Good Night and Good Luck… and Thank God It Didn’t Win…

One bright spot from the Oscars is that “Good Night, and Good Luck” was shut out from the podium.

George Clooney won for Supporting Actor in “Syriana,” but his revisionist opus "Good Night, and Good Luck" was not rewarded with recognition it does not deserve.

For the uninitiated, be sure to pick up a copy of Allen Weinstein’s thought provoking work "The Haunted Wood." It provides details that my 1970s – 80s education never decided to delve into.
The hero of Clooney’s misguided homage is Edward R. Murrow, CBS News legend. Clooney (and all my history books) omit the fact that Murrow’s good friend Lawrence Duggan was a Soviet Spy. I guess Clooney’s movie would have been a little watered down if he let it slip that the brilliant and perceptive journalist Murrow, was not only unaware (or would not acknowledge) that hundreds of Soviet spies were running loose in the U.S. government but the more amusing part is that he was also unaware that his own dear friend Duggan was himself a spy.

Clooney and the unhinged Secular Left, push the mythos that McCarthy’s tactics led to careers being ruined. I can agree with them in Duggan’s case. After being questioned by the FBI, Duggan leapt from a window committing suicide. It is hard for your career to make a recovery once take such a final action as suicide.

After his death, Murrow angrily denounced the idea that Duggan could possibly have been disloyal to America. How could a friend of the master intellectual of our parent’s time be wrong? It was the evil anti-communist sentiment that did in Murrow’s friend. Apparently some things never change, the truth apparently never stand in the way of a CBS Anchorman forming a conclusion.

Thank to President Reagan and the fall of the Evil Empire, we now know the truth from decrypted Soviet cables and mountains of documents from Soviet archives. They prove beyond doubt that Lawrence Duggan was one of Stalin's most important spies. I don’t remember Clooney mentioning that "McCarthyism" didn't kill Duggan; his guilt did.

During the height of the Soviet purges in the mid-'30s, as millions of innocents were being tortured, exiled and killed on Stalin's orders, Murrow's friend Duggan was using his position at the State Department to pass important documents to the Soviets. The documents were so sensitive that Duggan had to return the originals to the State Department before the end of the day. Some were considered so important, they were sent directly to Stalin and Vyacheslav Molotov.

On at least one occasion, Duggan sat with his Soviet handler for an hour as the handler photographed 60 documents for the motherland. Do you think these documents were also created using Microsoft Word and used proportional typefaces?

All this time, people Duggan knew personally were being falsely accused and executed back in the Soviet Union. Duggan expressed concern about Stalin's purges with his Soviet handler, but he didn't stop spying, apparently Duggan was mostly concerned about being falsely accused by Stalin himself someday.

Georgy Boy also omitted the fact that as a direct result of Murrow's good buddy Duggan’s actions, innocent people were killed. Specifically, one man was murdered solely to protect Duggan's identity as a Soviet spy.

Ignatz Reiss had been the head of Soviet secret police in Europe. As such, he was aware of Soviet agents in the U.S., including Duggan. Reiss was stunned by Stalin's bloody purges and in 1937; Reiss defected from the Soviet Union, threatening to expose Duggan if they came after him. What Reiss must have thought was a sound plan to allow him to end his life as a spy ended up being his death warrant.

Two months later, Soviet secret police tracked Reiss to a restaurant in Switzerland. According to the official declassified Soviet memo describing Reiss' murder, Soviet agents dragged Reiss out of the restaurant, shoved him in a car, shot him and dumped his body by the side of the road.

Soviet officials later informed Duggan's handler in America: "(Reiss) is liquidated, (but) not yet his wife. ... Now the danger that (Duggan) will be exposed because of (Reiss) is considerably decreased." I guess it was bad story telling for Clooney to include that part about how Murrow's good friend Duggan was an accomplice to murder.

After reading this account, I am wondering if anyone has the rights to turn “The Haunted Wood” into a film? Maybe I can get David Strathairn to reprise the role of Murrow? There are worse things for Strathairn, as I recall Edward Herrmann made a good living playing FDR in numerous films.

So let’s recap, we have the makings of a film with spies, suicide, murder and intrigue. The only thing we don’t have is the money to produce it. Hollywood will be spending its money next year on the Che Guevara biopic. For those unlearned, Che Guevara is most famous for leading Fidel Castro's forces in Cuba. If Clooney has his way, he will be releasing “Not All Snakes Hiss” his film extolling the innocence or Alger Hiss, to be followed by the Holiday release of “Gross Injustice” his long anticipated work extolling the innocence of the Rosenbergs.

Do you think Pat Sajak might have some of his "Wheel of Fortune" money saved to bankroll the film? Maybe Bo Derek?