In fact, according to several of his friends, on social occasions he became very aggressive when discussing politics. Frank Wisner was married to Christine de Ganay, the stepmother of Nicolas Sarkozy, the President of France from 2007 until 2012. He announced a change in policy and gave orders for the Soviet Union's political prisoners to be released. He also serves on the advisory board of the National Security Network, and on the board of Refugees International. Frank Gardner Wisner was born in Laurel, Mississippi, in 1910. With the help of resident Anastasio Somoza, Castillo had formed a rebel army in Nicaragua. Ernesto Guevara attempted to organize some civil militias but senior army officers blocked the distribution of weapons. Frank Gardner Wisner was born in Laurel, Mississippi, in 1910. It was a warm summer night. Eisenhower shook his head, perhaps thinking of the thousands who had died in France. Virtual Roundtable: Life Lessons Learned With Frank G. Wisner The growth of the OSS brought conflict with John Edgar Hoover who saw it as a rival to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. [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. Evan Thomas, the author of The Very Best Men: The Early Years of the CIA (1995), argues that Joseph Alsop and Stewart Alsop worked very closely with Winser. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. 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. 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.". The lighted shaft of the Washington Monument could be seen through the trees. Feit Frank Visner aka Wisner or Vizner was born about 1857 in Cslav, Kutn Hora District, (Central Bohemian District), Bohemia, Austria. The lights were turned off while Brad used slides during his report. Wisner, one of the early members of the Central Intelligence Agency, helped build, and was the . Wisner remained concerned about the spread of communism and began lobbying for a new intelligence agency. Wisner recruited Philip Graham (Washington Post) to run the project within the industry. Frank Wisner was constantly looked for ways to help convince the public of the dangers of communism. If it gets near the coast of Guatemala we'll sink the son-of-a-bitch. ' 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. Carlos Castillo and his collection of soldiers now crossed the Honduran-Guatemalan border. Dulles decided that Richard Bissell rather than Richard Helms should become the new head of the DPP. He gained support for this from James Forrestal, the Defense Secretary. The plot against Arbenz therefore became part of Executive Action (a plan to remove unfriendly foreign leaders from power). Some of this money was used to bribe journalists and publishers. His work involved planning a coup in Guyana, a country that had a left-wing government. This resulted in the religious community turning against Mossadegh. When this failed he put pressure on Security Council members to vote against the resolution. Over the next few weeks riots took place in Poland and East Germany. 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". It was the nearest thing to an expletive I ever heard Dulles use. During the Hungarian Uprising an estimated 20,000 people were killed. 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. The man moved away. CIA's Voice of Liberation also put out similar radio broadcasts. "The cable was from Des FitzGerald. His lineage is impeccable, since his father, Frank Wisner Sr., was a senior CIA official (from 1947 until his suicide in 1965) who was involved in the overthrow of Arbenz of Guatemala (1954) and Mossadeq of Iran (1953). She was born in Ashley, N.D. She grew up and attended schools in North Dakota. Some of this money was used to bribe journalists and publishers. Thus by overthrowing him, America was in effect making a new decision in the cold war. Indonesia 1958: Nixon, the CIA, and the Secret War Who made that decision?". In 1951 Allen W. Dulles persuaded Cord Meyer to join the CIA. Britain and France were both initially in favour but eventually buckled under United States pressure and agreed to abstain. Husband of Mary (Polly) Knowles a dedicated arts philanthropist and legendary Washington hostess. After graduating Wisner worked as a Wall Street lawyer. Others like Stewart Alsop, Joseph Alsop and James Reston, were recruited from within the Georgetown Set. The DPP now accounted for three quarters of the CIA budget and 60% of its personnel. The State Department immediately disavowed his comments and said Wisner had not been serving as an envoy but as a conduit for certain administration views.[16]. And yet, the junior Wisner cut a path for himself in the diplomatic corps that made him one of the country's most accomplished, and respected, envoys. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles added that the Guatemala people were living under a "communist type of terrorism". . 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. : the individuals concerned have for . 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). Wisner's friends believed the illness was triggered by the failure of the Hungarian Uprising. . The Combat Applications Group does not write database software for infantry supply clerks; it is better known as Delta Force. 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. The nature of Arbenz's government, however, meant that Operation Success launched both the CIA and the United States on a new path. ", General Ridgeway answered. Over the next few weeks thousands were arrested on suspicion of communist activity. Wisner leaked details of the speech to the New York Times who published it on 2nd June, 1956. He pointed out that they had spent a great deal of money on Radio Free Europe "to get these people to revolt". He was assigned as a vice consul at the American Consulate General in Tangier, Morocco. He wanted to start yet another secret agencythis one accountable to virtually no one. Wisner became head of this new organization and Richard Helms became his chief of operations. The questions from the unknown man next to me were very insistent, furtive. He was Richard Nixon, the Vice President. He pointed out that they had spent a great deal of money on Radio Free Europe "to get these people to revolt". Aid Groups Warn of "Secondary Disaster" as Death Toll from Turkey . 