North, Bob, 219
O’Brien, Kathleen, 215
Odets, Clifford, 217
O’Dwyer, Paul, 286–87
Office of Strategic Services. See OSS
Office of War Information (OWI), U.S., 16, 34–35, 60
Oppenheimer, J. Robert, 257, 258n
Oshida, Captain, 137–38
OSS (Office of Strategic Services)
background of staff members at, 35–36, 45–46
British relations with, 90, 92–93, 97
as bureaucracy, 46, 67
codes of, 111–12
Communists in, 278–79, 283
creation of, 34–35
criticisms of, 35–36
culture at, 44
FBI investigation of, 272–73, 278–79, 301, 307
funding for, 36
mission and functions of, 33, 35
organization and structure of, 33, 36
as out of favor in postwar world, 207
overseas assignments for personnel in, 53
phasing into peacetime of, 128
postwar restructuring of, 167, 169
Research and Analysis (R & A) of, 33, 59, 88, 169
salaries of women in, 69
Special Operations (SO), 33
Station S of, 39–44
termination of, 203–4
training school of, 39, 67–68
Washington headquarters of, 203
Wheeler’s views about, 119, 120. See also specific person or department/section
Palmer, Howard, 89, 106, 107, 108, 127–28, 130, 163–64, 165, 166, 167, 168
Patterson, W. R., 135, 142, 145
Paul, Liz, 89, 92
Peachy. See Durand, Virginia “Peachy”
Pearl Harbor, 26–27, 39, 46, 60
Pearson, Muriel. See Manxy
Peet, William “Bill, ” 26
Peterson, Alec, 91, 97–98
Phanomyong, Pridi “Ruth, ” 93, 164, 167
Phillips, Joe, 12
Pinck, Dan, 46
Potsdam Conference, 130, 156
Powell, Julie, 320
Prokofiev, Sergey, 305
Prud’homme, Alex, 320
Pryor, Virginia, 63–64, 98
Putnam, Sumner, 245
Quebec Conference (1943), 53–54
Rabinowitz, Victor, 322–23
Radio Tokyo, 95–96
Ravenholt, Al, 184, 187, 197, 197n, 242
Rennie, Leonard, 19
Ripley, S. Dillon, 77, 119–20, 135, 136
Robeson, Paul, 217
Roosevelt, Eleanor, 27
Roosevelt, Franklin D., 6, 34, 36, 46, 53–54, 71, 103, 123, 129, 156, 195
Rosenberg, Ethel, 6, 283, 287, 290, 298, 324
Rosenberg, Julius, 6, 242, 283, 287, 290, 298, 324
Royal Air Force (RAF), 45, 110, 121
Saint Phalle, Thibaut de, 64, 177, 178, 189, 219–20, 238
Salk vaccine, 269
Sanders, A. W., 12, 13, 17, 274
Schine, David, 7–8, 247, 277
Scofield, Carleton “Scofie, ” 77, 78, 92, 93, 98, 102, 107, 109, 110
SEAC (South East Asia Command) British-U.S. relations and, 54, 92–94
Burma liberation celebration and, 121
interagency deception and, 97–98
Jane’s views about, 54–55, 92, 94
last battles of World War II and, 121
Mountbatten named commander of, 54
OSS and, 54–55, 97, 119
Quebec Conference agreement about, 54
war room for, 89–90. See also specific person
Service, Caroline, 242–43
Service, John Stewart “Jack, ” 242–43, 243n, 244
Sevareid, Eric, 187
Severyns, Marjorie, 72, 73, 183–84, 185, 186, 190, 197, 197n, 200
Sherwood, Robert, 34
Shipley, Ruth B., 267–68, 270, 278
Slim, W. J., 121, 151
Slocum, Tokie, 46–47, 58
Small, F. M., 161
Smith, Al, 260
Smith College, 15, 59, 223, 250–52
Smithsonian National Museum: Julia’s kitchen in, 319
Snow, Edgar, 162–63, 164, 166, 167, 211, 212, 246, 247
Soble, Jack, 280, 281, 283, 286, 289, 290, 292, 293, 297–99, 300, 302–4, 310, 315, 324–26
Soble, Myra, 280, 283, 286, 289, 290, 292, 293, 297, 298–99, 300, 302–4, 315, 324–26
Soblen, Robert A., 324–26
Sorge, Richard, 290
Special Operations Executive (SOE), British, 92, 159
Stapleton, Jean, 319
State Department, U.S.
