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Now in paperback: “Entertaining history…Donovan was a combination of bold innovator and imprudent rule bender, which made him not only a remarkable wartime leader but also an extraordinary figure in American history” (The New York Times Book Review).
He was one of America’s most exciting and secretive generals—the man Franklin Roosevelt made his top spy in World War II. A mythic figure whose legacy is still intensely debated, “Wild Bill” Donovan was director of the Office of Strategic Services (the country’s first national intelligence agency) and the father of today’s CIA. Donovan introduced the nation to the dark arts of covert warfare on a scale it had never seen before. Now, veteran journalist Douglas Waller has mined government and private archives throughout the United States and England, drawn on thousands of pages of recently declassified documents, and interviewed scores of Donovan’s relatives, friends, and associates to produce a riveting biography of one of the most powerful men in modern espionage.
William Joseph Donovan’s life was packed with personal drama. The son of poor Irish Catholic parents, he married into Protestant wealth and fought heroically in World War I, where he earned the nickname “Wild Bill” for his intense leadership and the Medal of Honor for his heroism. After the war he made millions as a Republican lawyer on Wall Street until FDR, a Democrat, tapped him to be his strategic intelligence chief. A charismatic leader, Donovan was revered by his secret agents. Yet at times he was reckless—risking his life unnecessarily in war zones, engaging in extramarital affairs that became fodder for his political enemies—and he endured heartbreaking tragedy when family members died at young ages.
Wild Bill Donovan reads like an action-packed spy thriller, with stories of daring young men and women in his OSS sneaking behind enemy lines for sabotage, breaking into Washington embassies to steal secrets, plotting to topple Adolf Hitler, and suffering brutal torture or death when they were captured by the Gestapo. It is also a tale of political intrigue, of infighting at the highest levels of government, of powerful men pitted against one another. Donovan fought enemies at home as often as the Axis abroad. Generals in the Pentagon plotted against him.
J. Edgar Hoover had FBI agents dig up dirt on him. Donovan stole secrets from the Soviets before the dawn of the Cold War and had intense battles with Winston Churchill and British spy chiefs over foreign turf. Separating fact from fiction, Waller investigates the successes and the occasional spectacular failures of Donovan’s intelligence career.
It makes for a gripping and revealing portrait of this most controversial spymaster.
- Sales Rank: #118581 in Books
- Published on: 2012-02-21
- Released on: 2012-02-21
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 8.44" h x 1.30" w x 5.50" l, .90 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 480 pages
From Booklist
Waller brings to his latest biography the high skills as a biographer that he brought to A Question of Loyalty: Gen. Billy Mitchell and the Court-Martial That Gripped the Nation (2004). Donovan, the head of WWII�s Office of Strategic Services, was a New York Irishman who won the Medal of Honor in WWI. Between the wars, he became successful on Wall Street and a personal friend of FDR. When President Roosevelt was looking for someone to head an intelligence agency not controlled by either the armed forces or the FBI, he called on Donovan. Donovan was at daggers drawn with FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover and the service intelligence branches, and also recruited too many Ivy Leaguers, but the OSS did pull its weight in wartime intelligence. Donovan also drank too much, chased too many women, lost too many relatives at early ages, and generally did not fit into the postwar world, where the CIA replaced his OSS. Exhaustively researched but not exhaustingly written, this will probably stand as the definitive biography of a seminal figure in the history of American intelligence. --Roland Green
Review
"In this fast-paced, entertaining and engrossing biography, the author delivers a portrait of a hard-driving, Type A extrovert willing to take on political enemies...A well-calibrated assessment of Donovan and the impact of the OSS on the war...The book is replete with fascinating anecdotes ...and tales of derring-do."" -- the" Associated Press"
"This superb, dramatic yet scholarly biography, tells a great deal about the man who built a far-flung intelligence organization from scratch in the midst of World War II." --"The Washington Post"
"Contemporary history is seldom as relevant and engaging as Douglas Waller's new biography, "Wild Bill Donovan: The Spymaster Who Created the OSS and Modern American Espionage", which is -- by turns -- fascinatingly instructive and thoroughly entertaining." --"L.A. Times"
"Douglas Waller gives us the definitive portrait of the fascinating, creative, disorganized, brave man who--starting from nothing during our biggest war--created our modern capacity for human intelligence and covert operations. A must for all who would understand American intelligence."
