Donald Day

Donald Satterlee Day (1898-1966) was a journalist and, later, broadcaster for the Nazi regime. Day was also later revealed to be an intelligence asset for the United States government.

Day started his career by working on a Chicago tabloid publication, The Day Book. He later became editor of the New York World.

Day attempted to be the first journalist admitted to the Soviet Union in 1921, his efforts were rebuffed. He later tried to get into the Soviet Union by marrying a Soviet citizen, which was rejected. Day then went to Riga, Latvia and began publishing stories for the Chicago Tribune using Russian refugees as sources. Day broke exclusives on Soviet famines and repressions that were otherwise ignored by the mainstream media at the time. His experiences made him hate Communism.

During the Soviet invasion of Finland in 1942, Day asked his editor for permission to enlist with the Finnish military and fight the Communists, his request was rejected. When the U.S. government learned of this, they cancelled Day's passport and demanded he return. Day, believing that he would be prosecuted if he returned to America, vowed not to return. Without a valid passport, however, he was unable to move between borders easily.

In the summer of 1944, Day had moved to Germany and began to broadcast radio propaganda for the Nazi government. Most of his broadcasts were details of Soviet crimes and abuses. His final broadcast was in April 1945. By May 1945, he was arrested, and indicted in November. He was released in December 1946, and then rearrested in January 1949, being released again in 1949, this time for good.

His FBI file, released in the 2010's, revealed that a significant motive in his release was to obtain his help in identifying Soviet espionage agents who had been infiltrating the West.

Donald Day was an older brother to Catholic Worker activist and author Dorothy Day. A brother, Sam Houston Day, was a long-time journalist for the New York Journal-American. Day married a White Russian emigre, Edit, and died in Helsinki, Finland on October 1, 1966.