concerns about Jane’s postwar comments by, 211, 308
Dutch in Java and, 146
Hiss case and, 240
Jane ordered to leave Java by, 153–54
Jane’s debriefing at, 171–72, 173, 209
Jane’s interrogation at, 266–67
Jane’s Java reports to, 149
Jane’s views about, 274
McCarthy’s Red scare and, 5, 6–9, 12–13, 20, 21, 240, 241, 242, 243–44, 243n, 244, 255, 255n, 276, 318, 326–27
Nathan case and, 270–71
and OSS in peacetime, 128
OSS postwar restructuring and, 169
Paul as employee of, 218–19, 225, 232
Paul’s appointment with, 199
postwar role of OSS staff in, 206–7
Stern case and, 322
support for French by, 161
Vietnam and, 160
State Department, U.S. See also specific person or department
Station S (OSS), 39–44
Stein, Gertrude, 300
Stern, Alfred K., 217, 286–88, 290, 295, 296, 300, 301, 302, 315, 321–23, 324
Stern, Martha Dodd, 217–18, 266, 286–88, 290, 292, 294–96, 300–302, 315, 317, 321–25
Stern, Robert, 286, 323
Stevenson, Adlai, 240, 249
Stilwell, Joseph, 48, 54, 55, 57, 93, 103–4, 118
Stokowski, Leopold, 285
Stratemeyer, George E., 79, 84, 168
Streep, Meryl, 320
Sturgis, Norman, 68
Sugarman, Sydney, 314
Sukarno, 127, 135, 141–42, 144–50, 147n, 171, 172, 204, 205, 210, 212, 308
Sullivan, W. H., 12, 13, 17, 18–19, 274
Sultan, D. I., 104
Summers, Francis Basil, 184, 246
Surabaya Sue. See Manxy
Suzuki, Kantarō, 124
Swarbrick, Mazella, 316
Tai Li, 57, 177
Tan Dinh massacre, 158
Taylor, Edmond, 77, 93, 95, 97, 98, 100, 164
Taylor, Jeanne, 63–64, 80, 103, 115, 187, 188, 197, 238, 241
Tenenbaum, Anne, 261
Tenenbaum, Helen, 261, 262–63, 306
Tenenbaum, Michael, 261, 269
Tenenbaum, Susan, 261, 262, 277, 306–7, 309, 313, 316
Thiry, Eleanor “Ellie, ” 62–63, 63n, 64–65, 74–75, 87, 89, 117, 179, 184, 199, 246
Tompkins, William F., 284, 297–98
Toyne, Nancy, 80, 186
Truman, Harry S., 5, 6, 130, 156, 159, 204, 241–42
Tu Li-ming, 201
Tucci, Stanley, 320
Tydings (Millard) Committee, 241
An UnAmerican Lady (Foster), 316–18, 323–24
UNESCO, 225, 236
United Nations, 147, 152, 166, 210, 211–12, 304
USIS/USIA (United States Information Service/Agency)
libraries of, 7, 8, 247–48
McCarthy and, 7, 8, 247–48
Morros relationship with, 305
name of, 2n
Paul as employee of, 230, 232–33, 245, 246, 247–48
Paul’s career background and, 15
Paul’s postwar employment with, 2, 8, 21–22, 23
Paul’s responsibilities with, 2
Paul’s security clearance from, 23
Paul’s security investigation and, 21–22, 23, 256–57, 25
6n, 274
Paul’s transfer back to Washington and, 275
USS A. W. Greely: Jane’s return to U.S. on, 168–69
van der Plas, Charles, 135, 141,
van Oyen, Ludolph Hendrik, 145, 148,
Venona decrypts, 30,
Viet Minh, 156, 157–58, 159–60, 161, 162–63
Vietnam War, 157n, 326, 327
Vincent, John Carter, 243–44
Wainwright, Jonathan “Skinny, ” 56, 193–94
Walter, Francis E., 284, 286, 288
War Department, U.S., 54, 57, 169
Watanabe, Saburo, 27
Wavell, Percival, 47, 54, 55
Webbert, Virginia, 78
Wedemeyer, Albert C., 55, 104, 105, 175, 176, 179, 181, 193, 199
Welch, Joseph N., 277
Wentz, Roy Jr., 106, 106n
Wester, John, 128
Wheeler, Peggy, 117–18, 119
Wheeler, Raymond A. “Speck, ” 104, 117, 118–20, 121
White, Theodore H. “Teddy, ” 7, 246–47, 326–27
Williams, J. H. “Elephant Bill, ” 119
Willoughby, Charles, 308
Winchell, Walter, 269
Wingate, Orde, 48, 50
Wolff, Harold E., 268
Wright, Benjamin F., 251
Yalta Conference, 17
Zarubin, Vasily, 304
Zlatovski, George Michael (Alexander Mikhail L’vovich)
appearance of, 214, 313
Betty’s views about, 321
code name for, 281
death of, 318
family support for, 306, 307
FBI and, 215n, 258, 258n, 322
French citizenship of, 274, 310, 316
indictment of, 280
