Robert S. Allen

{{Infobox person

| name = Robert S. Allen

| image = Col._Robert_Allen.jpg{{!}}border

| caption = Robert S. Allen as a colonel, 1946

| birth_name = Herman Greenberg

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1900|07|14}}

| birth_place = Latonia, Kentucky, U.S.

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1981|02|23|1900|07|14}}

| death_place = Washington, D.C., U.S

| restingplace = Arlington National Cemetery

| occupation = {{Hlist|Journalist|author|columnist}}

| education = University of Wisconsin–Madison

| spouse = {{plainlist|

{{marriage|Ruth Finney|1929|1979|end = died}}
{{marriage|Adeline Sunday|1980}}

}}

{{Infobox military person

|embed = yes

| nickname = Bob

| allegiance = {{flag|United States of America}}

| branch = 25px United States Army
25px Wisconsin Army National Guard

| serviceyears = {{Hlist|1916–1929|1943–1946}}

| rank = 30px Colonel

| unit = 25px Third United States Army
25px 6th Cavalry Regiment

| battles = Mexican Punitive Expedition
World War I
World War II

| awards = 20px Silver Star
20px Legion of Merit
20px Bronze Star
20px Purple Heart
File:Croix de Guerre 1939-1945 ribbon.svg Croix de guerre

}}

Robert Sharon Allen (July 14, 1900 — February 23, 1981) was an American journalist, Washington bureau chief for The Christian Science Monitor, and military officer.

Background

Robert Sharon Allen was born on July 14, 1900, in Latonia, Kentucky, to Harry and Lizzie (Elizabeth) Greenberg. Allen's given name was Herman Greenberg. He changed his name and lied about his age in order to join the military on September 6, 1916. His father officially changed his name to match his son's in 1918, saying that there was a German "taint" to the last part of his name and he desired a real American name.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/34204942/?terms=harry%2Bgreenberg |title=Greenberg Now Is Allen |date=August 27, 1918 |work=The Cincinnati Enquirer |access-date=September 28, 2018 |url-access=subscription}} After that time all the family except his brother Isador used the name.

Allen married fellow journalist Ruth Finney in 1929, and they remained married until her death in 1979. He later married Adeline Sunday (1921–2017), his former secretary.{{cite web |url=https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/bassett-va/adeline-sunday-allen-7482447 |title=Adeline Rosemary Sunday Allen |website=Dignity Memorial |access-date=January 1, 2021}}

Career

Allen joined the army, lying about his age in order to do so, and served in the cavalry during the Pancho Villa Expedition of 1916–17 and in France during World War I.

After the war, he graduated from the University of Wisconsin and took up reporting. He joined the Ku Klux Klan in order to write an exposé about them, and was studying in Munich at the time of Hitler's Beer Hall Putsch (1923). It was at this time he became a foreign correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor.

In 1931, Allen was the Washington bureau chief for the Christian Science Monitor. Because the magazine would not publish content critical of Herbert Hoover, Allen and Drew Pearson anonymously co-wrote the book Washington Merry-Go-Round,{{cite magazine |url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,742212,00.html |title=Political Notes: Merry-Go-Round |magazine=Time |date=September 14, 1931 |access-date=December 10, 2010}} an exposé of the Hoover administration. After Hoover tracked down their identities, both authors were fired.{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1981/02/25/robert-s-allen-colorful-newsman-in-washington/3af1a2d1-82aa-47f6-be74-d41fe931ba5d/ |title=Robert S. Allen, Colorful Newsman in Washington |first=Jack |last=Eisen |date=February 25, 1981 |newspaper=The Washington Post}} In 1932 the two journalists published a sequel, More Merry-Go-Round, and wrote a nationally syndicated column titled "Merry-Go-Round".

