Later he became an informal adviser to the royal family. In April 1962 Richard Helms recalled Wisner to Washington. Admiral. 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? 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". He whispered a number of questions: "Who is that? 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. 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? Thus by overthrowing him, America was in effect making a new decision in the cold war. ", General Ridgeway answered. It was later discovered that one commander accepted $60,000 to surrender his troops. This secret operation involved recruiting former German officers and diplomats who could be used in the covert war against the Soviet Union. Frank Wisner, the father of American covert operations, was both. David Atlee Phillips was appointed to run the propaganda campaign against Arbenz's government. With the help of George Kennan, the Office of Special Projects was created in 1948. This included James Truitt, Russell Wiggins, Phil Geyelin, John Hayes and Alan Barth. 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. He was educated at Woodberry Forest School in Orange and the University of Virginia. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. In June. According to Nina Burleigh (A Very Private Woman) these journalists sometimes wrote articles that were commissioned by Frank Wisner. 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. He gained support for this from James Forrestal, the Defense Secretary. I myself was no great admirer of the Soviet Union, and I certainly had no expectation of harmonious relations after the war. With so many talented officers working in covert action, and with most of the foreigners involved being friendly collaborators and not "recruited" assets, the do could scarcely base promotions on the number of recruitments a case officer made each year. The questions from the unknown man next to me were very insistent, furtive. http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKwisner.htm, Your email address will not be published. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided byRefinitiv Lipper. It was not successful and still suffering from depression, he was released from hospital in 1958. 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. While in Bucharest he became friendly with King Michael of Romania. A large staff under Desmond Fitzgerald of the Far East Division was set up. Castillo's new government was immediately recognised by President Dwight Eisenhower. 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 Contents OSS agents penetrated the Romanian Communist Party and Wisner was able to discover that the Soviets intended to take over all of Eastern Europe. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. View. This was followed by a week of bombing ports, ammunition dumps, military barracks and the international airport. Frank Gardiner Wisner - Commander, United States Navy Central Intellignce Agency February 27, 2023 by Michael Robert Patterson Frank Gardner Wisner was born in Laurel, Mississippi, in 1910. He was a good sprinter and hurdler and in 1936 was asked to compete in the Olympic trials. He was Richard Nixon, the Vice President. Phillips, along with E. Howard Hunt, was responsible for running the CIA's Voice of Liberation radio station. Another project started by Wisner was called Operation Bloodstone. [10], Wisner was recruited in 1947 by Dean Acheson to join the State Department to become the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Occupied Areas. Allen W. Dulles therefore sent him to London to be CIA chief of station in England. Funded with money from the CIA and MI6, the pro-monarchy forces quickly gained the upper hand. Work out a new speech for Brad We went to the White House in the morning. He was dismissed from the CIA in 1950 after an arrest a few years earlier brought his homosexuality to the attention of Senator Joseph McCarthy during the Lavender scare that saw a purge of the State Department personnel because of charges of homosexuality. The removal of Jacobo Arbenz resulted in several decades of repression. I myself was no great admirer of the Soviet Union, and I certainly had no expectation of harmonious relations after the war. 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.". A month earlier word had spread through the agency that the New York Times was embarking on a first-ever investigation of the CIA. As a result the resolution was defeated by 5 votes to 4. He orchestrated a massive spy ring, many of whose members were tasked with parachuting into Soviet territory and gathering intelligence. Two months later he moved on to Romania where his main task was to spy on the activities of the Soviet Union. Wisner was also able to restrict newspapers from reporting about certain events. In 1951 Allen W. Dulles persuaded Cord Meyer to join the CIA. . Frank Wisner, Jr., had a more steady career in the State Department, was the ambassador in Egypt between 1986 and 1991. . 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. Wisner Junior was well-known in the CIA and he worked as Under Secretary of Defense for Policy and Under Secretary of . 