Jane’s marriages to, 213, 218, 231
Jane’s memoir and, 316–17
Jane’s passport problems and, 253–54, 256, 256n, 257, 260, 262, 264–65, 268
Jane’s relationship with, 212–18, 236–37, 277, 314
Julia’s views about, 238, 257
left-wing political views of, 215, 215n
marriages of, 213, 215, 218, 231, 235
Paul’s meetings with, 21, 22
Paul’s views about, 22, 238
personal and professional background of, 213–15, 235–37, 257
personality and character of, 214, 215n, 216, 236–37, 302, 306, 307, 314, 316
petition to return to U.S. by, 314–16
reaction to espionage case by, 313
Russian spy accusations against, 279–84, 288–304, 306, 307, 313
search of Paris apartment of, 294, 307n
Stern case and, 322
surrender of U.S. passport by, 264
Zlatovski, Jane Foster. See Foster, Jane
Zorina, Vera, 80–81
Photo Credits
The Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University: 1, 4, 20, 22, 23, 24
Susan Tenenbaum: 2, 25, 26, 28, 32
Elizabeth McIntosh (Betty MacDonald): 3, 12, 13, 21, 33
National Archives and Records Administration: 5, 6, 8
Library of Congress: 7, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 29, 30
Vintage postcards, property of the author: 9, 10
Corbis: 11
AP: 27, 31
* The USIS is known domestically as the United States Information Agency (USIA), but for clarity and consistency will be referred to henceforth as USIS.
* The eccentric capitalization and punctuation in all the letters are as they appear in the originals.
* James B. Conant was the author’s grandfather.
* Blum was a leading figure in French literary circles, a Goethe scholar, a socialist agitator, and one of the heroic Vichy 80 who refused to recognize the authority of the Nazi-supported government of Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. He was three times prime minister of France.
* After the war, the fox project was cited in The New York Times as an example of the OSS’s wartime ingenuity.
* Ellie Thiry also wrote very long letters to her family, including “almost a manuscript” about her voyage on the Mariposa, and asked her sister to share a carbon copy with “the gals and guys” left in D.C.—a veiled reference to her OSS colleagues.
* MacDonald went on to become a best-selling mystery writer after the war.
* Su-Lin made headlines when she arrived in New York in 1936, carried not in a cage but in Mrs. Harkness’s arms, the first giant panda ever to be captured alive and safely brought back to the United States.
* Norbury eventually stumbled on a clue to her fiancé’s fate in an OSS agent report. Roy Wentz had been captured by the Japanese and was interred in the Insein prison camp near Rangoon. After Burma fell, he was released, seriously ill and wasted to ninety-five pounds. Patty was reunited with him in Calcutta in May 1945, and they were married a few months later.
* Most such agents were Indonesian Communists in exile.
* In fact, not only did Surabaya Sue survive, but her influence increased as the revolution progressed in 1946 and she became a de facto public relations officer for Sukarno’s fledgling government.
* A. Peter Dewey is often cited as America’s first fatality in the Vietnam War.
* Rudyard Kipling, “A Legend of Truth.”
* Joy Homer never recovered, possibly due to complications from her diabetes, and she died a year later in the United States at the age of thirty-one.
* He proposed by giving her his signet ring, and they were married in London in 1946.
* Years later, an extreme anti-Communist group decided to make Birch a martyr for its cause and in 1958 appropriated his name, calling itself the John Birch Society.
