frank wisner death

He persuaded President Harry S. Truman that the OSS in peacetime would be an "American Gestapo". CIA's Voice of Liberation also put out similar radio broadcasts. Wisner recruited Philip Graham (Washington Post) to run the project within the industry. . It had also given America resources and experience (concentrated in private hands) with the world outside the Americas, used effectively by the OSS during World War II American government, however, had stayed in America, lending its influence to business but never trying to overthrow other governments for commercial purposes. It compelled a higher degree of intellectual curiosity, accomplishment, and operational savior faire than did espionage ("espionage" referring specifically to the recruitment of foreign intelligence agents). The FBI hated them because they didnt want competition. Wisner also met Arthur Schlesinger, an OSS sergeant serving in Germany. Wisner grew very fond of Philby and was unaware that he was a Soviet spy betraying all his operations to his masters in Moscow. 1930s. Wisner was born in New York on July 2, 1938. He committed suicide in 1965. Wisner and 21 OSS agents landed in Romania,[5] where he became head of OSS Bucharest. The questions from the unknown man next to me were very insistent, furtive. Husband of Mary (Polly) Knowles a dedicated arts philanthropist and legendary Washington hostess. Wisner was too ill to return to his post as head of the DDP. Members of what was later called the Georgetown Ladies' Social Club included Katharine Graham, Mary Pinchot Meyer, Sally Reston, Polly Wisner, Joan Braden, Lorraine Cooper, Evangeline Bruce, Avis Bohlen, Janet Barnes, Tish Alsop, Cynthia Helms, Marietta FitzGerald, Phyllis Nitze and Annie Bissell. During this period Wisner worked closely with Kim Philby, the British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) liaison in Washington. He described the OPC as "Wisner's gang of weirdos" and began carrying out investigations into their past. Khrushchev's de-Stalinzation policy encouraged people living in Eastern Europe to believe that he was willing to give them more independence from the Soviet Union. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. ", General Ridgeway answered. Wisner was disappointed by the US government's reaction to this news and he was forced to advise the Romanian royal family to go into exile. During his absence Wisner's job was covered by his chief of operations, Richard Helms. Iranians took to the streets against Mohammed Mossadegh. In March 1945, Wisner was transferred to Wiesbaden, Germany. At Arlington Cemetery, Frank Wisner was buried as a naval commander, his wartime rank. During his tenure in Lusaka, he played the role of point man for the Constructive Engagement policy of assistant secretary of state for African affairs Chester Crocker. "Frank Wisner, Jr. was a big catch for Enron Corporation. We and our partners use data for Personalised ads and content, ad and content measurement, audience insights and product development. Wisner, as head of the Office of Policy Coordination (OPC), took overall responsibility for the operation. He was impressive - not at all the disturbing man he was in the shadows. A month earlier word had spread through the agency that the New York Times was embarking on a first-ever investigation of the CIA. These organizations were run by people with well-known right-wing views such as William Paley (CBS), Henry Luce (Time Magazine and Life Magazine), Arthur Hays Sulzberger (New York Times), Alfred Friendly (managing editor of the Washington Post), Jerry O'Leary (Washington Star), Hal Hendrix (Miami News), Barry Bingham Sr., (Louisville Courier-Journal), James Copley (Copley News Services) and Joseph Harrison (Christian Science Monitor). Guillermo Toriello appealed to the United Nations to help protect Guatemalan government. Wisner found one of his boys' shotguns and killed himself on October 29, 1965. William (Rip) Robertson was also involved in the campaign against Arbenz. In 1964 he became a rural development officer at the U.S. Embassy in Saigon, South Vietnam, for the Agency for International Development. Soon afterwards it was renamed the Office of Policy Coordination (OPC). Recalled one CIA officer, I would be at a meeting where it was obvious that the decision had been made the night before at a dinner party., Still, the jobs toll on Wisner was becoming apparent. ", In December, 1956, Wisner had a mental breakdown and was diagnosed as suffering from manic depression. Frank Wisner, Son of Nazi-Recruiting CIA Official, Sent to Prod Mubarak Frank Wisner was