1 00:00:04,120 --> 00:00:11,400 Welcome to Spycraft, a podcast that tells gripping life and death spy stories and 2 00:00:11,439 --> 00:00:17,199 the amazing devices and operations that made them possible. Now, let's get started, 3 00:00:27,079 --> 00:00:31,519 and the clandestine corridors of the Cold War literature became a weapon. The 4 00:00:31,600 --> 00:00:35,240 year was nineteen fifty eight and a Soviet writer by the name of Boris Pasternak 5 00:00:35,280 --> 00:00:40,880 hat pandom masterpiece, Doctor Schivago. However, its page is brimming with unapologetic, 6 00:00:41,640 --> 00:00:46,840 unapologetic religious fervor and a subtle defiance against socialists. Draw dogma rendered it 7 00:00:46,920 --> 00:00:51,880 unacceptable to the Soviet regime. The author's magnum opus was banned, as words 8 00:00:51,880 --> 00:00:56,240 deemed too dangerous for the Soviet citizenry get across the Iron Curtain. The CIA 9 00:00:56,359 --> 00:01:02,000 saw an opportunity. British intelligence had intercepted roles of film contending photographs of pastron 10 00:01:02,079 --> 00:01:06,439 Acts forbidden manuscripts and sent them to the American counterparts. Within the walls of 11 00:01:06,519 --> 00:01:10,239 Langley, a covert operation was conceived, the mission to publish Doctor Chevago in 12 00:01:10,319 --> 00:01:14,680 Russia and smuggled into the Soviet Union. John Mary, chief of the Soviet 13 00:01:14,799 --> 00:01:18,719 Russian Division, recognized the potential impact of Pastornac's humanistic message. It was more 14 00:01:18,760 --> 00:01:22,319 than a novel. It was a clarion call for individual rights and human dignity. 15 00:01:23,319 --> 00:01:26,280 Every person is entitled to a private life and deserves respect as a human 16 00:01:26,319 --> 00:01:32,200 being, irrespective of their political loyalty, said Mary. The ejective was clear 17 00:01:32,560 --> 00:01:36,400 to seminate the author's work without revealing the hand of the US government sounds like 18 00:01:36,519 --> 00:01:40,560 espionage to me. The CIA, in collaboration with the Dutch Intelligence Service BBD 19 00:01:40,680 --> 00:01:45,359 auchers, orchestrated the prevent the printing of Doctor Chevago in its original Russian. 20 00:01:45,560 --> 00:01:51,239 By September nineteen fifty eight, hardcover copies were discreetly distributed to CIA operatives stationed 21 00:01:51,239 --> 00:01:56,640 across Western Europe Frankfurt, Berlin, Munich, London and Paris. Most copies 22 00:01:56,680 --> 00:02:00,840 found their way to Brussels at the Vatican Pavilion, a small library set up 23 00:02:00,840 --> 00:02:06,400 by a Russian immigrant Catholics became a cover distribution point. Blue linen covered copies 24 00:02:06,439 --> 00:02:10,360 of the novel were handed discreetly to Soviet citizens to concio their contraband many tore 25 00:02:10,400 --> 00:02:15,599 off the cover, smuggling the pages back to their homeland. By July nineteen 26 00:02:15,639 --> 00:02:20,400 fifty nine, the operation escalated at least nine thousand pocket sized editions of Doctor 27 00:02:20,439 --> 00:02:24,680 Chivago were printed at CIA, camouflaging of the guise of a fictitious French publisher, 28 00:02:24,719 --> 00:02:30,800 Societyda deshon Des. Around two thousand copies were clandestinely delivered to the nineteen 29 00:02:30,840 --> 00:02:35,360 fifty nine World Festival of Youth and Students for Peace and Friendship in Vienna. 30 00:02:36,479 --> 00:02:39,080 The event, through agents mingling with Soviet tourists and the officials, was infiltrated. 31 00:02:39,280 --> 00:02:45,719 This bold operation was sanctioned at the highest levels Eisenhower Operations Coordinating Board, 32 00:02:45,759 --> 00:02:50,960 reporting to the National Security Council, greed Litum Mission CIA director monitored its progress. 33 00:02:51,560 --> 00:02:54,000 Unbeknownst to the author, Passernak his model. His banned novel was now 34 00:02:54,039 --> 00:03:00,400 a powerful instrument in the ideological warfare of the Cold War. The dissemination of 35 00:03:00,439 --> 00:03:06,240 Doctor Chivago's The Novel marked a pivotal movement in the psychological battleground of East versus 36 00:03:06,280 --> 00:03:09,800 West. Semistry that sometimes the mightiest weapon did come from a pen.