In Franklin Roosevelt’s character, the elements of secret warfare blended felicitously. His pragmatic outlook was reflected by an OSS agent who had parachuted behind the lines. “I was,” this spy observed, “a burglar with morals.” FDR’s approach was not all that different: the devious route to a desirable goal; inconstant behavior directed toward constant ends; the warship hiding behind a smoke screen but steered by a moral compass. His biographer James MacGregor Burns describes the kind of public man FDR admired: “opportunistic in meeting problems but principled in outlook; flexible in negotiations but right-minded in the final test… .” It is a description of Roosevelt himself. Whether shaped by a privileged childhood, the cruel education of polio, or a dizzyingly complex persona to begin with, Franklin Roosevelt confidently led America in a cataclysmic war in which secret warfare figured significantly and for which he possessed a talent that sprang spontaneously from his nature.
Source Notes
SOURCE notes are keyed to the page number and a quotation or phrase occurring on that page. Citations from books, periodicals, and other attributed sources begin with the author’s name followed by the title and page numbers. The sources are fully identified in the bibliography. Where more than one work by the same author is cited, a distinguishing word from the appropriate title appears after the author’s name. Frequently cited sources are abbreviated as follows:
Day-by-Day FDR: Day-by-Day, The Pare Lorentz Chronology, FDRL
FDRL Franklin D. Roosevelt Library
FRUS Foreign Relations of the United States
HH Harry Hopkins
M 1642 Microfilm, National Archives, OSS Director’s Office
MR Map Room Files, FDRL
NA National Archives
NYT New York Times
POF President’s Official File, FDRL
PPF President’s Personal File, Roosevelt Library
PSF President’s Secretary’s File, Roosevelt Library
RG 457 Record Group 457, National Archives
Suckley Diaries of Margaret Suckley
foreword
“You know I am a juggler… .”: Morgenthau Diary, May 15, 1942, p. 1093, FDRL.
“I had a conversation with father… .”: James Roosevelt, My Parents, pp. 160–61.
“He deliberately concealed… .”: John Gunther, Roosevelt in Retrospect, p. 53.
“Nothing would have pleased him… .”: Brian Loring Villa, “The Atomic Bomb and the Normandy Invasion,” Perspectives in American History 2 (1977–78), p. 465.
Prologue
He sat in bed: John Gunther, Roosevelt in Retrospect, p. 119.
He dressed casually: James Roosevelt, Affectionately, F.D.R., p. 327.
To one guest: Richard M. Ketchum, The Borrowed Years, 1938–1941, p. 765.
The President had excused himself: Day-by-Day, Dec. 6, 1941, FDRL.
“looked very worn… .”: Gordon Prange, December 7, 1941, p. 28; Ketchum, p. 765.
Prettyman lifted a drained FDR: Day-by-Day, Dec. 6, 1941, FDRL; Christopher Andrew, For the President’s Eyes Only, pp. 116–17.
The weather, for December: NYT, Dec. 7, 1941.
The President had invited Murrow: Joseph E. Persico, Edward R. Murrow, p. 193.
“Wild Bill” Donovan, just six months: Thomas F. Troy, Donovan and the CIA, pp. 115–16.
As Prettyman removed the debris: William Doyle, Inside the Oval Office, p. 22.
His chronic sinusitis: Eleanor Roosevelt, The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt, p. 226.
Washington was a: David Brinkley, Washington Goes to War, p. xi.
The silence was broken: Ketchum, p. 765.
The President and his doctor: Prange, p. 247.
Portraits of the President’s mother: Gunther, pp. 361–62; Doyle, p. 26; Robert E. Sherwood, Roosevelt and Hopkins, pp. 204–205.
Hu Shih left: Prange, p. 248.
He asked his valet: Grace Tully, F.D.R., My Boss, p. 7.
“I was disappointed… .”: Eleanor Roosevelt, p. 226.
FDR picked it up: John Toland, The Rising Sun, p. 223; John Costello, The Pacific War, p. 4.
“Mr. President,” he said: Gunther, p. 319.
Knox said that he had no further details: Prange, p. 248.
There must be some mistake: James MacGregor Burns, Roosevelt: The Soldier of Freedom, p. 162.