brilliant, tortured, and a founder of American intelligence. No senior gure of the time at CIA ever had anything to do with that organization. He had upset the US government by nationalizing Iran's oil industry. A large number of these prisoners were tortured or killed. Manage Settings Instead, President Obama turned to Frank Wisner, Jr., who has had a 36-year career in the State Department. Harvey reported back in June 1951 that he was convinced that Philby was a KGB spy. Eisenhower shook his head, perhaps thinking of the thousands who had died in France. Castillo's new government was immediately recognised by President Dwight Eisenhower. [17] Another project he was involved in was with regard to the Belarus Brigade's leaders, a unit incorporated into a German SS division, who were assisted into the United States after the Second world war, due largely to his efforts. Carlos Castillo and his collection of soldiers now crossed the Honduran-Guatemalan border. This machinery was in the CIA but the agency shared control of it with the State Department and the Pentagon. Frank Gardiner Wisner - Commander, United States Navy Central In the cases of Frank Wisner and Philip Graham, it played a role in their suicides. Admiral. He was educated at Woodberry Forest School in Orange and the University of Virginia. We drank iced tea as we sat around a garden table in Dulles' back yard. Vibrant democratic parties, even socialist ones, were preferable to a Communist victory. The Defense Mobilization Support Planning Activity? Edit your search or learn more. Hoover, claimed that Caradja was a Soviet agent. Covert action (orchestrating coups, anti-Communist insurgencies, academic conferences, labor unions, political parties, publishing houses, and shipping companies) required considerable manpower, and it drew the intellectual crme de la crme. While in Bucharest he became friendly with King Michael of Romania. As Evan Thomas reported in The Very Best Men, the OPCs charter gave it responsibility for propaganda, economic warfare; preventative direct action, including sabotage, antisabotage, demolition and evacuation measures; subversion against hostile states, including assistance to underground resistance groups, and support of indigenous anti-Communist elements in threatened countries of the free world. The U.S. government would disclaim any responsibility of the OPCs missions. Its worth noting that Wisner was the Christopher Hitchens of his daya relentless charmer and bon vivant who threw all the best parties with the most interesting, powerful, and influential guests. Hector and I smiled at each other as Brad flushed with pleasure. The lights were turned off while Brad used slides during his report. Franklived in USA. The CIA was feeling particularly embattled that October. The Office of Policy Coordination (OPC) was funded by siphoning of funds intended for the Marshall Plan. Alumni include Frank Wisner, one of the CIA's founders, and US ambassador to the UN Edward Stettinius, Jr. [9], Immediately after the arrival of Major Robert Bishop (September 9, 1944) as head of X-2 (Counter Espionage) branch in Bucharest, Wisner started the search for German records. Phillips, along with E. Howard Hunt, was responsible for running the CIA's Voice of Liberation radio station. Wisner became head of this new organization and Richard Helms became his chief of operations. Eisenhower turned to his Chief of the Joint Chiefs. After retiring from government service in 1997, Wisner joined the board at a subsidiary of Enron, the former energy company and served on the board of American International Group (AIG). Wisner managed to get a copy of the speech that Nikita Khrushchev made at the 20th Party Congress in February, 1956, where Khrushchev launched an attack on the rule of Joseph Stalin. The plot against Arbenz therefore became part of Executive Action (a plan to remove unfriendly foreign leaders from power). While the Guatemalan government valued $2.99 per acre, the American government valued it at $75 per acre. These organizations were run by people with well-known right-wing views such as William Paley (CBS), Henry Luce (Time Magazine and Life Magazine), Arthur Hays Sulzberger (New York Times), Alfred Friendly (managing editor of the Washington Post), Jerry O'Leary (Washington Star), Hal Hendrix (Miami News), Barry Bingham Sr., (Louisville Courier-Journal), James Copley (Copley News Services) and Joseph Harrison (Christian Science Monitor). Frank Gardiner Wisner (June 23, 1909 - October 29, 1965) was head of Office of Strategic Services operations in southeastern Europe in 1944-1945 at the end of World War II, and served as the 2nd Deputy Director of Plans in charge of the Directorate of Plans of the Central Intelligence Agency from August 23, 1951 to January 1, 1959. The New York Times reported that he was a personal friend of former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak. Virtual Roundtable: Life Lessons Learned With Frank G. Wisner 2022 FOX News Network, LLC. According to Deborah Davis in Katharine the Great, "By the early 1950s, Wisner 'owned' respected members of the New York Times, Newsweek, CBS and other communications vehicles." Hoover also passed to McCarthy details of an affair that Wisner had with Princess Caradja in Romania during the war. