2. Michael Straight was a very interesting and innovative man. Despite the fact that he was a KGB spy, and heavily involved in the U.S. government, he also ran and wrote for his families magazine, The New Republic. He hired former U.S. Vice President and future Presidential candidate Henry A. Wallace as the magazine's editor. Straight left the magazine in 1956 and began writing novels. However, in 1963, in response to an offer of government employment in Washington, DC, he faced a background check and decided to voluntarily inform his family friend and Presidential special assistant, Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. about his communist connections. The connections he spoke of originated during his time at Cambridge. This led directly to the exposure of Blunt as the recruiter of the Cambridge Five spy ring. In turn, this served as the first step in uncovering the twisted web of the spy ring.