Cold War Casualty: The Court-Martial of Major General Robert W. Grow

In l951, Major General Robert W. Grow (1895-1985), the senior U.S. military attache in Moscow, was accused of poor judgment in keeping a diary that contained sensitive information, portions of which came into Russian hands. Hofmann, lecturer in history at the University of Cincinnati, describes how the diary was exploited by the Soviets, then by the Western press, especially the Washington Post , which gave credence to the distorted Communist version. Amid the hysteria of the Cold War, Grow was court-martialed on charges of failing to safeguard classified information. He expected to be vindicated since the diary contained no classified material. Instead he received an official reprimand and was suspended from command; only in 1957 did he succeed in getting his sentence remitted. Although Hofmann scants biographical details about Grow in this academic case study, he explores Pentagon intrigue and the illegal ``command influence'' by which Gen. Maxwell Taylor effectively turned the Grow court-martial into a mockery of the newly instituted Uniform Code of Military Justice. Photos. (Feb.)