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. However, the CIA Voice of Liberation successfully convinced Arbenz's supporters that two large and heavily armed columns of invaders were moving towards Guatemala City. Unlike most members of the Georgetown Crowd, Meyer now abandoned his liberal views. From 1971 to 1973, he was first secretary at the U.S. Embassy in Tunis, Tunisia, and following that, from 1973 to 1974, he was first secretary at the U.S. Embassy in Dacca, Bangladesh. Frank Wisner - Wikispooks He pointed out that they had spent a great deal of money on Radio Free Europe "to get these people to revolt". However, there is evidence that he was recruited several years earlier and had been spying on the liberal organizations he had been a member of in the later 1940s. [14], According to its secret charter, the OPC's responsibilities include "propaganda, economic warfare, preventive direct action, including sabotage, antisabotage, demolition and evacuation procedures; subversion against hostile states, including assistance to underground resistance groups, guerrillas and refugee liberation groups, and support of indigenous anti-communist elements in threatened countries of the free world. Record information. This included George Kennan, Dean Acheson, Richard Bissell, Desmond FitzGerald, Joseph Alsop, Stewart Alsop, Tracy Barnes, Thomas Braden, Philip Graham, David Bruce, Clark Clifford, Walt Rostow, Eugene Rostow, Chip Bohlen, Cord Meyer, James Angleton, William Averill Harriman, John McCloy, Felix Frankfurter, John Sherman Cooper, James Reston, Allen W. Dulles and Paul Nitze. She moved to Lodi in 1934. He suffered a breakdown in 1958, and retired from the Agency in 1962. In June. Wisner Junior was well-known in the CIA and he worked as Under Secretary of Defense for Policy and Under Secretary of . For faster navigation, this Iframe is preloading the Wikiwand page for Frank Wisner . They also produced three films on Guatemala for showing free in cinemas. The military now joined the opposition and Mossadegh was arrested on August 19, 1953. Internationalist, abrasive, competitive, these men had an unshakeable belief in their value system, and in their duty to offer it to others. 2022 FOX News Network, LLC. To give some idea of how aggressively Wisner worked to build his spy network and subvert the Soviet Union, when the OPC was finally and officially absorbed into the CIA as the Directorate of Plans, it dwarfed the rest of the Agency, and consumed 75 percent of the CIA budget. ", General Ridgeway answered. Other journalists willing to promote the views of the CIA included Ben Bradlee (Newsweek), James Reston (New York Times), Charles Douglas Jackson (Time Magazine), Walter Pincus (Washington Post), William C. Baggs (Miami News), Herb Gold (Miami News) and Charles Bartlett (Chattanooga Times). Richard Bissell - The Connecticut Yankee Behind the Bay of Pigs He was Richard Nixon, the Vice President. Wisner was obviously too sick to go to Spain. Frank Wisner, who was part of the small network of OSS hands eager to get back in the spy game, had a solution to the problem. The President's final handshake was with Alien Dulles. All results for Frank Wisner. After graduating Wisner worked as a Wall Street lawyer. The State Department didnt want anything to do with these precursors to the CIA, fearing that some blown secret mission might cripple diplomacy. All the top officials of the agency, from director on down, were in attendance. In late 2002, Wisner co-chaired an independent working group that developed a model for the US's post-conflict role in Iraq, should an invasion occur. She was born in Ashley, N.D. She grew up and attended schools in North Dakota. It was not successful and still suffering from depression, he was released from hospital in 1958. "Incredible". What was not said, but what was already clear after the events in East Germany the previous year, was that the exercise of American power, even