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John Walker, Jr.
Born in July 28, 1937, the son of studio salesman for a Warner Brothers. His father was a drunkard who cruelly beat his wife and children. John's hatred for his father prompted him to spend a week plotting his murder (he decided against it). Eventually, his father abandoned the family.
In 1955, John Walker was arrested for burglarizing a gas station. Having confessed to several other crimes, a judge took the advice of John's older brother and allowed him to join the Navy rather than serve jail time. John's brother Arthur was a Naval Lieutenant Commander and believed the discipline would be beneficial to his younger brother. John felt immediately that he was smarter than others with whom he served.
John Walker was stationed in Boston Massachusetts and met a young woman named Barbara Crowley. The two began dating and when Barbara became pregnant they married. Barbara gave birth to a daughter (Margaret) and the family moved to Norfolk, Virginia after John was transferred to serve on a submarine as a radioman.
Barbara gave birth to two more girls (Cynthia and Laura) and a boy (Michael). Although he was fairly successful in his job, the family saved all of their money in hopes of John opening a business. In 1966, he bought a house in Charleston , South Carolina which he turned into a bar (financed by his savings as well as a loan from Arthur).
The bar was largely a failure and the pressure contributed erratic behavior from John. He began engaging in adulterous affairs and constant arguments with his wife. Barbara, likewise unhappy, turned to a surprising lover, John's older brother Arthur.
When John was transferred to Norfolk Virginia, he left Barbara and his family behind to look after the bar. In his new assignment, he served as watch officer in the radio room of the Atlantic Fleet headquarters. In his position, he obtained information on every U.S. submarine in the Atlantic Ocean. Despondent over monetary issues as well as his crumbling marriage, John decided to seek money out for the classified information he was privy to.
In 1967 John stole a key list, a document with codes used to encrypt and decipher classified messages. He took a copy of it and marched into the Soviet embassy in Washington, D.C. He explained to a KGB officer that he was interested in turning over military secrets in return for monthly payments from the Soviets. After looking over the document, the KGB officer agreed. Ignoring instructions from his Soviet handlers, Walker began spending money freely, raising the suspicions of his wife. She pried open a metal lock box in John's office in which she found photographic materials as well as maps and instructions for dead drops. She confronted John and he admitted that he was a spy. Barbara accompanied him to one of his dead drops (later claiming that she wanted to show support for him and their marriage).
 John passed on information related to nuclear submarine classifications to the Soviet until he was transferred to San Diego, California to teach radio operations. Worried about losing access to vital information, he looked to develop another source. He found this source in Jerry Whitworth, one of his students. Walker wanted to retire from the Navy so that Barbara, angered over their marriage, would not be able to inform on him. Whitworth, newly assigned to Naval satellite communications school, readily agreed to participate.
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