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). "All these people are getting killed, Wisner later said, and we weren't doing anything, we were ignoring it. About Frank G. Wisner. 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. The CIA also provided them with classified information to help them with their work. Kermit Roosevelt, the grandson of Theodore Roosevelt, was put in charge of what became known as Operation Ajax. However, in 1947, he was recruited by Dean Acheson, to work under Charles Saltzman, at the State Department's Office of Occupied Territories. [citation needed], Wisner married Mary Ellis 'Polly' Knowles (19122002) and they had four children: Elizabeth Wisner, Graham Wisner, Ellis Wisner, and Frank G. Wisner who entered into diplomatic service. Tracy Barnes was field commander of what became known as Operation Success. "Incredible". Accepting that further resistance would only bring more deaths he announced his resignation over the radio. Eisenhower spoke to his Chief of Naval Operations "Watch that sub. He was educated at Woodberry Forest School in Orange and the University of Virginia. After graduating Wisner worked as a Wall Street lawyer. On August 2, 1936, she married Arthur S. Wisner in Sparks, Nev. Mrs. Wisner had been active in the Emanuel. All results for Frank Wisner. Wisner, as head of the Office of Policy Coordination (OPC), took overall responsibility for the operation. Work out a new speech for Brad We went to the White House in the morning. Later, several of the people involved in Operation Success, including Richard Bissell and Tracy Barnes, regretted the outcome of the Guatemala Coup. Through think-tanks to foundations, directorates to membership of gentlemen's clubs, these mandarins were interlocked by their institutional affiliations and by a shared belief in their own superiority.". Franklived in month1918, at address, Illinois. 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. 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. I was vaguely uncomfortable. . Another project started by Wisner was called Operation Bloodstone. ", In December, 1956, Wisner had a mental breakdown and was diagnosed as suffering from manic depression. Soon afterwards it was renamed the Office of Policy Coordination (OPC). Two months later he moved on to Romania where his main task was to spy on the activities of the Soviet Union. For months, waves of airborne spies in mission after mission landed, and each was killed straightaway. Wisner grew very fond of Philby and was unaware that he was a Soviet spy betraying all his operations to his masters in Moscow. 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. Wisner was a genteel lawyer from Mississippi who grew bored with office life and joined the Navy. 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. It said that Frank had died and gave no reason, but I knew." 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. . Arbenz began to tackle Guatemala's unequal land distribution. Frank Wisner, Jr., had a more steady career in the State Department, was the ambassador in Egypt between 1986 and 1991. . The lighted shaft of the Washington Monument could be seen through the trees. The removal of Jacobo Arbenz resulted in several decades of repression. 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. 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.). Wisner's death saddened but did not shock his colleagues. 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". One of the most important journalists under the control of Operation Mockingbird was Joseph Alsop, whose articles appeared in over 300 different newspapers. 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". 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. This information was passed to Joseph McCarthy who started making attacks on members of the OPC. He announced a change in policy and gave orders for the Soviet Union's political prisoners to be released. It would nominally report to a senior State Department official. Wisner was transferred to the OSS station in Wiesbaden. Frank Wisner, the father of American covert operations, was both. You've averted a Soviet beachhead in our hemisphere." A decision was reached to create an organization within the CIA to conduct secret political operations. Wisner found one of his boys' shotguns and killed himself on October 29, 1965. A large number of these prisoners were tortured or killed. OSS agents penetrated the Romanian Communist Party and Wisner was able to discover that the Soviets intended to take over all of Eastern Europe. Soon afterwards it was renamed the Office of Policy Coordination (OPC). Wisner Junior was well-known in the CIA and he worked as Under Secretary of Defense for Policy and Under Secretary of . He was first stationed in Cairo where he spent an uneventful year. Wisner also met Arthur Schlesinger, an OSS sergeant serving in Germany. However, he began to get suspicious in 1951 and he asked William Harvey and James Jesus Angleton to investigate Philby. A decision was reached to create an organization within the CIA to conduct secret political operations. They were defiant and proud, but besieged. On Tuesday, Frank Wisner, a former American diplomat, conveyed a most urgent message to Hosni Mubarak of Egypt: Barack Obama would . After leaving the OSS Wisner joined the Wall Street law firm, Carter Ledyard. The nature of Arbenz's government, however, meant that Operation Success launched both the CIA and the United States on a new path. The President's final handshake was with Alien Dulles. An example of data being processed may be a unique identifier stored in a cookie. We drank iced tea as we sat around a garden table in Dulles' back yard. Mussadegh in Iran was left-wing and had indulged in talks with Russian diplomats about possible alliances and treaties. The State Department didnt want anything to do with these precursors to the CIA, fearing that some blown secret mission might cripple diplomacy. With the help of Romanian Intelligence, they manage to obtain tons of records, including SD files, 200 rolls of German film and a large amount of Russian information. Senator McCarthy succeeded in forcing CIA director Roscoe H. Hillenkoetter to dismiss long-time staffer Carmel Offie in 1950, over Wisner's objections.