The Liberation of Marguerite Harrison
America's First Female Foreign Intelligence Agent
The known reports Marguerite sent to the U.S. intelligence agencies while in Asia mostly pertain to economic matters. After spending two months in Tokyo, she traveled north to the Sakhalin Island, a territory rich in oil and coal reserves that was claimed by both Japan and Russia. Khabarovsk Bridge over the Amur River in Siberia …
Continue reading "Eyes are watching Marguerite on the Amur River"
Marguerite Harrison said she traveled to Asia to gather material for her lectures and articles for Cosmopolitan magazine. But the reports she filed with the U.S. Army and State Department offer evidence that she was again on an intelligence mission. And this time she might have indeed played the role of Mata Hari luring unsuspecting …
Continue reading "British and Japanese attempt to recruit Marguerite"
In Japan, Marguerite for the first time began to seriously consider the roles of women in society. She had not advocated women’s suffrage in the United States or fought for equal treatment in the workplace. She had been America’s first female foreign intelligence officer, but it was a position she wanted for herself, not her …
In the middle of June 1922, less than a year after her release from Russian prison, Marguerite Harrison boarded the Canadian Pacific Railway train to Vancouver and days later caught a steamer bound for Yokohama, Japan. As soon as she arrived in Tokyo, the wary Japanese assigned an agent, Dr. Matsujiro Honda, to act as …
The circumstances surrounding Marguerite Harrison’s decision to travel to Asia are shrouded in the thick mist of time and the secrecy of the intelligence service. Marguerite later wrote that she decided to go to Asia because she was looking for fresh material for her lectures. She also wrote that she had contracted with Cosmopolitan magazine …
Once she settled in New York, she soon accepted several speaking engagements that took her to lecture halls throughout the Northeast and Midwest. During these appearances, Marguerite carefully avoided mention of her intelligence work. Once, when a woman in the audience asked about rumors that Marguerite had been a double agent, she replied coyly: “Don’t …
Continue reading "Marguerite Harrison: A woman of suspicion"
The Liberation of Marguerite Harrison 