J. Peters

J. Peters
J. Peters appearing as "Alexander Stevens" at HUAC hearing on August 30, 1930
Allegiance	Soviet Union
Active	1918–1990
Codename(s)	J. Peters
	Alexander Stevens
	Joseph Peter
	József Péter
	Peter
	Peters
	Isidore Boorstein
	Mr. Silver
	Steve
Birth name	Sándor Goldberger
Born	August 11, 1894 Csap, Hungary, Austro-Hungarian Empire (now Ukraine)
Died	1990 (aged 95–96) Budapest, Hungary
Nationality	Hungarian
Occupation	Soviet spy master, Communist Party activist

J. Peters (born Sándor Goldberger; 1894–1990) was the most commonly known pseudonym of a man who last went by the name "Alexander Stevens" in 1949. Peters was an ethnic Jewish journalist and political activist who was a leading figure of the Hungarian language section of the Communist Party USA in the 1920s and 1930s. From the early 1930s, Peters was actively involved in the espionage activities of the Soviet Union in the United States, fabricating passports, recruiting agents, and accumulating and passing along confidential and secret information.

In October 1947, Peters was served with an arrest warrant for alleged violation of the Immigration Act of 1924, which required alien immigrants in America to possess a valid visa. On August 3, 1948, while appearing under subpoena before the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC), Whittaker Chambers, identified Peters as a spy. Later that month, Peters appeared under subpoena before HUAC but did not cooperate. He invoked the Fifth Amendment and refused to answer sensitive questions. On May 8, 1949, Peters left for communist Hungary to avoid imminent deportation by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. Peters remained in Hungary until his death in 1990.

Sándor Goldberger (or Alexander Goldberger) was born August 11, 1894 in the town of Csap, Ruthenia, in the northeastern part of the Kingdom of Hungary. There were about 3,000 people in the town at the time of Sándor's birth, including a substantial number of ethnic Jews like the Goldbergers who had fled from official and popular repression in Tsarist Russia.