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. Its not like other countries were lining up to teach the United States the finer points of espionage, so those first CIA men had to be really smart or slightly crazy. Mossadegh also abolished Iran's feudal agriculture sector and replaced with a system of collective farming and government land ownership. The growth of the OSS brought conflict with John Edgar Hoover who saw it as a rival to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The nature of Arbenz's government, however, meant that Operation Success launched both the CIA and the United States on a new path. The agency hired Bissell to reflect the new CIA. 1930 United States Federal Census. I was vaguely uncomfortable. Ernesto Guevara attempted to organize some civil militias but senior army officers blocked the distribution of weapons. She moved to Lodi in 1934. To confront Soviet aggression, Wisner eventually organized a secret army in Europe. "Incredible". Some of this money was used to bribe journalists and publishers. By Nicholas Thompson. Harvey reported back in June 1951 that he was convinced that Philby was a KGB spy. His work involved planning a coup in Guyana, a country that had a left-wing government. But Frank was a little excessive, even for me.". It wasnt long before the United States recognized the obvious mistake it had made in shutting down its intelligence capabilities. In March 1953, 209,842 acres of United Fruit Company's uncultivated land was taken by the government which offered compensation of $525,000. The plot against Arbenz therefore became part of Executive Action (a plan to remove unfriendly foreign leaders from power). Frank Wisner took over direct command of the everyday operations of the Indonesian project. 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. "Tomorrow morning, gentlemen," Dulles said, "we will go to the White House to brief the President. Wisner told Clare Boothe Luce, the American ambassador in Italy: "All these people are getting killed and we weren't doing anything, we were ignoring it. Unlike most members of the Georgetown Crowd, Meyer now abandoned his liberal views. 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. When he finished Alien Dulles said, "Brad, I've never heard such crap." The President strode from the room. 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. Wisner was placed in charge of this new branch, and was beginning to find some real successes. Eisenhower turned to his Chief of the Joint Chiefs. 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. Wisner began his intelligence career in the Office of Strategic Services in World War II. 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". The growth of the OSS brought conflict with John Edgar Hoover who saw it as a rival to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. However, Barnes convinced him that it was vital important that the Soviets did not establish a "beachhead in Central America". William (Rip) Robertson was also involved in the campaign against Arbenz. Tracy Barnes was field commander of what became known as Operation Success. 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. Wisner's other great success was the overthrow of Jacobo Arbenz. With the help of resident Anastasio Somoza, Castillo had formed a rebel army in Nicaragua. Alsop dutifully printed the story, which may or may not have been true.". [1] He was also tapped for the Seven Society. He was so depressed that his wife, Polly, worried that he would try to commit suicide. Wisner recruited Philip Graham (Washington Post) to run the project within the industry. The most active element of this special staff came from the CIA's clandestine Air Division which at that time was under the control of Dick Helms. Eisenhower spoke to his Chief of Naval Operations "Watch that sub. As soon as the war ended Truman ordered the OSS to be closed down leaving a small intelligence organization, the Strategic Services Unit (SSU) in the War Department. It was the nearest thing to an expletive I ever heard Dulles use. 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. [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. "He realized that his life would be circumscribed by increasing cycles of depression. Athan Theoharis, Richard Immerman, Loch Johnson, Kathryn Olmsted, and, Assistant Secretary of State for Occupied Areas, guerrilla warfare in Soviet-occupied Europe, "Our History: Featured Alumni: Wisner, Frank G., 1934", Report on X-2 Activities in Bucharest, 25 April 1945, "Foreign Relations of the United States, 19451950, Emergence of the Intelligence Establishment - Office of the Historian", "National Security Council Directive on Office of Special Projects", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Frank_Wisner&oldid=1141757345, United States Navy personnel of World War II, People of the Central Intelligence Agency, People of the Office of Strategic Services, University of Virginia School of Law alumni, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with unsourced statements from August 2019, Articles with unsourced statements from February 2021, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 26 February 2023, at 17:05. Over the next few weeks thousands were arrested on suspicion of communist activity. During that time, Wisner and Bishop discovered and penetrated a Russian Intelligence service named GUGBEZ. 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. . In June 2013, Wisner joined the advisory board of Ergo, a global intelligence and advisory firm. Wisner found one of his boys' shotguns and killed himself on October 29, 1965. 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). Secretary of State John Foster Dulles added that the Guatemala people were living under a "communist type of terrorism". Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. He persuaded President Harry S. Truman that the OSS in peacetime would be an "American Gestapo". After leaving the OSS Wisner joined the Wall Street law firm, Carter Ledyard. Now internal subversion communism from within - was an additional cause for direct action. Arbenz began to tackle Guatemala's unequal land distribution. "Tomorrow morning, gentlemen," Dulles said, "we will go to the White House to brief the President. Accepting that further resistance would only bring more deaths he announced his resignation over the radio. Vijay Prashad: Yes, the point is a very good one, why Margaret Scobey herself was not in charge of the deliberations. As a result Philby was forced to leave the United States. Some of this money was used to bribe journalists and publishers. While in Bucharest he became friendly with King Michael of Romania. If it gets near the coast of Guatemala we'll sink the son-of-a-bitch. ' His army was outnumbered by the Guatemalan Army. Alsop was happy to comply, though he doubted his columns would have much impact on the Huks. They were defiant and proud, but besieged. and a LL.B. He was a good sprinter and hurdler and in 1936 was asked to compete in the Olympic trials. Wisner added that he felt personally betrayed by this behaviour. 