How a Russian Spy Destroyed a Beautiful Mind

Breaking History

The Free Press

History

4.8 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 3 September 2025

⏱️ 69 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week Breaking History dives into a century-old mind game: Russia’s information war against America. More specifically, how it keeps driving us crazy. From Soviet spycraft to this summer’s Russiagate revelations, the story is often familiar: a kernel of truth is then buried in lies. We look back at the haunted mind of James Jesus Angleton, the CIA’s original paranoia prophet. He spent his life chasing Russian ghosts, and what he saw and what he feared still echo through Washington today. CREDITS Executive Producer: Poppy Damon Associate Producer: Adam Feldman Sound Designer: Volkan Kiziltug A special thanks to our sponsors: Listen to Boundless Insights wherever you get your podcasts for smart, honest conversations about the biggest stories shaping Jewish life, Israeli politics, and their global impact. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome back to Breaking History.
0:02.0	In this episode, we dive into the dynamics of Russia's long-standing information war against America
0:09.0	and how it drives us crazy every few decades.
0:13.0	We tell this story through the life of James Jesus Angleton,
0:17.0	one of the founding fathers of the CIA,
0:20.0	who lost his beautiful mind trying to unravel the deceptions of the founding fathers of the CIA, who lost his beautiful mind
0:21.3	trying to unravel the deceptions of the Kremlin.
0:24.9	Haye Poucault and backlabel.
0:29.2	The part you got this next year's model.
0:33.5	Lee Javier, Arvin, Berlin.
0:37.7	What happened once happens again?
0:42.2	Hi, listeners.
0:43.5	I want to tell you about the Free Press' latest new podcast, Old School with Shiloh Brooks.
0:49.7	When we met Shiloh, he was one of the most popular professors, and he was making
0:53.8	reading great books cool again. Now he's hosting his, he was one of the most popular professors, and he was making reading
0:54.2	great books cool again.
0:56.8	Now he's hosting his show to help all of us, and young men in particular, get back into
1:01.4	reading for pleasure.
1:02.8	The show features intimate conversations with fascinating men, from fitness gurus to philosophers,
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1:10.6	They cover books like The Old Man in the Sea, Middle March, and down and out in Paris and London,
1:16.6	to bring you a truly old school education.
	...

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