Media in category "Frank Wisner" The following 3 files are in this category, out of 3 total. (The CIA posted guards to keep the KGB from seeing who was there.). In the cases of Frank Wisner and Philip Graham, it played a role in their suicides. 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. He had upset the US government by nationalizing Iran's oil industry. Guillermo Toriello appealed to the United Nations to help protect Guatemalan government. (The CIA posted guards to keep the KGB from seeing who was there.). Kermit Roosevelt, the grandson of Theodore Roosevelt, was put in charge of what became known as Operation Ajax. 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. "I got a cable in Kuala Lumpur, where I was stationed," said Arthur Jacobs, the "Ozzard of Wiz" who had been Wisner's aide in the early 1950s. Now internal subversion communism from within - was an additional cause for direct action. According to Phillips he initially questioned the right of the CIA to interfere in Guatemala: In his autobiography Phillips claims he said to Barnes: "But Arbenz became President in a free election. This had the effect of keeping the money flowing while allowing Wisner to influence and backchannel policy decisions. 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. This included former members of the Nazi Party such as Gustav Hilger and Hans von Bittenfield. 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). Wisner remained concerned about the spread of communism and began lobbying for a new 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. Others like Stewart Alsop, Joseph Alsop and James Reston, were recruited from within the Georgetown Set. "Tomorrow morning, gentlemen," Dulles said, "we will go to the White House to brief the President. The POWs were returned by a U.S. Air Crew Rescue Unit via the Popeti-Leordeni Airfield. "Tomorrow morning, gentlemen," Dulles said, "we will go to the White House to brief the President. Hulda Wisner (Hermann) 74, of Lodi, died Thursday morning in a local hospital after a short illness. After leaving the OSS Wisner joined the Wall Street law firm, Carter Ledyard. All rights reserved. The military now joined the opposition and Mossadegh was arrested on August 19, 1953. Husband of Mary (Polly) Knowles a dedicated arts philanthropist and legendary Washington hostess. Finally Brad (Colonel Albert Haney) rehearsed his speech. It is doubtful that many of the lawmakers who voted for the 1947 Act could have envisioned the scale on which the CIA would engage in operational activities all over the world. Vijay Prashad: Yes, the point is a very good one, why Margaret Scobey herself was not in charge of the deliberations. He announced a change in policy and gave orders for the Soviet Union's political prisoners to be released. While its reductive to say the aftermath drove Wisner mad, its fair to say that it didnt help matters. Would the National Security Council really want to explain to the press why some official had to be bribed or some foreign election had to be subverted? Frank Wisner, the father of American covert operations, was both. In this position, he was instrumental in supporting pro-American forces that toppled Mohammed Mossadegh in Iran in 1953[citation needed] and Jacobo Arbenz Guzmn in Guatemala in 1954. Let's run over your presentations." In 1953 the brothers helped out Edward Lansdale and the CIA in the Philippines: "Wisner actively courted the Alsops, along with a few other newsmen he regarded as suitable outlets. I was vaguely uncomfortable. According to Deborah Davis, Meyer became Mockingbird's "principal operative". However, in 1947, he was recruited by Dean Acheson, to work under Charles Saltzman, at the State Department's Office of Occupied Territories. Who made that decision?". All rights reserved. But the navy is watching a Soviet sub in the area; it could be there to evacuate some of Arbenz's friends, or to supply arms to any resisters.". Even with my curious nature, I myself was unaware, except in the vaguest terms, what political action projects were going forward and how (Frank Wisner was spending Marshall Plan counterpart funds.) In June 2013, Wisner joined the advisory board of Ergo, a global intelligence and advisory firm. However, in 1947, he was recruited by Dean Acheson, to work under Charles Saltzman, at the State Department's Office of Occupied Territories. 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. On Tuesday, April third at Chicago, occurred the sudden death of little Frank M. Wisner, the three and a half years old son of Mr. and Mrs. L.S. Eisenhower shook hands all around. This information was passed to Joseph McCarthy who started making attacks on members of the OPC. 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. Some of our partners may process your data as a part of their legitimate business interest without asking for consent. Legal Statement. He described the OPC as "Wisner's gang of weirdos" and began carrying out investigations into their past. "Instead of a dirge, it was exuberant, powerful, exultant," recalled Tom Braden. His work involved planning a coup in Guyana, a country that had a left-wing government. 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). You've averted a Soviet beachhead in our hemisphere." . Wisner was told to create an organization that concentrated on "propaganda, economic warfare; preventive direct action, including sabotage, anti-sabotage, 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". "They don't seem to be up to anything. Their published recommendations included: the establishment of law and order through the retraining of the Iraqi army, focusing on the distribution of humanitarian assistance and reestablishment of vital services, and the importance of avoiding the appointment of exiled Iraqi opposition leaders to dominant positions in the new government. "[15], During the early 1950s, Wisner was the subject of FBI inquiries in connection with his wartime work in Romania, including the claim that he had an affair with Tanda Caradja, daughter of Romanian princess Catherine Caradja during the war; Caradja was alleged in FBI reports to be a Soviet agent. However, he began to get suspicious in 1951 and he asked William Harvey and James Jesus Angleton to investigate Philby. 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. Hoover, claimed that Caradja was a Soviet agent. Eisenhower shook his head, perhaps thinking of the thousands who had died in France. When this failed he put pressure on Security Council members to vote against the resolution. He served in South Vietnam until 1969, when he returned to the State Department as officer in charge of Tunisian affairs. [vague][15] Wisner was unsuccessful in convincing Mubarak to do so. Mussadegh in Iran was left-wing and had indulged in talks with Russian diplomats about possible alliances and treaties. Wisner remained as Deputy Director of Plans (DDP) until September 1958, playing an important role in the early history of the CIA. It was an exhausting, stressful, and almost impossible job. His army was outnumbered by the Guatemalan Army. Iranians took to the streets against Mohammed Mossadegh. Eisenhower shook hands all around. Wisner leaked details of the speech to the New York Times who published it on 2nd June, 1956. Wisner was too ill to return to his post as head of the DDP. By this time Operation Mockingbird had a major influence over 25 newspapers and wire agencies. 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. Two months later he moved on to Romania where his main task was to spy on the activities of the Soviet Union. Hector and I smiled at each other as Brad flushed with pleasure. In early 2011, the Obama administration asked Wisner to carry views to Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak, including advice that Mubarak should resign to defuse the crisis. Soon afterwards it was renamed the Office of Policy Coordination (OPC). Frank Wisner. 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. 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.