“His reaction to any great event… .”: Geoffrey C. Ward, A First-Class Temperament, p. 591.
the President responded: Sherwood, p. 431; Burns, Roosevelt: The Soldier of Freedom, p. 162.
chapter i: gentleman amateurs
As she came in: John Gunther, Roosevelt in Retrospect, p. 26; Jim Bishop, Roosevelt’s Last Year, pp. 1–2.
By now, eighteen years: Robert E. Sherwood, Roosevelt and Hopkins, pp. 205–206.
The President took from a can: Bishop, p. 15; William Doyle, Inside the Oval Office, p. 22.
The letterhead read simply: PSF Box 92.
The president-elect then joined: Michael F. Reilly, Reilly of the White House, p. 92.
And always the appended note: PSF Box 92.
“the richest boy in the world”: The Poughkeepsie New Yorker, Feb. 3, 1959; The Poughkeepsie Journal, Oct. 16, 1977; Vincent Astor to Missy LeHand, June 23, 1937, FDRL.
“we grew to be… .”: Ernest B. Furgurson, “Back Channels,” Washingtonian, vol. 31 (June 1996); Vincent Astor to Missy LeHand, June 23, 1937, FDRL; Poughkeepsie Journal, Oct. 16, 1977.
“In a day and age… .”: Christopher Andrew, For the President’s Eyes Only, pp. 75–76.
“learned to anticipate …”; “We took secret pride… .”: Doris Kearns Goodwin, No Ordinary Time, p. 77.
“You keep your cards… .”: Doyle, p. 30.
Roosevelt was a man: Eric Larrabee, Commander in Chief, pp. 28–29.
Four months later: Miriam Greenblatt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, pp. 26–27.
“Whenever a Roosevelt rides… .”: Larrabee, pp. 29–30.
In its thirty-first year: Jeffrey M. Dorwart, The Office of Naval Intelligence, pp. ix, x, 96, 104, 105, 108; Norman Polmar and Thomas B. Allen, Spy Book, pp. x, 408.
FDR’s amateurs: Dorwart, Office of Naval Intelligence, pp. 96, 104–105.
ONI’s roster: Dorwart, Conflict of Duty, p. 163; Dorwart, Office of Naval Intelligence, pp. 108–109; Andrew, p. 77.
German saboteurs were suspected: W. A. Swanberg, “The Spies Who Came in from the Sea,” American Heritage, April 1970, p. 67.
One ONI informant: Dorwart, Office of Naval Intelligence, p. 117.
FDR ordered another investigation: Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Box 2, FDRL.
“The employees… .”: Andrew, p. 77.
With FDR’s fervent support: Dorwart, Office of Naval Intelligence, p. 117.
He wore the gun: Andrew, pp. 77–78.
On July 9, 1918: Elliott Roosevelt, ed., FDR: His Personal Letters, p. 375.
Hall had leaked the telegram: Dorwart, Office of Naval Intelligence, p. 105.
“Neither in fiction or fact… .”: Polmar and Allen, Spy Book, p. 251.
“I am going to ask… .”: Andrew, p. 78.
“Their Intelligence Department… .”: Franklin D. Roosevelt, “Account of 1918 Trip to England, France and the Front,” p. 387, FDRL; Andrew, pp. 2, 78.
Indeed, by the end: Andrew, p. 117.
As Roosevelt began: Vincent Astor to Missy LeHand, June 23, 1937, FDRL.
While the political views: Furgurson.
It would be Astor’s gift: Dorwart, “The Roosevelt-Astor Espionage Ring,” New York History, vol. 62, no. 3 (July 1981), p. 311.
Otherwise, it was: Vincent Astor to Missy LeHand, June 23, 1937, FDRL.
Astor backed reform: Dorwart, “Roosevelt-Astor Espionage Ring,” p. 308.
Astor’s fellow members: U.S. News & World Report, Jan. 12, 1987; Dorwart, “Roosevelt-Astor Espionage Ring,” pp. 309–10.
Distinguished figures were invited: Dorwart, “Roosevelt-Astor Espionage Ring,” p. 310.
“could not be more clear”: PPF Box 40.
“keep a security watch on me”: ibid.
He ended confidently: ibid.
“I don’t want to make you jealous… .”: Andrew, p. 84.
The President spoke quickly: Suckley, Binder 16, p. 258.
“I will not say more… .”: PSF Box 92.
“a 100% probability… .”: ibid.
“only beer and sherry… .”: ibid.
A small but zealous Friedman: Andrew, p. 105; Polmar and Allen, Spy Book, p. 222.
