05070cim a2200685Ia 4500 704340596 OCoLC 20250626141003.0 sd fungnnmmned 110228s2011 ctunnnng bh n eng d 9781452601663 1452601666 9781452631660 1452631662 9781416567448 (OCoLC)704340596 (OCoLC)729238013 nmt n-us--- BIO 008000 bisacsh b B DONOVAN Waller, Douglas C. 1445 Wild Bill Donovan : the spymaster who created the OSS and modern American espionage / Douglas Waller. Unabridged. New York, NY First Free Press 2011. 466 p black and white photos 21 cm He was one of America's most secretive generals, the man Franklin Roosevelt made his top spy in World War II. "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 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 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 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 tragedy when family members died at young ages. Wild Bill Donovan reads like a 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 General adult. Donovan, William J. (William Joseph), 1883-1959. 1446 Donovan, William J. (William Joseph), 1883-1959. fast (OCoLC)fst00078133 1446 United States. Office of Strategic Services Biography. 1447 United States. Office of Strategic Services. fast (OCoLC)fst00542242 1448 World War (1939-1945) fast (OCoLC)fst01180924 1449 1939-1945 fast 1450 Intelligence officers United States Biography. 1451 World War, 1939-1945 Secret service. 1452 Audiobooks. 1453 BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY. Military. bisacsh 1454 BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY. General. bisacsh 1455 HISTORY. General. bisacsh 1456 HISTORY. Military. General. bisacsh 1457 HISTORY. Military. World War II. bisacsh 1458 HISTORY. United States. General. bisacsh 1459 HISTORY. Military. Other. bisacsh 1460 HISTORY. United States. 20th Century. bisacsh 1461 POLITICAL SCIENCE. General. bisacsh 1462 POLITICAL SCIENCE. Political Freedom & Security. General. bisacsh 1463 POLITICAL SCIENCE. Political Freedom & Security. Intelligence. bisacsh 1464 Audiobooks. fast (OCoLC)fst00821088 1453 Intelligence officers. fast (OCoLC)fst00975843 1465 Secret service. fast (OCoLC)fst01110661 1466 United States. fast (OCoLC)fst01204155 1467 Audiobooks. fast (OCoLC)fst01726208 1453 Biography. fast (OCoLC)fst01423686 1468 Audiobooks. lcgft 1453 Heller, Johnny. nrt 1469 Tantor Media. 1470 .b92123867 ddc BOOK 24849 24849 ddc 0 0 ABELJ abelj B 2017-06-02 16.00 2 B DONO 36791 2017-10-13 2017-09-20 2017-06-02 BOOK