OSS Spies in World War II
Office of Strategic Services Played Major Role in Defeating Axis
Aug 14, 2008
The identification of television chef Julia Childs and nearly 24,000 other Americans as secret operatives for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) during World War II brought that agency back into the national spotlight six decades after it was disbanded. It probably also introduced OSS to millions of people who had never heard of the role it played in winning WWII.
That role, oldtimers insist, was much different from the violent way the agency was portrayed in Robert DeNiro’s 1977 movie, "The Good Shepherd." One former OSS agent said it was a "good movie, bad history."
Although President Truman broke up the OSS in 1945, the agency later became a model for the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
Cloak-And-Dagger Spies?
It may be an exaggeration to think of all the recently identified OSS personnel as the "cloak-and-dagger" type spies usually associated with intelligence agencies. However, the agents certainly operated in secrecy. Their roles were not known publicly until August 2008 when the CIA finally released 750,000 pages of top secret OSS personnel files through the National Archives.
It will take months, perhaps years, for historians to plow through those 750,000 pages and provide a better picture of what celebrities like Childs did as OSS agents. Even relatives did not know that some of them worked for OSS.
The Associated Press said the records released in 2008 will probably show why the agents were hired, as well as "jobs they were assigned to and perhaps even missions they pursued while working for the agency."
Behind Enemy Lines
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt started OSS in 1942 to gather and coordinate intelligence about the Axis powers and to support resistance groups behind enemy lines in Europe and Asia.
In 2003, then CIA Director George J. Tenet wrote: "In conditions of global conflict, the patriots of OSS gathered and analyzed important information about the strength and plans of the Axis powers." He added that "they set out—alone and with local allies—to reduce the strength of the enemy and frustrate his plans."
The AP said the list of celebrities identified in the OSS records included historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr.; Supreme Court Justice Arthur Goldberg; actor Sterling Hayden; Chicago White Sox catcher Moe Berg; Author Ernest Heminway’s son, John; President Theodore Roosevelt’s son, Kermit; and Miles Copeland, father of drummer Stewart Copeland.
The inclusion of Julia Childs in the list was indicative of the major role that some women played in OSS long before females became prominent in the military.
Virginia Hall Honored
OSS Agent Virginia Hall, who worked behind enemy lines in France, was awarded the French Croix de Guerre avec Palme, the U.S. Distinguished Service Cross and Britian’s Order of the British Empire. French President Jacques Chirac said she "contributed greatly to the liberation of France."
OSS Agent Elizabeth P. McIntosh, a former Hawaii society editor, was honored for her work behind enemy lines in China. The OSS Society newsletter said "she conducted operations that affected actions in Siam, French Indochina, and Burma."
The OSS Society recognized Childs earlier for her work in Ceylon. It said she "helped invent an effective shark repellent" for the agency.
The Office of Strategic Services Society, headquartered in McLean, VA., tracks the history of the OSS and its former members with a newsletter, special events and an annual award presented in honor of General "Wild Bill" Donovan, who headed OSS through its three-year history. The OSSS newsletter is a running history of the WWII agency.
Sources:
- Brett J. Blackledge and Randy Herschaft, the Associated Press, August 13, 2008
- Office of Strategic Services Society website and newsletters
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