* Marjorie Severyns ended up marrying Al Ravenholt in Shanghai in 1946.
* As no censorship had yet been invoked on OSS files, Betty MacDonald’s wartime memoir, Undercover Girl, was published in 1947.
* George Zlatovski’s FBI file notes that he was regarded as “too non-conformist” to gain admittance to the Duluth Communist Party and was described as “too selfish” and known for doing “a lot of talking.”
* It took Service fourteen years of legal wrangling to clear his name. In 1957, the United States Supreme Court ruled that his discharge was illegal, based solely on the unfounded action of the Loyalty Review Board, and his record was expunged. He was then reinstated and promptly banished to Liverpool, where he remained until his retirement in 1962.
* Determined to avoid a repeat of the Alger Hiss case on his watch, Secretary of State John Foster Dulles appointed R. W. Scott McLeod the first-ever assistant secretary of state for security and consular affairs in 1953. During his four-year tenure, McLeod fired some three hundred State Department employees on the suspicion that they were Communist sympathizers.
* Paul was essentially correct: among the many affidavits and character references Jane provided to the State Department on January 24, 1955, was a list of her American friends in Paris, including Julia and Paul. It was on the basis of that information that the USIS initiated an investigation of Paul Child “to determine the nature and extent of his association with Jane Foster Zlatovski and her husband, George.”
* In August 1955, an FBI field agent in Paris reported that confidential French sources indicated that George Zlatovski was “believed to have been in contact with Haakon M. Chevalier and Robert Oppenheimer.”
* Paul’s personal papers, along with most of his correspondence covering June 1954 to December 1955, as well as from October 1956 to March 1959, mysteriously went missing. He noted that no one could come up with a satisfactory explanation of how or why they were lost.
* In fact, the jaunty march, originally known as “The Parade of the Tin Soldiers,” was composed by Leon Jessel in 1905.
* It is worth noting that Bentley, too, claimed she had been working for the Communist Party of the United States and initially had no idea that she was spying for the Soviet Union.
* The FBI made some but not all of Jane Foster’s massi
ve file—more than 60,000 pages—available. In addition, some documents are censored, and in some cases so many names and sentence fragments have been blanked out that the reports are virtually incomprehensible.
* This included the corroborating evidence supplied by the then top-secret Venona decrypts described in the appendix of this book.
* In the search of the Zlatovskis’ apartment on January 26, 1957, the French police took George’s address book, which listed Paul Child as a contact. This information was forwarded to the FBI, which requested that George “be questioned concerning the subject [Paul].” A memo from the Paris legation to the director of the FBI in March 1957 states that a review of the Zlatovskis’ statements revealed that Paul Child was in the OSS, then with the American Embassy and USIS, and “the possibility exists that the subject is a covert operative with the CIA.”
* Andrew Roadnight, United States Policy Towards Indonesia in the Truman and Eisenhower Years (New York: MacMillan), p. 154.
Julia McWilliams and Paul Child both served overseas with the OSS’s Detachment 404. They met in Ceylon and did most of their courting in China, but Paul would not agree to marry the “6′2″ bien-jambée” until he had seen her in civilian clothes. He finally relented in Maine in the summer of 1946: he was forty-four, and she was almost thirty-four.
Jane Foster, a beguiling blond OSS officer who first caught Paul’s eye in Washington, D.C., in the fall of 1943, was “a wild, messy girl, always in trouble.”
OSS officer Betty MacDonald, who specialized in black propaganda, with the canine patrol guard she shipped home from China as “K-9 First Class Sammy.” Reared in the company of spies and GIs, the spaniel had a taste for gin martinis.
Julia striking a coquettish pose on the cot in her bamboo hut in Kandy. She hoped the photo would give Paul ideas, but instead he forwarded it to his brother as an interesting example of the local architecture.
OSS personnel at work in the Research and Analysis section of the Kandy field station, housed in an old tea plantation, where unwanted visitors included lizards, tarantulas, and six-foot-long cobras.
Lord Louis Mountbatten, the supreme commander of the China-Burma-India theater of war, paying a visit to the primitive OSS camp in Kandy. Behind him Detachment 404 commander John Coughlin looks on, along with Lieutenant Commander Edmond Taylor.
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