--R. James Woolsey, Chair, Woolsey Partners, LLC and Director of Central Intelligence, 1993-1995
"An extraordinary portrait of an extraordinary figure in 20th century American history, a man beyond the power of fiction to invent. "Wild Bill Donovan" is brilliantly researched and beautifully told, as evocative and enlightening as it is entertaining."
--Rick Atkinson, author of "An Army at Dawn "and" The Day of Battle"
"Whether fighting on the battlefield during World War I, leading the OSS during World War II, or prosecuting Nazi war criminals at Nuremberg, William Donovan's service to his country was historic and extraordinary. In "Wild Bill Donovan", Douglas C. Waller's impressive research and riveting writing bring the 'Father of American Intelligence' to life, drawing the reader into one of the most thrilling and remarkable periods in American history."
--Lee H. Hamilton, former Chairman, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
"In a time when espionage consists largely of technicians in windowless rooms, far from the battlefield, collecting signals and pictures from satellites and drones, it is both refreshing and fascinating to read Doug Waller's story of the man behind World War II's spy organization, the OSS. Long before there was a CIA, there was Major General "Wild Bill" Donovan, and Waller's extensively researched and highly entertaining book takes the reader back to the days when spying meant sending dedicated agents behind enemy lines to risk their lives to steal secrets and help win the war."
--James Bamford, bestselling author of "Body of Secrets" and "The Shadow Factory"
""Wild Bill Donovan," the founding father of American espionage, jumps off the page in Douglas Waller's superb biography of one of the nation's most important and least understood leaders of the 20th Century. Waller marvelously evokes an era when a matinee-idol character like Donovan could turn Washington into his own secret playground even as he ended America's naivete about the necessity of stealing the secrets of other gentlemen. Waller takes us back to a time, long before bureaucratic sclerosis set in at the Central Intelligence Agency, when American spies lived in technicolor."
-- James Risen, author of "State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration"
In "Wild Bill Donovan," Douglas Waller brings the larger than life William J. Donovan - a World War I Medal of Honor winner, Office of Strategic Services founder, CIA architect, and one of the 20th century's most compelling figures - to life. Waller's impressive skill as a journalist, his expertise about the U.S. intelligence community, and a remarkable writing ability complement one another in this fascinating and insightful portrait of Donovan the man, not the myth, and enhances our appreciation of his remarkable legacy. General Donovan attributed much of the success of the Office of Strategic Services to "good old fashioned intellectual sweat." This informative, enjoyable, and important book deserves the same compliment.
--Charles Pinck, President, The OSS Society, Inc.
"Entertaining history...As [Waller] amply shows, Donovan was a combination of bold innovator and imprudent rule bender, which made him not only a remarkable wartime leader but also an extraordinary figure in American history."--"The New York Times Book Review"
In "Wild Bill Donovan", Douglas Waller brings the larger than life William J. Donovan - a World War I Medal of Honor winner, Office of Strategic Services founder, CIA architect, and one of the 20th century's most compelling figures - to life. Waller's impressive skill as a journalist, his expertise about the U.S. intelligence community, and a remarkable writing ability complement one another in this fascinating and insightful portrait of Donovan the man, not the myth, and enhances our appreciation of his remarkable legacy. General Donovan attributed much of the success of the Office of Strategic Services to "good old fashioned intellectual sweat." This informative, enjoyable, and important book deserves the same compliment.
--Charles Pinck, President, The OSS Society, Inc.
""Wild Bill Donovan", the founding father of American espionage, jumps off the page in Douglas Waller's superb biography of one of the nation's most important and least understood leaders of the 20th Century. Waller marvelously evokes an era when a matinee-idol character like Donovan could turn Washington into his own secret playground even as he ended America's naivete about the necessity of stealing the secrets of other gentlemen. Waller takes us back to a time, long before bureaucratic sclerosis set in at the Central Intelligence Agency, when American spies lived in technicolor."
