Register of the Herbert Romerstein collection
Finding aid prepared by Hoover Institution Archives Staff.
Hoover Institution Archives
© 2012
434 Galvez Mall
Stanford University
Stanford, CA, 94305-6010
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Title: Herbert Romerstein collection
Date (inclusive): 1914-2008
Collection Number: 2012C51
Creator:
Romerstein, Herbert
Contributing Institution:
Hoover Institution Archives
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
76 manuscript boxes
(31.7 linear feet)
Abstract: Pamphlets, leaflets, serial issues, studies, and synopses of intelligence documents, relating to the Communist International,
communist subversion in the United States, Soviet espionage and covert operations, and propaganda and psychological warfare,
especially during World War II. See the Romerstein register
http://media.hoover.org/documents/Romerstein_Herbert20130517.pdf for more information.
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For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Archives.
[Identification of item], Herbert Romerstein collection, [Box number], Hoover Institution Archives.
Acquired by the Hoover Institution Archives in 2012.
Materials may have been added to the collection since this finding aid was prepared. To determine if this has occurred, find
the collection in Stanford University's online catalog at
http://searchworks.stanford.edu/ . Materials have been added to the collection if the number of boxes listed in the online catalog is larger than the number
of boxes listed in this finding aid.
Scope and Content of Collection
Pamphlets, leaflets, serial issues, studies, and synopses of intelligence documents, relating to the Communist International,
communist subversion in the United States, Soviet espionage and covert operations, and propaganda and psychological warfare,
especially during World War II.
As of 2012, Herbert Romerstein, most recently a professor at the postgraduate Institute of World Politics in Washington, DC,
specialized in espionage, Soviet political warfare, international terrorism, and internal security. He authored such books
as
Stalin's Secret Agents: The Subversion of Roosevelt's Government (2012),
The Venona Secrets: Exposing Soviet Espionage and American Traitors (2000), and
Heroic Victims: Stalin's Foreign Legion in the Spanish Civil War (1994).
Romerstein was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1931. In high school he joined the Communist Youth League and soon after became
a card-carrying member of the Communist Party USA, where, as he has often said, he "learned to read communist." His infatuation
with communism, however, was short-lived. When the Korean War began, he had to decide which side he supported; he decided
to support freedom. Following his military service, he became a research analyst and investigator for American Business Consultants,
who published the anti-Communist newsletter "Counterattack," and for Bookmailer, a small publishing house that published his
first book,
Communism and Your Child in 1962. He testified before the Senate Sub-Committee on Internal Security on Communist Infiltration of Youth Organizations
in 1951 and before the Subversive Activities Control Board. He attended the Vienna Youth Festival in 1959 and the Helsinki
Youth Festival in 1962, all sponsored by the Communist front groups World Federation of Democratic Youth and International
Union of Students.
Romerstein entered US government service in 1965 as an investigator for the House Committee on UnAmerican Activities. Later
he served as minority chief investigator for the House Committee on Internal Security and as a professional staff member for
the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. In his final years of government service, during President Reagan's
administration, Romerstein served as head of the Office to Counter Soviet Disinformation and Active Measures of the United
States Information Agency. Since retiring from the government in 1989, Romerstein did extensive research in both US and foreign
archives, including work in the Ukrainian archives and in the archives of the Communist International in Moscow.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Communist International.
Communism--United States.
Espionage, Russian--United States.
Propaganda.
Psychological warfare.
Secret service--Soviet Union.
Subversive activities--United States.
World War, 1939-1945--Psychological aspects.