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. During the Hungarian Uprising an estimated 20,000 people were killed. Wisner was obviously too sick to go to Spain. While its reductive to say the aftermath drove Wisner mad, its fair to say that it didnt help matters. Wisner reportedly suffered a mental breakdown after the Soviet Union quashed the Hungarian revolution in 1956, and in 1965 he committed suicide. American diplomat and politician (born 1938), Genevieve Jeanne Marie du Fresne de Virel, Under Secretary of State for International Security Affairs, United States Ambassador to the Philippines, The Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, "The extended family of Nicolas Sarkozy (de Nagy-Bocsa)", "La Giustizia amministrativa: Raccolta completa contenente le decisioni tutte della IV sezione del Consiglio di Stato, le decisioni pi importanti della Corte dei conti in materia di conti comunali, provinciali ed erariali, e di pensioni, le pi importanti sentenze della Corte di cassazione di Roma in materia elettorale e di competenza e monografie relative a questioni amministrative", "Nomination of Frank G. Wisner To Be United States Ambassador to Egypt", "Guiding Principles for U.S. Post-Conflict Policy in Iraq", "Ambassador Frank G. Wisner Joins Ergo's Advisory Board", "Frank Wisner, the Diplomat Sent to Prod Mubarak", Obama Egypt Envoy Frank Wisner Says Mubarak Should Stay, Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Affairs, United States Ambassadors to the Philippines, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Frank_G._Wisner&oldid=1135372820, Ambassadors of the United States to the Philippines, Ambassadors of the United States to India, Ambassadors of the United States to Egypt, Ambassadors of the United States to Zambia, United States Under Secretaries of Defense for Policy, People of the Egyptian revolution of 2011, Acting United States Secretaries of State, People associated with Squire Patton Boggs, Short description is different from Wikidata, All Wikipedia articles needing clarification, Wikipedia articles needing clarification from October 2015, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 24 January 2023, at 07:44. 1930s. After graduating Wisner worked as a Wall Street lawyer. 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 . He condemned the Great Purge and accused Stalin of abusing his power. Wisner was too ill to return to his post as head of the DDP. To view the purposes they believe they have legitimate interest for, or to object to this data processing use the vendor list link below. However, Wisner was cleared of all suspicions by the CIA Office of Security. The Director turned to me "They tell me you know how to write. [16], On August 23, 1951, Wisner succeeded Allen W. Dulles and became the second Deputy Director of Plans, with Richard Helms as his chief of operations. 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. (A separate Office of Special Operations conducted secret actions aimed solely at gathering intelligence.) Funded with money from the CIA and MI6, the pro-monarchy forces quickly gained the upper hand. According to Deborah Davis (Katharine the Great): "By the early 1950s, Wisner 'owned' respected members of the New York Times, Newsweek, CBS and other communications vehicles.". All results for Frank Wisner. 2022 FOX News Network, LLC. It was the nearest thing to an expletive I ever heard Dulles use. While the Guatemalan government valued $2.99 per acre, the American government valued it at $75 per acre. 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. In defiance of federal law, John Loftus asserted, the Office of Policy Coordination helped obtain visas for Nazi collaborators from Belarus who were believed to have facilitated numerous atrocities by the Nazi Germany. During this period Wisner worked closely with Kim Philby, the British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) liaison in Washington. The only thing theyre proving is the law of gravity, said one CIA officer. The questions from the unknown man next to me were very insistent, furtive. Wisner found one of his boys' shotguns and killed himself on October 29, 1965. With so many talented officers working in covert action, and with most of the foreigners involved being friendly collaborators and not "recruited" assets, the do could scarcely base promotions on the number of recruitments a case officer made each year. Soon afterwards it was renamed the Office of Policy Coordination (OPC). Other journalists willing to promote the views of the CIA included Stewart Alsop (New York Herald Tribune), 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). As Thomas Polgar later pointed out: "Sure, we never said rise up and revolt, but there was a lot of propaganda that led the Hungarians to believe that we would help. He was assigned as a vice consul at the American Consulate General in Tangier, Morocco. Today, Wisner serves as an international affairs advisor for global legal powerhouse Squire Patton . Wisner was also able to restrict newspapers from reporting about certain events. (The CIA posted guards to keep the KGB from seeing who was there.). Frank Gardner Wisner was born in Laurel, Mississippi, in 1910. Frank Wisner killed himself with one of his son's shotguns on 29th October, 1965. ", Assassination of John F. Kennedy Encyclopedia, In December, 1956, Wisner had a mental breakdown and was diagnosed as suffering from manic depression. The company wanted $16 million for the land. As previously described at Mental Floss, one of their more brilliant, but alas, never executed, operations involved airdropping enormous condoms labeled medium behind the Iron Curtain, as a way of demonstrating the anatomical superiority of the American fighting man.). This was the elite which ran American foreign policy and shaped legislation at home. He was impressive - not at all the disturbing man he was in the shadows. [10], Wisner died by suicide on October 29, 1965.