-- James Risen, author of "State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration"
About the Author
Douglas Waller is a former correspondent for Newsweek and Time. He is the author of several best bestsellers, including The Commandos and Big Red. He lives in Annandale, Virginia.
Most helpful customer reviews
58 of 61 people found the following review helpful.
Wild Bill Donovan: A book as exciting as its title
By James Farwell
Drawing on newly available research, former TIME diplomatic correspondent Doug Waller has written an exciting, fast-paced biography that focuses on Medal of Honor recipient Bill Donovan and his remarkable exploits in forging the OSS during World War II into the most innovative and imaginative operation to defeat the Nazis and Japan. Donovan led from the front. He convinced Franklin Roosevelt that the country needed an operation like this. Roosevelt agreed and Donovan was off and running. He recruited from the Army and Wall Street. He was willing to try anything. I'm not going to give away the amazing exploits that Waller describes -- why spoil the fun? If you submitted a script for a James Bond movie based on some of them, the producers would say, "hey, Bond does pretty wild things, but these are over the top." That was Donovan. Some of OSS's ideas worked brilliantly, others never got off the ground, but it's refreshing to see how the predecessor to the CIA got started and got things done. Waller is an experienced writer -- and a very good one. Others have written about Donovan, and I've read most of the other books. Helped by extensive research and access to previously classified information, this book combines two great strengths. The scholarship is superb. And it's a great read.
Submitted by James Farwell
117 of 132 people found the following review helpful.
Roosevelt's Masterspy
By Paul Gelman
The history of espionage and especially its role in history had been acknowledged long ago. Any respectable historian cannot afford to ignore this particular field of study because intelligence has indeed played a significant role in the process of policy making everywhere.
This point is relevant when one is interested to know more about the history of WWW2 and the Cold War. The release of ten of millions of declasssified documents pertaining to intelligence matters has yielded a tremendous number of studies, monographs and histories on this fascinating angle of human history.
Some spies became legendary many years after their demise, but Bill Donovan was one of thoes whose name was famous already in his lifetime, creating the OSS-the Office of Strategic Services, after Roosevelt, who had been a political opponent of Donovan in the 1930s, approved Donovan's original idea about establishing this service.
Donovan came from a poor Irish family but later marrried into wealth. His wife, Ruth,who was daughter of a very rich family in Buffalo,was a chronic depressive and Donovan's frequent cheating on her hardly helped Ruth cope with her disease. Rumours said that he had even slept with his daughter-in-law, Mary, but soon this proved to be a blatant lie spread by the malicious tongues of Donovan's opponents. Donovan had to fight bureaucrats from the army and the State Department all his life. His most severe foe was none other than another legendary figure,that of J.Edgar Hoover, the chief of the FBI, who accused Donovan of being soft on Communists.
Donovan was a hero of WW1 and was decorated for bravery on the battlefields of France. He was given his nickname "Wild Bill" by his men because he put them through grueling training for battle.
Having returned to New York, he started his career as a very successful lawyer and made a fortune on Wall Street. He was a Republican running for governor of New York in 1932, but was defeated.
Another man who found his services neccesary was Winston Churchill, but both men soured on each other as Donovan's OSS and British Intelligence squabbled over which service controlled secret operations in overseas theaters.
Donovan was a charismatic leader and was much adored by his subordinates. He risked his life in many instances and dangerous zones. So did his thousands of agents, both men and women who sneaked behind enemy lines (during WW2) for sabotage, breaking into Washington embassies to steal secrets, plotting to kill Hitler, and suffering brutal torture.
This fascinating and brilliant book is action -filled on almost every page, with hundreds of episodes which constitute the corpus of Donovan's OSS history. Eager to be close to the action,Donovan went in on all major Alies landings,causing concern among famous American generals, because Donovan knew much and if captured by the enemy, he would become a valuable prize.
China was only one of the countries in which he was allowed to operate and it took more than two years of haggling with the Nationalists before he was able to launch his guerrilla attacks against the Japanese.
