. 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". Contents Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. When the war ended, the OSS was shut down and Wisner returned to the soul-draining doldrums of office life. "They don't seem to be up to anything. Hector and I smiled at each other as Brad flushed with pleasure. Continue with Recommended Cookies. During the war William Donovan as head of the OSS, had built up a team of 16,000 agents working behind enemy lines. His first task was to oversee the return of some 1,350 American airmen who had been shot down in missions against Romanian oilfields. Admiral. [14], According to its secret charter, the OPC's responsibilities include "propaganda, economic warfare, preventive direct action, including sabotage, antisabotage, demolition and evacuation procedures; subversion against hostile states, including assistance to underground resistance groups, guerrillas and refugee liberation groups, and support of indigenous anti-communist elements in threatened countries of the free world. After World War II, American governments were more willing to use their influence and strength all over the world for the first time and to see an ideological implication in the "persecution" of US business interests. He lived in Romania with a beautiful Russian spy. . In the cases of Frank Wisner and Philip Graham, it played a role in their suicides. 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. Harrison E. Salisbury commented: "He (Wisner) was the key to a great many things, a brilliant, compulsive man, of enormous charm, imagination, and conviction that anything, anything could be achieved and that he could achieve it. I was vaguely uncomfortable. The consent submitted will only be used for data processing originating from this website. He had upset the US government by nationalizing Iran's oil industry. He was first stationed in Cairo where he spent an uneventful year. This machinery was in the CIA but the agency shared control of it with the State Department and the Pentagon. When the project collapsed, however, the Belarusians quickly settled in and obtained US citizenship and intelligence agencies protected them from exposure for decades. 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. By this time Operation Mockingbird had a major influence over 25 newspapers and wire agencies. Toriello accused the United States government of categorizing "as communism every manifestation of nationalism or economic independence, any desire for social progress, any intellectual curiosity, and any interest in progressive liberal reforms.". The Guatemalan Foreign Minister, Guillermo Toriello, asked the United Nations for help against the covert activities of the United States. The Director turned to me "They tell me you know how to write. Frank G. Wisner, an ex-OSS man, was brought in from the State Department to head it, with a cover title of his own invention. 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). 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". Recalled one CIA officer, I would be at a meeting where it was obvious that the decision had been made the night before at a dinner party., Still, the jobs toll on Wisner was becoming apparent. However, he got bored and enlisted in the United States Navy six months before Pearl Harbor. Jake Esterline was placed in charge of the CIA's Washington task force in the overthrow of Jacobo Arbenz in Guatemala. Later, several of the people involved in Operation Success, including Richard Bissell and Tracy Barnes, regretted the outcome of the Guatemala Coup. Wisner began his intelligence career in the Office of Strategic Services in World War II. Wisner was transferred to the OSS station in Wiesbaden. Vibrant democratic parties, even socialist ones, were preferable to a Communist victory. "Thanks Allen, and thanks to all of you. (The CIA posted guards to keep the KGB from seeing who was there.). . It was not successful and still suffering from depression, he was released from hospital in 1958. [10], Wisner died by suicide on October 29, 1965.[22]. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Any reaction? Hoover, claimed that Caradja was a Soviet agent. During the war William Donovan as head of the OSS, had built up a team of 16,000 agents working behind enemy lines. Frank Wisner died rather suddenly at age 29 years while still living in Tama County, Iowa. When he finished Alien Dulles said, "Brad, I've never heard such crap." Wisner added that he felt personally betrayed by this behaviour. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. From 1971 to 1973, he was first secretary at the U.S. Embassy in Tunis, Tunisia, and following that, from 1973 to 1974, he was first secretary at the U.S. Embassy in Dacca, Bangladesh. He also serves on the advisory board of the National Security Network, and on the board of Refugees International. [12] Wisner was chosen to lead the OPC in the capacity of Assistant Director for Policy Coordination (ADPC). In 1951 Allen W. Dulles persuaded Cord Meyer to join the CIA. After 1953 the network was overseen by Allen W. Dulles, director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Wisner moved to Washington where he associated with a group of journalists, politicians and government officials that became known as the Georgetown Set. Feit Frank Visner aka Wisner or Vizner was born about 1857 in Cslav, Kutn Hora District, (Central Bohemian District), Bohemia, Austria. Eisenhower shook hands all around. However, Barnes convinced him that it was vital important that the Soviets did not establish a "beachhead in Central America". He orchestrated a massive spy ring, many of whose members were tasked with parachuting into Soviet territory and gathering intelligence. