, and Cohen passed it along to his and his wife, Lona's handler, Anatoly Yatskov.

Chikov alleged in his books and articles that Perseus vehemently refused any kind of compensation for his spy work, and that he "had taken such a step for purely humane reasons," due to his fear that the United States would use the atomic bomb against the Soviet Union, a common reason given by Manhattan Project spies.

When it comes to physical descriptions of Perseus, there isn't a whole lot to go off of. The closest we have is (allegedly) from Morris Cohen's wife, Lona, who Chikov claims met with Perseus numerous times. In Chikov's book Русские Нелегалы в США (Russian Illegals in the USA), Chikov claims that Lona had met Perseus in Albuquerque, New Mexico in order to collect an information drop off hidden in the bottom of a box of tissues which she returned to her and Morris' handler, Yatskov. She describes Perseus, upon seeing him for the first time, as "a short man in a straw hat, a white T-shirt, and matching sandals walking from the cafeteria. In his left hand, he was clutching a yellow bag with a fish tail sticking out,” and as “quite a typical person, although outwardly he looked like a rather colorless person, with a pale thin face and large fishy eyes." This very fish themed description is why my Perseus tag is a fish emoji!

Information about Perseus fizzled out shortly after Chikov stopped publishing articles and books.

Throughout this I put 'real' in quotes as its generally agreed upon by scholars, and even other former Soviet intelligence officials, that Perseus was never a real person, at least not his own person. Senior Soviet intelligence official, Pavel Sudoplatov, in his 1994 book Special Tasks claims to have not known of a spy codenamed Perseus, and that he believes that 'Perseus' may have been created by Yatskov and colleagues (including Chikov) in order to obfuscate the identities of real spies. Chikov himself admitted to this, saying "The main goal was to make the story unclear."

The Cohens, who were real people, were not informed by Chikov and company that they had become the centerpiece of this spy story. When interviewers would visit the couple throughout the 1990s to ask them questions about Perseus, the Cohen's handlers would redirect the question, blaming the couples ages, as they were in their 80s at the time, for their "forgetfulness."

The real spy that Perseus shares the most similarities with is Theodore Hall, the youngest physicist on the Manhattan Project at only eighteen years old. Hall's most used codename was 'Mlad,' however he had another, 'Young(ster)' due to his age. This contradicts Chikov's claim that Perseus had shortly gone by 'Youngster,' as having two spies, especially those working on the same project, who shared a codename could be disastrous.

If anyone would like to read more about the 'real' Perseus I highly recommend the book Bombshell : The Secret Story of America's Unknown Atomic Spy Conspiracy by Joseph Albright and Marcia Kunstel, in which there is an entire chapter about Perseus! This book was my most used resource and building base for this section of my thesis so I most definitely recommend it if you'd like to learn more about the Manhattan Project, specifically Theodore Hall.

If there is anymore questions, whether it be about Perseus, the Manhattan Project, or just what it was like to write an undergraduate history thesis I will try and answer to the best of my ability so don't be shy, I am very passionate about this subject!!!