The Liberation of Marguerite Harrison
America's First Female Foreign Intelligence Agent
On May 3, 1947, Arthur Blake died suddenly in California, never realizing his dream of becoming a motion picture star. Marguerite moved back to Baltimore the following year and rented an apartment on Charles Street to be near Tommy, who also had returned to the city after his divorce and remarriage. Marguerite she still traveled—almost …
Throughout the 1930s and 1940s Marguerite continued to give speeches about her travels. According to reports she made with the Society of Woman Geographers, she gave over one hundred lectures a year to clubs and schools. She also broadcast radio shows for the United Services Organization, or USO, during World War II.24 The lectures again …
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Marguerite Harrison returned to the United States in the fall of 1925 and quietly married Arthur Blake in New Orleans in early 1926. The couple spent six months in Morocco for their honeymoon, although Marguerite didn’t completely give up her spy work. While in Morocco she passed along her observations on the Wahhabi Muslim movements …
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Harrison left New York in July 1925 and traveled through Paris before heading to Constantinople. This time she had no trouble getting the necessary permits to proceed to Angora, which she found greatly improved with electricity and new government buildings. The Foreign Office readily gave her permission to tour the farm communities where Turks from …
Marguerite had never imagined she would marry again. She had many male friends and some “charming” interludes, but none of these relationships had ever tempted her to give up her freedom and settle down. Then she met Arthur Middleton Blake. Marguerite gave few details about how she came to know the aspiring British actor other …
Back in New York, Marguerite busied herself making ready for the premiere of Grass. She tried to help write the narration for the silent film, but she found herself at odds with her partners. She disliked the melodramatic script the editors wrote, complaining that they put artificial speeches into the mouths of simple nomads. She …
Continue reading "Harrison helps found Society of Woman Geographers"
Marguerite Harrison felt both relief and regret when she learned that Solomon Mogilevsky had been killed in a plane crash in the Caucasus Mountains. When she left Russia in 1923 she knew that she would never see him again, and she sensed that his death had been no accident. As with Robert Imbrie, rumors swirled …
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After more than a year of traveling throughout the Middle East, Marguerite Harrison returned to the United States find that Tommy was engaged to Margery D. Andrews, the granddaughter of one of the founders of Standard Oil. They wed on October 3, a month after Marguerite’s return. Marguerite, now forty-six, felt herself at loose ends. …
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Confusion and conspiracy theories arose almost immediately after Imbrie’s. Who had incited the mob? Why had they attacked the vice consul? Persian newspapers and the Russians blamed the British, saying they instigated the religious protests as a way to exert their own authority in the region and maintain their exclusive oil agreements. The British blamed …
Robert Imbrie’s murder came during an unsettled time when Muslims in Tehran were protesting against followers of the Baha’i faith. Just days before his death, Imbrie had ordered protection for two American Baha’i missionaries. Then on Friday, July 18, 1924, a crowd gathered around a well the Muslims believed was sacred. A rumor spread through …
Continue reading "Imbrie’s murder deals blow to American oil ventures"
The Liberation of Marguerite Harrison 