clandestinely through the CIA, would not be undertaken where Soviet power was already established. Another project started by Wisner was called Operation Bloodstone. In the 1950s and early 1960s the CIA's top leaders - men like Allen Dulles, Frank Wisner, Richard Bissell, Tracy Barnes, and Desmond Fitzgerald - were profoundly devoted to covert action. ", Assassination of John F. Kennedy Encyclopedia, In December, 1956, Wisner had a mental breakdown and was diagnosed as suffering from manic depression. Eisenhower shook hands all around. This resulted in the religious community turning against Mossadegh. Samuel Zemurray, United Fruit Company's largest shareholder, with the help of Tommy Corcoran, organized an anti-Arbenz campaign in the American media. By the early 1960s he held right-wing opinions. On 18th June, 1954, aircraft dropped leaflets over Guatemala demanding that Arbenz resign immediately or else the county would be bombed. Wisner, one of the early members of the Central Intelligence Agency, helped build, and was the . Frank Wisner - Ancestry.com With the help of resident Anastasio Somoza, Castillo had formed a rebel army in Nicaragua. On October 28, before he drove out to his farm on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, she called the caretaker and asked him to remove the guns from the house. In 1976, at the beginning of the Carter administration, he served under Cyrus Vance as Deputy Executive Secretary of the Department of State. In March 1953, 209,842 acres of United Fruit Company's uncultivated land was taken by the government which offered compensation of $525,000. After graduating Wisner worked as a Wall Street lawyer. William (Rip) Robertson was also involved in the campaign against Arbenz. In addition, regardless of the principles being professed, when direct action was taken (whether clandestine or not), the interests of American business would be a consideration: if the flag was to follow, it would quite definitely follow trade. Alsop dutifully printed the story, which may or may not have been true.". His work involved planning a coup in Guyana, a country that had a left-wing government. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. It was an exhausting, stressful, and almost impossible job. ", Wisner, who had been involved in creating this propaganda, told friends that he felt the American government had let Hungary down. Early life [ edit] He was educated at Woodberry Forest School in Orange and the University of Virginia. He gained support for this from James Forrestal, the Defense Secretary. Tracy Barnes was field commander of what became known as Operation Success. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. The only thing theyre proving is the law of gravity, said one CIA officer. Senator McCarthy succeeded in forcing CIA director Roscoe H. Hillenkoetter to dismiss long-time staffer Carmel Offie in 1950, over Wisner's objections.[19]. When he finished Alien Dulles said, "Brad, I've never heard such crap." No longer would the Monroe Doctrine, which was directed against foreign imperial ambitions in the Americas from across the Atlantic or the Pacific, suffice. PDF The Good Shepherd - Central Intelligence Agency It was not successful and still suffering from depression, he was released from hospital in 1958. Legal Statement. (1999) has pointed out: "In long exchanges, heated by intellectual passion and alcohol, their vision of a new world order began to take shape. "Great," he said to Brad, "that was a good briefing." Who made that decision?". His work involved planning a coup in Guyana, a country that had a left-wing government. "The Empire's Bagman:" Obama's Egypt Envoy Frank Wisner Says - HuffPost In the 1950s and early 1960s the CIA's top leaders - men like Allen Dulles, Frank Wisner, Richard Bissell, Tracy Barnes, and Desmond Fitzgerald - were profoundly devoted to covert action. Wisner remained concerned about the spread of communism and began lobbying for a new intelligence agency. By Nicholas Thompson. That beginning took place for him in Romania, simultaneously dealing with the results of the German war and with the coming reality of Soviet power. Arbenz began to tackle Guatemala's unequal land distribution. Wisner expected the United States would help the Hungarians. Hoover also passed to McCarthy details of an affair that Wisner had with Princess Caradja in Romania during the war. Frank G. Wisner, Sr. did not dabble in small matters. Eisenhower's first question was to Hector (Rip Robertson): "How many men did Castillo Armas lose?" Wisner came directly from central casting as the shady OSS spy from World