[22]. 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. 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. 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. Hoover, claimed that Caradja was a Soviet agent. The Scroll and Key tomb is admired for its Moorish Revival style Scroll and Key, Yale, New Haven, Connecticut President Dwight Eisenhower responded by claiming that Guatemala had a "communist dictatorship.. had established an outpost on this continent to the detriment of all the American nations". "What about the Russians? ", Later that year Wisner established Operation Mockingbird, a program to influence the American media. [20], In 1961, Wisner was ordered to organize CIA activities in British Guiana. A decision was reached to create an organization within the CIA to conduct secret political operations. The Defense Mobilization Support Planning Activity? [2] An event carried out Events Participated in References Tim Weiner, Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA, Penguin, 2007, pp.36-38. Wisner also met Arthur Schlesinger, an OSS sergeant serving in Germany. When he finished Alien Dulles said, "Brad, I've never heard such crap." During World War II, Wisner and his wife Polly became close friends with Philip Graham and his wife Katharine Graham who after the war became publishers of The Washington Post. Wisner, one of the early members of the Central Intelligence Agency, helped build, and was the . Frank Wisner married Antonie Chalupsky, daughter of Frantisek Chalupsky and Katerine Chudly about 1881 and they . ", In December, 1956, Wisner had a mental breakdown and was diagnosed as suffering from manic depression. The CIA was also busy bribing Arbenz's military commanders. A large number of these prisoners were tortured or killed. 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." Senator McCarthy succeeded in forcing CIA director Roscoe H. Hillenkoetter to dismiss long-time staffer Carmel Offie in 1950, over Wisner's objections.[19]. [8] Twelve B-17 Flying Fortress planes flew out the prisoners in hourly shifts. Thats why when you read about something called the Mission Support Activity, your eyes glaze over before you realize that youre reading about the Joint Special Operations Commands special mission unit for intelligence commandos. Your email address will not be published. Edit your search or learn more. Thomas Braden later recalled: "Wisner brought in a whole load of fascists after the war, some really nasty people. With the help of George Kennan, the Office of Special Projects was created in 1948. Wisner worked well with Zambian president Kenneth Kaunda and helped to rebuild bilateral relations between Zambia and the USA after a 1980 spy scandal at the U.S. embassy in Lusaka. In the darkness I could see only a silhouette of the person entering the room; when the door closed it was dark again, and I could not make out the features of the man standing next to me. He is the son of Frank Wisner, Sr., a man very well known at the CIA, who was the operational chief to conduct at least three coups d'tat--Arbenz in Guatemala, Mossadeq . George Cristian Maior, former head of Romanian intelligence and current Ambassador to the United States, has written a . Henry Cabot Lodge tried to block the Security Council from discussing a resolution to send an investigation team to Guatemala. At Arlington Cemetery, Frank Wisner was buried as a naval commander, his wartime rank. Wisner began having trouble with J. Edgar Hoover. I was vaguely uncomfortable. 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). Wisner was also deeply involved in establishing the Lockheed U-2 spy plane program run by Richard M. Bissell Jr.[1], Wisner suffered a serious breakdown in September 1958. He was a good sprinter and hurdler and in 1936 was asked to compete in the Olympic trials. The plot against Arbenz therefore became part of Executive Action (a plan to remove unfriendly foreign leaders from power). Theres a general rule in secret operations: If it has a bland name, its important. Khrushchev became increasingly concerned about these developments and on 4th November 1956 he sent the Red Army into Hungary. He whispered a number of questions: "Who is that? Nixon asked a number of questions, concise and to the point, and demonstrated a thorough knowledge of the Guatemalan political situation. CIA, "Letter of . In April 1962 Richard Helms recalled Wisner to Washington. This secret operation involved recruiting former German officers and diplomats who could be used in the covert war against the Soviet Union. He became Assistant Director of the Office of Policy Coordination. Wisner and 21 OSS agents landed in Romania,[5] where he became head of OSS Bucharest. This included former members of the Nazi Party such as Gustav Hilger and Hans von Bittenfield. However, he began to get suspicious in 1951 and he asked William Harvey and James Jesus Angleton to investigate Philby. Wisner's other great success was the overthrow of Jacobo Arbenz. [12] Wisner was chosen to lead the OPC in the capacity of Assistant Director for Policy Coordination (ADPC). For faster navigation, this Iframe is preloading the Wikiwand page for Frank Wisner . He served as third secretary at the U.S. Embassy in Algiers, Algeria. Frank Gardiner Wisner was one of the founding officers of the Central Intelligence Agency and played a major role in CIA operations throughout the 1950s. It has been estimated that between January and June, 1954, the CIA spent about $20 million on Castillo's army.
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