In 1945 the United States initiated Project paperclip, a secret program in which more than 1,600 Nazi German scientists, engineers, and technicians were taken from Nazi Germany into the employment of the United States government. And, of course, the Soviets were not going to be left behind. But their project, Osoaviakhim, was very different from paperclip.
The “Great Sedition Trial” uncovered shocking connections at the time with the German reich that we were fighting, and challenged the idea that the nation was of a single mind during the war. It also challenged exactly how far the national commitment to freedom of speech and opinion reached, especially in extraordinary times.