For more than six decades, Miriam Moskowitz has lived in fear that people would find out about her past. Now at age 98, the retired math teacher is anxious to set the record straight before it's too late.
"I was and am innocent," Moskowitz tells NPR's Scott Simon.
Moskowitz says she was swept up in the hunt for communists in the 1950s during the McCarthy era. She was accused of knowing that her boss and his associate, a Soviet spy, were planning to lie to a grand jury. Decades later, Moskowitz insists, unsealed records reveal that she was framed.
She was never able to tell her side of the story to the jury that convicted her, she says. For one, if she had taken the stand to declare her innocence, the fact that she was having an affair with her married boss would have become public knowledge. But there was another reason.
"If the prosecutor would have asked me, had I ever belonged to the Communist Party, I would have had to answer 'Yes' because I was a member briefly," Moskowitz says.
"He would then have asked, 'Name some people you knew in the Communist Party,' "she says. "At that point, I would have said, 'I cannot do that; my conscience will not let me.' "
Moskowitz insists she was never privy to any conversations between her boss, Abraham Brothman, and Harry Gold, the self-confessed spy. She says Gold testified against her after the government threatened him with the death penalty.
Moskowitz spent two years in prison and had to pay a $10,000 fine. The conviction destroyed her life, she says.
The FBI continued to follow her after she left prison. She lost job after job because agents spooked whomever she worked for. For a time, she contemplated suicide.
"The rest of my life, I lived a double life," says Moskowitz, who now lives in Washington Township, N.J. She has few friends and never married or had children.
"I hid the conviction," she says. "I always had the fear that when I met new people they would discover who I was, and I'd have to scoot out of their lives."
Now at the end of her life, Moskowitz says she's no longer afraid. She wants to make sure that what happened to her won't happen again.
"I am so fearful about the future of my country," Moskowitz says. It's important that people know about the kind of extremism that took place during the McCarthy era. If she can warn about what can happen when fear and paranoia grip a nation, she says," I think I've done a job of good citizenship."
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Transcript
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Miriam Moskowitz is 98 years old and a convicted felon. In 1950, federal agents arrested Ms. Moskowitz and her then boss and secret lover, Abraham Brothman, Mr. Brothman was an associate of Harry Gold, who would later confess that he was a Soviet spy. They were charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice, for lying to federal investigators, based on the testimony of Harry Gold. It was the height of the Cold War - the McCarthy era, when what was called the red scare, gripped the country. Ms. Moskowitz spent two years in prison and was angry. Sixty-four years later, she now wants to clear her name. She joins us from her home in Bergen County, New Jersey. Ms. Moskowitz, thank you very much for being with us.
MIRIAM MOSKOWITZ: Thank you for having me.
SIMON: So you're innocent?
MOSKOWITZ: I was and am innocent.
SIMON: Why didn't you take the stand to testify?
MOSKOWITZ: For two reasons - I had a personal relationship with Brothman, but the more important reason was that if the prosecutor would have asked me had I ever belonged to the Communist Party, I would've had to answer yes because I was a member briefly. He would then have asked name some of the people you knew in the Communist Party. And at that point, I would have said I cannot do that. My conscience would not let me because they will suffer job loss, all kinds of punishment.
The prosecutor would have continued to ask questions not part of the indictment and I would've continued to refuse to give information and the judge would've continued to slap citations of contempt of court. I was already facing a two-year prison sentence. So for that reason mostly, I just did not take the stand and of course the jury never heard me say I am innocent. So they went ahead and convicted me.
SIMON: What do you think court papers might show now?
MOSKOWITZ: What will be revealed is that Harry Gold said he never or rarely talked in front of me because he did not trust me. When they were about to discuss how they would testify in front of the grand jury that was first investigating espionage, Brothman sent me out for coffee, and this is in the FBI files. So there really was no evidence and a manufactured charge that I knew they were going to lie before the grand jury. And that's why I was indicted.
SIMON: Ms. Moskowitz, you spent two years in prison, paid, I guess, a $10,000 fine.
MOSKOWITZ: Yes.
SIMON: A lot of money in those days.
MOSKOWITZ: An awful lot. I paid it off, by the way. It took me about 20 years.
SIMON: And what was the rest of your life like because of this conviction?
MOSKOWITZ: The rest of my life was sort of - I lived a double life. I hid the conviction. I always had the fear that when I met new people they would discover who I was and I'd have to scoot out of their lives for several years. It was a nightmare.
SIMON: Ms. Moskowitz, why open this case up again at the age of 98?
MOSKOWITZ: Because I'm near the end of my life. Because I am so fearful about the future of my country - this McCarthyism, whatever you want to call it, could happen again. And if I can do anything to put on the record what can happen in an extreme case, I think I've done a job of good citizenship.
SIMON: Miriam Moskowitz - her case to clear her name of the 1950 conviction is scheduled next week in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan. Ms. Moskowitz, thanks so much for speaking with us.
MOSKOWITZ: You are quite welcome and I thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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