[19]. A month earlier word had spread through the agency that the New York Times was embarking on a first-ever investigation of the CIA. 2022 FOX News Network, LLC. Later he became an informal adviser to the royal family. 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. In 1976, at the beginning of the Carter administration, he served under Cyrus Vance as Deputy Executive Secretary of the Department of State. The CIA also provided them with classified information to help them with their work. Bio of the CIA's Frank G. Wisner, Sr. - The Constantine Report Arbenz began to tackle Guatemala's unequal land distribution. 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. 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. This had the effect of keeping the money flowing while allowing Wisner to influence and backchannel policy decisions. Operation Mockingbird - Spartacus Educational Now internal subversion communism from within - was an additional cause for direct action. Nixon asked a number of questions, concise and to the point, and demonstrated a thorough knowledge of the Guatemalan political situation. Dulles decided that Richard Bissell rather than Richard Helms should become the new head of the DPP. It was not successful and still suffering from depression, he was released from hospital in 1958. Frank Wisners new agency was called the Office of Policy Coordination, which should tell you an awful lot about its business. We and our partners use cookies to Store and/or access information on a device. View. Nagy also released anti-communists from prison and talked about holding free elections and withdrawing Hungary from the Warsaw Pact. 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 second Deputy Director of Plans (DDP) in charge of the Directorate of Plans (DDP) of the Central Intelligence Agency from August 23, 1951 to September 1958. Wisner was born in New York on July 2, 1938. and a LL.B. Finally Brad (Colonel Albert Haney) rehearsed his speech. According to Loftus, it was all part of a Cold War scheme to wage guerrilla warfare in Soviet-occupied Europe, in which the Nazi collaborators were to play a key role. Others like Stewart Alsop, Joseph Alsop and James Reston, were recruited from within the Georgetown Set. Frank Wisner - Historical records and family trees - MyHeritage "Tomorrow morning, gentlemen," Dulles said, "we will go to the White House to brief the President. Feb 21, 11:00 am. Wisner's other great success was the overthrow of Jacobo Arbenz. Wisner began his intelligence career in the Office of Strategic Services in World War II. 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. George Cristian Maior, former head of Romanian intelligence and current Ambassador to the United States, has written a . America's First Spy: The Tragic Heroism Of Frank Wisner He was a good sprinter and hurdler and in 1936 was asked to compete in the Olympic trials. They also produced three films on Guatemala for showing free in cinemas. According to Deborah Davis, Meyer became Mockingbird's "principal operative". The real Angleton, the real Frank Wisner, the real Bill Harvey are stories in their own right. Mrs. Wisner had gone to Chicago to visit with friends for a few days, taking her children with her.. 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. A large staff under Desmond Fitzgerald of the Far East Division was set up. Finally Brad (Colonel Albert Haney) rehearsed his speech. ", Assassination of John F. Kennedy Encyclopedia, In December, 1956, Wisner had a mental breakdown and was diagnosed as suffering from manic depression. Faked photographs were distributed that claimed to show the mutilated bodies of opponents of Arbenz. In 1951 Allen W. Dulles persuaded Cord Meyer to join the CIA. This included James Truitt, Russell Wiggins, Phil Geyelin, John Hayes and Alan Barth. 1944, Wisner was sent to Turkey. He was educated at Woodberry Forest School in Orange and the University of Virginia. In August, 1952, the Office of Policy Coordination and the Office of Special Operations (the espionage division) were merged to form the Directorate of Plans (DPP). Phillips, along with E. Howard Hunt, was responsible for running the CIA's Voice of Liberation radio station. Eisenhower spoke to his Chief of Naval Operations "Watch that sub. 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. Vibrant democratic parties, even socialist ones, were preferable to a Communist victory. (The CIA posted guards to keep the KGB from seeing who was there.). On 18th June, 1954, aircraft dropped leaflets over Guatemala demanding that Arbenz resign immediately or else the county would be bombed. This included former members of the Nazi Party such as Gustav Hilger and Hans von Bittenfield. However, Wisner was cleared of all suspicions by the CIA Office of Security. The CIA sent Wisner to the Sheppard-Pratt Institute, a psychiatric hospital near Baltimore. 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". Frank Wisner was head of Office of Strategic Services operations in southeastern Europe at the end of World War II, and the head of the Directorate of Plans of the Central Intelligence Agency during the 1950s. Admiral. 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. What right do we have to help someone topple his government and throw him out of office?" With the help of George Kennan, the Office of Special Projects was created in 1948. But Frank was a little excessive, even for me.". David Atlee Phillips was appointed to run the propaganda campaign against Arbenz's government. CDR Frank Gardiner Wisner (1909-1965) - Find a Grave Memorial Market data provided by Factset. In all, some 1,700 American POWs were transported.
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