War II. However, he got bored and enlisted in the United States Navy six months before Pearl Harbor. This was the elite which ran American foreign policy and shaped legislation at home. He was Richard Nixon, the Vice President. He had been elected as President of Guatemala in March, 1951. "He realized that his life would be circumscribed by increasing cycles of depression. Castillo's new government was immediately recognised by President Dwight Eisenhower. He could do that, because he was powerful. A door opened near me. The OPCs mission was to take on the Soviet Union, and right from the start, the Pentagongearing up for World War IIIwanted everything from insurgencies in Western Europe to sabotaging the entire Soviet air force, and it wanted them now. In all, some 1,700 American POWs were transported. This included former members of the Nazi Party such as Gustav Hilger and Hans von Bittenfield. Wisner was also able to restrict newspapers from reporting about certain events. He said that the country needed "an agrarian reform which puts an end to the latifundios and the semi-feudal practices, giving the land to thousands of peasants, raising their purchasing power and creating a great internal market favorable to the development of domestic industry.". The U.S. and the Genocide in Rwanda 1994 - George Washington University Henry Breck, a junior CIA officer out of Groton and Harvard, watched his grim-faced elders as they mourned. Wisner was appointed director of the organization. This information was passed to Joseph McCarthy who started making attacks on members of the OPC. Allen W. Dulles therefore sent him to London to be CIA chief of station in England. Wisner was a genteel lawyer from Mississippi who grew bored with office life and joined the Navy. Khrushchev became increasingly concerned about these developments and on 4th November 1956 he sent the Red Army into Hungary. Hector and I smiled at each other as Brad flushed with pleasure. Wisner remained as Deputy Director of Plans (DDP) until September 1958, playing an important role in the early history of the CIA. What right do we have to help someone topple his government and throw him out of office?" Four months later he agreed to retire from the CIA. He whispered a number of questions: "Who is that? "What about the Russians? [20] After a lengthy recovery, Wisner became chief of the CIA's London Station. In Hungary the prime minister Imre Nagy removed state control of the mass media and encouraged public discussion on political and economic reform. DR: In a sense, The Good Shepherd "Tomorrow morning, gentlemen," Dulles said, "we will go to the White House to brief the President. President Dwight Eisenhower was delighted with this result and asked Wisner to arrange for Kermit Roosevelt to give him a personal briefing on Operation Ajax. During the war William Donovan as head of the OSS, had built up a team of 16,000 agents working behind enemy lines. Frank George Wisner II (born July 2, 1938) is an American businessman and former diplomat who had served as acting United States Secretary of State for a few hours following the resignation of the previous acting United States Secretary of State Arnold Kanter at noon on January 20, 1993 until the confirmation by the United States Senate and Four months later he agreed to retire from the CIA. Frank Wisner, Jr. WASHINGTON Once a month or so, a coterie of aging diplomats convenes at the elegant Metropolitan Club of New York. Four days later, after a day in which Mubarak allies took violent reprisal against democracy activists, Wisner spoke to a security conference in Europe and called it "crucial" that Mubarak stay on in the interest of "stability." In 1951 Allen W. Dulles persuaded Cord Meyer to join the CIA. He was educated at Woodberry Forest School in Orange and the University of Virginia. Five thousand refugees volunteered to be part of a post-nuclear guerrilla force, which was just what it sounds likeFallout: New Stalingrad. You've averted a Soviet beachhead in our hemisphere." "He realized that his life would be circumscribed by increasing cycles of depression. Wisner Sr. died in 1965 by michael gordon. Frank Wisner took over direct command of the everyday operations of the Indonesian project. Now internal subversion communism from within - was an additional cause for direct action. