Interesting. I knew about Annie Lee Moss being a real commie, but I did not know about “Scoop” being a willing dupe.
That stuff really angers me.
Truman was much the same in this respect. He protected a notorious Soviet spy, Harry Dexter White, knowing full well he was a spy having been informed by multiple communications from the FBI, yet promoted him to the head of the International Monetary Fund, with a glowing letter to go along with it.
This was a spy identified in the Venona decryptions. (intercepted and decoded Soviet communications)
He did this to protect the Democrat Party from scandal, which should have been brought down on his head.
There were things I used to like about Truman, but I view him now more as a duplicitous party hack.
That is disillusioning and sad for me.