This breakthrough meant: Roberta Wohlstetter, Pearl Harbor, p. 170.
At about the time: Andrew, p. 105.
“The German future… .”: Joseph E. Persico, Nuremberg, p. 43.
U.S. industry was willingly: Phillip Knightley, The Second Oldest Profession, p. 102.
“I want to do something… .”: Charles Wighton and Gunter Peis, Hitler’s Spies and Saboteurs, p. 27.
Piece by piece: David Kahn, Hitler’s Spies, pp. 328–31; Ladislas Farago, The Game of the Foxes, p. 40; Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Secrecy: The American Experience, p. 125.
The British were not: Thomas H. Etzold, “The (F)utility Factor,” Military Affairs, vol. 39, no. 2 (1975).
“Then it’s happened… .”: Dorwart, Conflict of Duty, pp. 119–20; Gunther, p. 303.
“Tomorrow I am starting… .”: Dorwart, Conflict of Duty, p. 165.
He informed Roosevelt: Andrew, p. 93.
“in accordance with your wishes… .”: ibid., p. 92; Dorwart, “Roosevelt-Astor Espionage Ring,” p. 15.
“constantly crossing each other’s tracks.”: Thomas F. Troy, The Coordinator of Information and British Intelligence, p. 149.
“His mind does not easily follow… .”: Stimson Diaries, Dec. 18, 1940, FDRL; Andrew, p. 86.
But over the long term: Roger J. Sandilands, The Life and Political Economy of Lauchlin Currie, p. 98.
He handed responsibility: Troy, The Coordinator, pp. 147, 148; Andrew, p. 86.
He attended: Andrew, p. 91; Troy, The Coordinator, pp. 149–50.
chapter ii: spies, saboteurs, and traitors
“No, you can’t come in”: Richard J. Whalen, The Founding Father, p. 310.
What they revealed: Norman Polmar and Thomas B. Allen, Spy Book, p. 309.
“I have always disliked… .”: Michael F. Reilly, Reilly of the White House, p. 200.
“widely and deeply disliked”: James Leutze, “The Secret of the Churchill-Roosevelt Correspondence, September 1939–May 1940,” Journal of Contemporary History, July 10, 1975, p. 478.
“Mr. Churchill was sitting… .”: ibid., p. 480.
“was one of the most… .”: ibid., p. 470.
“… [T]here is a strong possibility… .”: Robert Thompson, A Time for War, p. 200.
“The decisive hour has come… .”: Doris Kearns Goodwin, No Ordinary Time, p. 15.
“I should like to speak… .”: William C. Bullitt to Roosevelt, May 16, 1940, PSF Box 2.
“the British fleet would base itself… .”: ibid.
He had received: Whalen, pp. 311, 312.
He had come to London: Polmar and Allen, Spy Book, p. 309.
Kent’s fellow clerks: Whalen, p. 310.
“The more American ships… .”: Leutze, pp. 483–84.
He began signing: Ladislas Farago, The Game of the Foxes, p. 339.
“… [T]heir [U.S.] patrols… .”: Leutze, p. 484.
“I gave orders last night… .”: ibid., p. 475.
“Take no sides… .”: Robert E. Sherwood, Roosevelt and Hopkins, p. 128.
“Our objective… .”: Thomas F. Troy, Wild Bill and Intrepid, p. 63.
“We should be quite ready… .”: Leutze, p. 472; Farago, p. 39.
Tyler Kent, as he brooded: Whalen, p. 310.
“secretly and unconstitutionally… .”: Farago, pp. 338, 350.
“All wars are inspired… .”: ibid., p. 338.
He had, he later admitted: Whalen, p. 316.
And so Kent began: Farago, p. 342; Whalen, p. 316.
Anna’s mother: Polmar and Allen, Spy Book, p. 309.
Captain A.H.M. Ramsay was: Farago, p. 341.
Further, he was: Whalen, p. 316.
Ramsay had fought: Polmar and Allen, Spy Book, p. 309.
“Jew’s War”: Farago, p. 341; Whalen, pp. 316–17.
Wolkoff, of the aristocratic past: Farago, pp. 340–41.
“… a maudlin and monstrous pile… .”: Robin W. Winks, Cloak and Gown, pp. 271–72.
There a clutch: Polmar and Allen, Spy Book, pp. 73–74.