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. degree. Dulles decided that Richard Bissell rather than Richard Helms should become the new head of the DPP. Probably the most powerful of the Georgetown insiders was Frank Wisner, chief of covert operations for the C.I.A., and one of the most zealous of the anti-Communist crusaders who turned the agency . Almost 30 years after the fall of communism in. Media in category "Frank Wisner" The following 3 files are in this category, out of 3 total. According to Donald N. Wilber, who was involved in this CIA plot to remove Mossadegh from power, in early August, 1953, Iranian CIA operatives, pretending to be socialists, threatened Muslim leaders with "savage punishment if they opposed Mossadegh," thereby giving the impression that Mossadegh was cracking down on dissent. Frank Wisner - Spartacus Educational I suspect that had we known more (it would have just made us more appreciative.) Frank Wisner was married to Christine de Ganay, the stepmother of Nicolas Sarkozy, the President of France from 2007 until 2012. Wisner's other great success was the overthrow of Jacobo Arbenz. In July 19, 1954, he created the National Committee of Defense Against Communism and decreed the Preventive Penal Law Against Communism to fight against those who supported Arbenz when he was in power. All rights reserved. On January 31, 2011, he was sent to Egypt by President Barack Obama to negotiate a resolution to the popular protests against the regime that had swept the country. As one of the agents involved in Operation Bloodstone, Harry Rositzke, pointed out, Wisner was willing to use anyone "as long as he was anti-communist". This included James Truitt, Russell Wiggins, Phil Geyelin, John Hayes and Alan Barth. The consent submitted will only be used for data processing originating from this website. We drank iced tea as we sat around a garden table in Dulles' back yard. The whole arrangement of American power in the world from the nineteenth century was based on commercial concerns and methods of operation his had given America a material empire through the ownership of foreign transport systems, oil fields, estancias, stocks, and shares. Kermit Roosevelt, the grandson of Theodore Roosevelt, was put in charge of what became known as Operation Ajax. After 1953 the network was overseen by Allen W. Dulles, director of the Central Intelligence Agency. What was not said, but what was already clear after the events in East Germany the previous year, was that the exercise of American power, even clandestinely through the CIA, would not be undertaken where Soviet power was already established. On April 4, 1953, Wisner persuaded Allen W. Dulles to approve $1 million to be used "in any way that would bring about the fall of Mossadegh." Wisner focused his efforts on psychological warfare, most notably through Operation Mockingbird, wherein the OPC sought to influence foreign mediaand who better to plant propaganda than the press itself? He whispered a number of questions: "Who is that? He described the OPC as "Wisner's gang of weirdos" and began carrying out investigations into their past. . [4], In 1941, six months before the attack on Pearl Harbor, he enlisted in the United States Navy. Later, John Loftus, a prosecutor with the Office of Special Investigations at the U.S. Justice Department, accused Wisner of methodically recruiting Nazi war criminals. Jake Esterline was placed in charge of the CIA's Washington task force in the overthrow of Jacobo Arbenz in Guatemala. The President strode from the room. Frank Wisner was the first American in, and this - you're talking August, September - I guess September of 1944. Aid Groups Warn of "Secondary Disaster" as Death Toll from Turkey . On January 4, 1951, the CIA merged the two offices and created a new Plans Division, which has had sole control over secret operations of all types since that date. It said that Frank had died and gave no reason, but I knew." Wisner also met Arthur Schlesinger, an OSS sergeant serving in Germany. If it gets near the coast of Guatemala we'll sink the son-of-a-bitch. ' Frank George Wisner II (born July 2, 1938) is an American businessman and former diplomat who had served as acting United States Secretary of State for a few hours following the resignation of the previous acting United States Secretary of State Arnold Kanter at noon on January 20, 1993 until the confirmation by the United States Senate and swearing in of Warren Christopher as United States Secretary of State later that day. Bissell replaced Wisner as Deputy Director of Plans. If it gets near the coast of Guatemala we'll sink the son-of-a-bitch. ' Allen W. Dulles therefore sent him to London to be CIA chief of station in England. Wisner's death saddened but did not shock his colleagues. As a result Philby was forced to leave the United States.

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