In 1933, Allen worked as a Soviet agent (Sh/147) for $100 a month.{{cite book |first1=Steven T. |last1=Usdin |title=Bureau of Spies: The Secret Connections between Espionage and Journalism in Washington |date=2018 |publisher=Prometheus Books |isbn=9781633884779 |pages=19–23}} Retrieved September 24, 2018. According to John Earl Haynes, Harvey Klehr and Alexander Vassiliev in their 2009 book Spies: The Rise and Fall of the KGB in America,{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/spiesrisefallofk00john |url-access=registration |title=Spies: The Rise and Fall of the KGB in America |last1=Haynes |first1=John Earl |last2=Klehr |first2=Harvey |last3=Vassiliev |first3=Alexander |publisher=Yale University Press |date=2009 |location=New Haven, Connecticut | isbn=9780300164381 |access-date=January 31, 2011}}{{cite magazine |title=Patton's Third Army deputy intel officer briefly was on the KGB's payroll |first1=Thomas E. |last1=Ricks |magazine=Foreign Policy |date=December 1, 2010 |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2010/12/01/pattons-third-army-deputy-intel-officer-briefly-was-on-the-kgbs-payroll/ |access-date=December 2, 2010}} this was legal for Allen to do, being prior to the passage of the 1938 Foreign Agents Registration Act, and his motivation is unknown.

{{quote|In 1933, Allen was a fully recruited and undoubtedly witting Soviet agent. Under the assigned cover name of "George Parker," he covertly exchanged privileged information for money. He provided the Soviets with intelligence about Japanese military fortifications; news about potential appointments in the incoming Roosevelt administration; and information about the US government's plans for diplomatic recognition of the Soviet Union.}}

In 1937, during the court-packing controversy, Allen and Pearson co-authored the book The Nine Old Men, about the U.S. Supreme Court.{{cite book |last1=Pearson |first1=Drew |first2=Robert S. |last2=Allen |title=The Nine Old Men |date=1937 |publisher=Doubleday, Doran & Co. |location=Garden City, N.Y.}} During the early forties he co-wrote the newspaper strip Hap Hopper with Drew Pearson. The strip was drawn by Jack Sparling.{{cite web |url=http://strippersguide.blogspot.com/2007/01/news-of-yore-short-items-from-e_08.html |title=UFS Comic Strip Renamed |website=Stripper's Guide |access-date=June 7, 2014 |date=January 13, 1940}}

He served on General Patton's staff in World War II, reaching the rank of colonel. During a reconnaissance mission, Allen lost his right arm in combat fire. His wartime diary was published after his death.{{cite book |first=Robert S. |last=Allen |editor1-last=Rickard |editor1-first=John Nelson |title=Forward with Patton: The World War II Diary of Colonel Robert S. Allen |date=2017 |publisher=University Press of Kentucky |location=Lexington, Kentucky |isbn=9780813169125}}

In 1947, he edited the book Our Fair City,{{cite book |editor1-last=Allen |editor1-first=Robert S. |title=Our Fair City |date=1947 |publisher=Vanguard Press |location=New York |isbn=9780405058516 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rUImAAAAMAAJ&q=editions:ISBN0405058519}} an exposé of corrupt conditions in American municipalities. He also wrote Lucky Forward: The History of Patton's Third Army.{{cite book |last1=Allen |first1=Robert S. |title=Lucky Forward: The History of Patton's Third U.S. Army |date=1947 |publisher=Vanguard Press |location=New York |isbn=9786900019731}} Papers concerning his military career reside in the George S. Patton Museum at Fort Knox, Kentucky.

According to documents released by the CIA in 2007, Allen was the subject of a wiretap operation, Project Mockingbird. Associated Press reported:

"Under pressure from Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy" in 1962, CIA director John McCone "agreed to tap the telephones of columnists Robert S. Allen and Paul Scott in an effort to identify their sources for classified information which was appearing in their columns," says a memo{{cite web |title=Family Jewels |url=https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/DOC_0001451843.pdf |website=CIA FOIA |publisher=CIA |date=June 26, 2007}} a decade later to the agency's director."{{cite news |title=Some examples of CIA Misconduct |url=http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-06-26-cia-misconduct-glance_N.htm |newspaper=USA Today |date=June 27, 2007 |access-date=June 5, 2013 |agency=Associated Press}}

Death

Allen died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound at his home in Georgetown on February 23, 1981, at age 80. He also had cancer at the time of his death, and the effects of the disease had forced him to retire the year prior.{{cite news |title=Robert S. Allen, Political Columnist |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/02/25/obituaries/robert-s-allen-political-columnist.html |work=The New York Times |date=February 25, 1981}}