Anothet famous superspy who would lead the CIA was Allen Dulles, who was the head of the OSS station in Bern. Donovan considered him a poor administrator and was extremely disappointed after Dulles was assigned to lead the CIA.
There were also intelligence failures. Italy was one example in which there were three main operation programs led by clumsy and amateurish people. The political intelligence the OSS outposts in Palermo and Naples gathered was worthless and money was being wasted. Some OSS officers were even pocketing cash on the side.
Another country where Donovan was cleaning house was Turkey, after the Pentagon complained about the poor intelligence quality coming out of Turkey.
Donovan made some visits to the pope and Pius made it clear that he was pulling for Roosevelt's reelection. As Mr. Waller puts it, "the Catholic Church had become a trusted and valuble ally in the secret was against the Nazis". The efforts to gain intelligence and to perpetrate acts of sabotage against the Nazis led Donovan to step up the infiltration of agents into Germany, a process led by another famous Cold Warrior, William Casey. This process had mixed results. "Some operatives rescued war prisoners and others penetrated Gestapo organizations in Munich and Berlin while other identified local Nazi chiefs for American soldiers".
After WW2, President Truman, who knew that he needed a secret intelligence service, closed the OSS and was against giving a new job to Donovan. But he did create the CIA in 1947, modeled on Donovan's proposal for a postwar intelligence service. It was president Eisenhower who gave Donovan, who became a staunch anticommunist after the war, the job af the USA ambassador to Thailand.This was a consolation prize offered to Donovan, because Hoover was much responsible for denying Donovan the CIA job.
Donovan's life came to an end in a sad way and he died after his sevent-sixth birthday.In his life he endured some tragedies after some of his family members died tragically. Hoover, who considered Donovan's agents as amateurs, spread the false rumour that Donovan died of syphilis.
Bill Casey, who led the OSS operations in Germany, commissioned a bronze statue of Donovan at the quarters of the CIA.
This book is a superb achievement, mainly due to the extremely good command of perhaps thousands of sources both written and oral. Mr. Waller has finally managed to separate truth form fiction, fact from fantasy. Friends, relatives, specialists- all were interviewed or consulted, verifying each fact or statement.
But there is another point which makes this book such a joy to read: Mr. Waller's ability to simplify and tell the history of the OSS and Donovan's successes and failures in a very quick-paced and thriller-like style of writing. His impressive research and command of sources as well as his lively style of writing make this book mandatory for anyone who wants to learn about the history of the American intelligence operations during and after WW2.
32 of 33 people found the following review helpful.
A Man's Man, the Author Captures the Spirit and Life of America's First SPYMASTER - Five Stars Indeed !!!!
By Richard of Connecticut
To say you served under him was to hitch your wagon to a movie star. If there ever was a 20th century man's man, that man was Wild Bill Donovan, a name given to him affectionately by the men who served under the Medal of Honor Winner and Colonel of the Rain Bow Division during World War I. Author Douglas Waller has captured the essence of the man in this REMARKABLE biography of one of America's truly REMARKABLE men. Born Irish on the wrong side of the tracks as far as Buffalo, New York society was concerned, Donovan used brains and charm to work his way to the top. Trained as a Columbia University lawyer, this man perhaps more than any other could be called a master of networking.
He knew who, and what he had to know in order to high speed it to wherever he wanted to go, and to the top is where he wanted to be. There would be tradeoffs all along the way. He would marry wealth, join the right clubs, and make the acquaintance of all the right people. He would risk life and limb during World War I, and be idolized by his men. It would be left to others to boast of him and persuade a reluctant army to award Donovan the Medal of Honor some four years after the war ended. Others wanted to perhaps Court Martial him for the same actions.
There are 389 pages of narrative divided into 34 chapters, followed by 51 pages of source notes. The 17 page index has also been done well. Douglas Waller the author spent six years reporting on the CIA for both Newsweek and Time Magazine. He has penned five additional books involving the military and foreign policy. It is obvious in reading this book that he has taken a liking to the man we now call the father of American intelligence, and it shows right through in this work. Chapters 24 and 30 on "Intelligence Failures" and "Truman" respectively are particularly well done.