One report demonstrated: Farago, p. 340.
Hitler’s foreign office: ibid.
“It would be possible to hand over… .”: ibid.
The measure was narrowly defeated: Whalen, p. 208.
Next he began threatening: Jeffrey M. Dorwart, Conflict of Duty, p. 114.
“He … says that… .”: John Morton Blum, Years of Urgency, 1938–1941: From the Morgenthau Diaries, pp. 90–91.
“about which he is… .”: Leutze, p. 482.
Henceforth, FDR said: Irwin F. Gellman, Secret Affairs, p. 67.
“People come in here… .”: Goodwin, p. 107.
“When you are in the center… .”: ibid., pp. 108–109.
THIS IS A JEW’S WAR: Farago, pp. 340–42.
“… I asked him… .”: Whalen, pp. 310–11.
As Jimmy described a conversation: James Roosevelt, My Parents, pp. 208–209.
“I have made arrangements… .”: David E. Koskoff, Joseph P. Kennedy, pp. 116–17.
The luck of the Irish: Whalen, pp. 209–10.
Learning of the ambassador’s: Charles Higham, American Swastika, pp. 26–27.
“ruthless and scheming”: Leutze, pp. 479–90.
During this Washington sojourn: NYT, Feb. 16, 1967.
“Before long he… .”: Whalen, p. 286.
“[H]e would say what he Goddamned pleased… .”: ibid.
In this matter, at least: ibid., p. 313.
Kennedy declared: Farago, p. 343.
“Appalling … it means… .”: Tyler Kent Papers, Box 1, FDRL.
“entirely contrary… .”: Whalen, pp. 314–18.
The British were convinced: Goodwin, p. 103.
“Today’s threat… .”: Thompson, p. 241.
Pieces of the corpse: Nathan Miller, Spying for America, p. 202.
“protect this country… .”: Christopher Andrew, For the President’s Eyes Only, p. 91.
He had appointed Woodring: Goodwin, p. 23.
Instead, he had had to settle: ibid., p. 71.
Afterward, they could watch: Day-by-Day, Dec. 10, 1939, FDRL.
“I don’t think it is likely… .”: Troy, The Coordinator of Information and British Intelligence, p. 12.
Henry Stimson was a product: Richard Rhodes, The Making of the Atomic Bomb, p. 618.
At seventy-three: Goodwin, p. 71; Rhodes, p. 618.
chapter iii: strange bedfellows
In 1939, when the war: Norman Polmar and Thomas B. Allen, Spy Book, pp. 267–68.
“I do not wish… .”: Curt Gentry, J. Edgar Hoover, p. 231.
“I spoke to J. Edgar Hoover… .”: ibid.
The FBI, in the name: NYT, Sept. 15, 1991; Polmar and Allen, Spy Book, p. 203.
“working in Buffalo …”: Gentry, p. 231.
“Tell Bob Jackson… .”: ibid.
“I have agreed with… .”: Athan Theoharis, ed., From the Secret Files of J. Edgar Hoover, p. 134.
Nevertheless, Hoover, who: Robert Thompson, A Time for War, pp. 240–41.
“[H]e could make… .”: Doris Kearns Goodwin, No Ordinary Time, p. 78.
“got along very, very well… .”: Gentry, p. 223.
“I was very close… .”: ibid.
“Edgar, what are they trying …?”: ibid., p. 224.
“The two men l
iked… .”: ibid., p. 223.
“the treacherous use …”: Goodwin, p. 103.
“Here are some more… .”: Gentry, p. 225.
“a little too suave… .”: Wayne S. Cole, Charles A. Lindbergh and the Battle Against American Intervention in World War II, p. 68.
Lindbergh’s defense: ibid., pp. 41–43.
“a defense hysteria… .”: Goodwin, p. 47.
“When I read… .”: Cole, pp. 128–29.
“Dear Edgar”: Gentry, pp. 226–27.
“Within the last few days… .”: Astor, PSF Box 92.
Vice President Henry Wallace: William Doyle, Inside the Oval Office, pp. 19–20.
A White House stenographer: ibid., pp. ix, x, 10.
“Ah, Lowell… .”: ibid., pp. 19–20.
Willkie may have been: Theoharis, p. 201.
“the most formidable candidate… .”: Goodwin, p. 142.
“a serious mistake”: Gentry, p. 227.
“had no wish …”: Goodwin, p. 125.
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