Robert J. Lamphere

Robert J. Lamphere (February 14, 1918 - January 7, 2002) was a former agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) involved in the cases of atomic spies Klaus Fuchs, Harry Gold, Julius Rosenberg, and Ethel Rosenberg, as well as British spy Kim Philby. "He had a hand in every major Soviet spy case from the end of World War II through the mid-1950s."

Background

Robert Joseph Lamphere was born on February 14, 1918, in Wardner, Idaho and grew up in Mullan, Idaho, where his father had mining rights. He graduated from the University of Idaho and attended its law school before finishing his degree at the National University School of Law (now George Washington University Law School) in Washington, DC. )

Later life

In 1955, Lamphere left the FBI to work in the Veterans Administration, where he became a deputy administrator. In 1961, he became an executive at the John Hancock Mutual Insurance Company and retired in 1981. ) on his involvement in the Cold War, is an oft-cited source, Historian Harvey Klehr, reviewing the book, noted Lamphere's criticism of J. Edgar Hoover: "Although Lamphere clearly admires Hoover, and praises his political acumen, it is evident that Hoover’s fondness for draconian punishments of underlings, his encouragement of excessive flattery, and his often petty demands sometimes prevented the FBI from making full use of its resources."

The FBI-KGB War: A Special Agent's Story (1986) with Tom Shachtman