Robert Lamphere

FBI AgentWashington, DC

Manhattan, NY

Government Official

Listen to Robert Lamphere’s Oral History on Voices of the Manhattan Project

Robert Lamphere (1918-2002) supervised many investigations of Soviet spies during the Cold War. He served as the FBI’s liaison to the top-secret Venona Project, which worked to break Soviet codes and revealed the extent of Soviet espionage in the United States.

His early espionage cases focused on those who attempted to infiltrate the Manhattan Project. In 1950, his interrogation of Klaus Fuchs in London led to the identification and arrest of Harry Gold, David Greenglass, and Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.

Robert Lamphere’s Timeline

1918 Feb 14th Born in Wardner, Idaho.

1941 Sep Joined the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

1947 Transferred to FBI headquarters as a Supervisory Special Agent and placed in charge of counterintelligence on satellite countries of the USSR.

1948 Began work on top-secret Venona project to decode Soviet intelligence cables.

1950 May Interrogated Klaus Fuchs in London.

1955 Left the FBI.

2002 Jan 7th Died of prostate cancer in Tucson, Arizona.

Related Profiles

Francis Oley

K-25 Plant

Francis Oley worked on the Manhattan Project for the Kellex Corporation. The son of Polish immigrants, Oley grew up in Brooklyn, New York.

Miriam Levin Melkonian

Columbia University

Miriam Levin Melkonian grew up in Manhattan. After graduating from Hunter College with a degree in music, she briefly worked for the U.

Vannevar Bush

Washington, DC

Vannevar Bush (1890-1974) was an American engineer, inventor and science administrator. In 1940 the National Defense Research Committee was established and President Roosevelt appointed Bush as its president.

Hugh Barnett

K-25 Plant

Hugh Barnett worked for the Union Carbide & Carbon Corporation at Manhattan, NY and Oak Ridge, TN during the Manhattan Project.