We now live in an age where high achievers normally go in and out of government and industry working dual careers and thus advancing further in both careers than they could have achieved in any one career. Donovan best personifies this career path, only he was 70 years ahead of the curve. At times he would leave his lucrative corporate law practice to serve in different government capacities, including at one point being the direct boss of J. Edgar Hoover of the Bureau of Investigation which would become the FBI only years later. Hoover detested Donovan, and kept private files on him, as he did most other powerful Americans. Hoover perhaps never realized that Donovan was doing the same thing to Hoover.
By way of full disclosure, my mentor Bert was at Donovan's side for most of World War II. Bert possessed total photographic recall, and therefore wound up handling American spies dropped behind enemy lines in occupied France and Germany. He reported directly to Donovan. I know the stories in this book will keep you entertained for hours, many of which are unbelievable, and yet they are all true. I have heard them directly from OSS participants. If anything, the truth is even more daring than some of the stories portrayed.
The Colonel and Franklin Roosevelt went on to develop a warm professional relationship. FDR was notorious for using what are called back-channels. Instead of completely relying on normal information flow from the State Department and War Department (now the Department of Defense), FDR would rely on private citizens who had extraordinary firsthand knowledge of world events. This kept the President locked into an information flow that he could use to question those in charge of their departments. FDR always kept everybody on their toes and insecure.
Donovan would become the President's personal SPYMASTER, the first one of the 20th century. It's all here, and the author covers it in detail. During World War II, the spymaster creates the Office of Strategic Services to serve as an operational intelligence organization at the disposal of FDR, and their operations are the stuff of legend. Most of the spies dropped behind enemy lines died in their country's service. For those who survived however, once back and in civilian life, for the rest of their lives they would become a band of brothers helping each other to win promotion in the post-war world. You need to understand that when men in combat survive combat, for the rest of their lives, those who were their officers, are always their officers. The respect holds until death. This is why Colonel Donovan was still referred to as Colonel during his later years even though he was made a General during the Second World War.
Author Douglas Waller states that Donovan could read a book in a day or two. Bert my mentor mentioned and former CIA spymaster Allan Dulles once confirmed that Donovan while in London would pick up a dozen books, and by the next morning, most of them would be underlined, indicating he could digest enormous amounts of information. The guy very simply was unique, and not to be underestimated.
FDR dies and Truman becomes President. Those around Truman including Hoover taint the President against Donovan and they do so successfully. Donovan had wanted to run the post war spy organization that he knew would have to be created. Truman resisted that creation until 1948 when it became apparent that America the heir to the British Empire would have to do something to fight off the Iron Curtain. Russia had begun the process to expand the Communist camp, first taking Eastern Europe and then moving towards Turkey, Greece, and Italy. It's really an incredible story; the reverberations are still being felt today.
Donovan would NOT go on to lead the CIA. Truman would see to that, but those who worked under and reported to Wild Bill would go on to build and control the CIA for generations to come. The last man to do so was Bill Casey under Ronald Reagan who began his service in 1981. Casey would be the last man trained by Donovan to run the CIA. Think about it, Colonel Donovan retires from the OSS in September of 1945 when it was dissolved by Presidential order, and 35 years later, his underlings are still calling the shots. It tells you something about influence.
CONCLUSION:
No understanding of the growth of American power in the 20th century is complete without understanding the role of Wild Bill Donovan and his role in building the modern national security state we now have. His influence is not only strong but pervasive, and behind the scenes, he pushed the buttons. Colonel Henry Stimson, who probably served more Presidents in more capacities than any other public servant in the last 100 plus years, once said that gentlemen do not open other gentlemen's mail. It would take the likes of William Donovan to blow up that notion once and for all. If you want a truly great read, on a person who probably lived the equivalent of three lifetimes, than I urge you to run, not walk to get a copy of this book, and start it on a Friday, because you are not going to put it down until you are finished. Thank you for reading this review.
Richard C. Stoyeck
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