A world-renowned author discuss little known facts about one of the United State’s most prolific espionage leaders in a lecture in Dabney Hall Monday
Douglas Waller, a New York Times bestselling author, discusses Bill Donavon who was the director of the Office of Strategic Services, or the organization that preceded the CIA.
Waller is the author of Wild Bill Donovan: The Spymaster who created the OSS and Modern American Espionage, which was published in 2011. Waller wrote for Newsweek and was a diplomatic correspondent for TIME Magazine’s Washington Bureau.
“We’re really talking about three stories in this book: the tale of a heroic figure whose life was filled with personal tragedy, a spy drama that could be ripped from today’s headlines and a story of political intrigue at the highest levels of government,” Waller wrote on his website.
According to Waller, Donovan is known as the “father of the CIA, father of modern special operation and father of modern information warfare.” He assembled more than 10,000 spies that worked all around the world.
“It’s probably the most interesting story about American history and politics in the middle 20th century,” said Jonas Feit, president of the society for politics, economics and law.
Stephen Margolis, an economics professor, attended the talk and is reading Waller’s book now.
“The book is very well researched,” Margolis said. “It covers a very interesting part of U.S. history and Bill Donavan was on the scene at a lot of very interesting and important events in history.”
Waller began his talk with background of Donovan’s service during World War I when he was awarded the congressional Medal of Honor. He gained the nickname “Wild Bill” in World War I from his fellow soldiers.
Waller said J. Edgar Hoover and Donovan despised each other and feuded often.
“Hoover and Donovan had spies in each other’s organizations to feed each other information on what they were up to,” Waller said.
Waller talked about Donovan’s time in England where he worked for Franklin Roosevelt to find out if Britain could survive World War II and to get information about Winston Churchill.
According to Waller, Donovan was appointed as Coordinator of Information in 1941, whose position was later renamed director of the Office of Strategic Services.
“It turned out Donovan was a horrible manager of the OSS,” Waller said. “But, he was a very charismatic leader and his agents revered him.”
Donovan suggested that Roosevelt have a button on his desk that would allow him to speak to all American families through radio if needed. Roosevelt did not do this, but always listened to Donovan’s ideas and was interested in his spy work.
Waller said some people didn’t understand Donovan and some thought he was “unhinged.” He had an interest in truth drugs and ways to discreetly administer them to obtain information. He also always kept $2000 in his desk drawer to pay off informants.
According to Waller, when president Harry S. Truman shut down the OSS, he didn’t want Donovan to have anything to do with the new CIA intelligence program.
Waller also talked about Donovan’s private life. It has been rumored he had an affair with his daughter-in-law, but after spending time talking to the Donovan family and researching, Waller didn’t find any proof of this.
Waller is currently working to create an ensemble biography on the four CIA directors: Allen Dulles, Richard Helms, William Colby and Bill Casey.
