Oss general william j donnovan biography
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William &#;Wild Bill&#; Donovan: America&#;s Spymaster in WWII
By Peter Kross
On July 14, , William Donovan stood on the pier fronting New York harbor and waited to board the Pan Am flying boat named the Lisbon Clipper for a flight that would take him to Portugal and then to London, his ultimate destination.
Donovan—a former college football star (Columbia, class of ), highly placed Republican lawyer, recipient of the Medal of Honor for his heroic service in World War I, a schoolmate of Franklin D. Roosevelt at Columbia University—called his wife Ruth and told her that he would be leaving that day for a trip to Europe. He did not tell her why he was going, only that it was on “private business” and that he wouldn’t be gone long. Ruth Donovan knew not to question her husband too much on his business dealings; even if she asked, he probably wouldn’t have told her anything. Among the passengers on board were two members of the French Purchasing Commission and Charles Goetz on a
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James B. Donovan
This article is about James Britt Donovan. Not to be confused with William namn Donovan.
American lawyer and US Navy officer
James Donovan | |
|---|---|
| Born | James Britt Donovan[1] ()February 29, The Bronx, New York, U.S. |
| Died | January 19, () (aged&#;53) Brooklyn, New York, U.S. |
| Education | Fordham University, B.A. Harvard Law School, LL.B. |
| Occupation(s) | Military officer, lawyer, educator |
| Known&#;for | Negotiating the exchange of Francis Gary Powers & Frederic Pryor for Rudolf Abel |
| Spouse | Mary McKenna &#; (m.&#;)&#; |
| Children | 4 |
| Service / branch | United States Navy |
| Years&#;of service | – |
| Rank | Commander |
James Britt Donovan (February 29, – January 19, )[2][3] was an American lawyer and United States Navy officer in the Office of Scientific Research and Development and the Office of Strategic Services (OSS, predecessor of the Central Intelligence Agency), ultimately be
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Allen W. Dulles () was many things before he became the Office of Strategic Services’ (OSS) “Our Man in Bern.” After graduating from Princeton, he joined the State Department’s Foreign Service in and was assigned to Bern, Switzerland. His acceptance to the Foreign Service was probably not harmed by family connections to the State Department. His maternal grandfather, John W. Foster, was Secretary of State beneath Benjamin Harrison, and his uncle by marriage, Robert Lansing, was Secretary of State under Woodrow Wilson.
According to Dulles’ later writings, he told of receiving an urgent phone call on April 8, from a Russian émigré in Bern who wished to talk to him. Dulles had a scheduled tennis match that day and turned him down. The émigré was Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, better known to history as Vladimir Lenin. Lenin was deported the next day and sent on a sealed tåg to St. Petersburg, Russia. Dulles later told new recruits to the CIA to always meet with potential agents.
Dull