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The man moved away. In June. As a result the resolution was defeated by 5 votes to 4. Legal Statement. On 18th June, 1954, aircraft dropped leaflets over Guatemala demanding that Arbenz resign immediately or else the county would be bombed. Frank Wisner killed himself with one of his son's shotguns on 29th October, 1965. He eventually had a breakdown, was hospitalized, and received an aggressive course of electroshock therapy. [18], J. Edgar Hoover and U.S. He pointed out that they had spent a great deal of money on Radio Free Europe "to get these people to revolt". Edit Search New Search Jump to Filters. Bissell replaced Wisner as Deputy Director of Plans. "What about the Russians? Frank Wisner was brilliant, tortured, and a founder of American intelligence. In March 1945, Wisner was transferred to Wiesbaden, Germany. The lights were turned off while Brad used slides during his report. (A separate Office of Special Operations conducted secret actions aimed solely at gathering intelligence.) If it gets near the coast of Guatemala we'll sink the son-of-a-bitch. ' The results were horrifying2500 Hungarians were killed, 200,000 were forced to flee their country, and tens of thousands were arrested and imprisoned. I myself was no great admirer of the Soviet Union, and I certainly had no expectation of harmonious relations after the war. He worked in the Navy's censor's office before managing to get a transfer to the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). ANCExplorer Frank Wisner grave.jpg. I saw Frank three days before he died and he seemed in good spirits. In fact, according to several of his friends, on social occasions he became very aggressive when discussing politics. Eisenhower turned to his Chief of the Joint Chiefs. Frank Wisner was constantly looked for ways to help convince the public of the dangers of communism. Unlike most members of the Georgetown Crowd, Meyer now abandoned his liberal views. This was followed by a week of bombing ports, ammunition dumps, military barracks and the international airport. Arbenz now believed he stood little chance of preventing Castillo gaining power. (A separate Office of Special Operations conducted secret actions aimed solely at gathering intelligence.) Britain and France were both initially in favour but eventually buckled under United States pressure and agreed to abstain. Arbenz began to tackle Guatemala's unequal land distribution. 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.". Wisner was obviously too sick to go to Spain. He could do that, because he was powerful. Early life [ edit] Wisner arrived in England in September, 1959. However, the CIA Voice of Liberation successfully convinced Arbenz's supporters that two large and heavily armed columns of invaders were moving towards Guatemala City. DR: In a sense, The Good Shepherd Who made that decision?". The removal of Jacobo Arbenz resulted in several decades of repression. During his tenure in Lusaka, he played the role of point man for the Constructive Engagement policy of assistant secretary of state for African affairs Chester Crocker. The OPC had a staff of 10, so this wasnt likely to happen. This included George Kennan, Dean Acheson, Richard Bissell, Desmond FitzGerald, Joseph Alsop, Stewart Alsop, Tracy Barnes, Thomas Braden, Philip Graham, David Bruce, Clark Clifford, Walt Rostow, Eugene Rostow, Chip Bohlen, Cord Meyer, James Angleton, William Averill Harriman, John McCloy, Felix Frankfurter, John Sherman Cooper, James Reston, Allen W. Dulles and Paul Nitze. 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. In 1950, the OPC was placed under the Central Intelligence Agency and renamed the Directorate of Plans. Media in category "Frank Wisner" The following 3 files are in this category, out of 3 total. 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. His army was outnumbered by the Guatemalan Army. [21], In 1962, Wisner retired from the CIA. However, in 1947, he was recruited by Dean Acheson, to work under Charles Saltzman, at the State Department's Office of Occupied Territories. To confront Soviet aggression, Wisner eventually organized a secret army in Europe. The CIA also provided them with classified information to help them with their work. 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. He worked in the Navy's censor's office until he managed to transfer to the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) in 1943. 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. Wisner Junior was well-known in the CIA and he worked as Under Secretary of Defense for Policy and Under Secretary of . Samuel Zemurray, United Fruit Company's largest shareholder, with the help of Tommy Corcoran, organized an anti-Arbenz campaign in the American media. Iranians took to the streets against Mohammed Mossadegh. During this period Wisner worked closely with Kim Philby, the British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) liaison in Washington. After leaving the OSS Wisner joined the Wall Street law firm, Carter Ledyard. Frank Wisner killed himself with one of his son's shotguns on 29th October, 1965. Wisner's FBI file tells scurrilous tales of his wild life during and after World War II. It was later discovered that one commander accepted $60,000 to surrender his troops. CIA, "Letter of . She moved to Lodi in 1934. Name: Frank Wisner With the help of George Kennan, the Office of Special Projects was created in 1948. In the 1950s and early 1960s the CIA's top leaders - men like Allen Dulles, Frank Wisner, Richard Bissell, Tracy Barnes, and Desmond Fitzgerald - were profoundly devoted to covert action. It has been estimated that between January and June, 1954, the CIA spent about $20 million on Castillo's army. 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. His work involved planning a coup in Guyana, a country that had a left-wing government. Your email address will not be published. OSS agents penetrated the Romanian Communist Party and Wisner was able to discover that the Soviets intended to take over all of Eastern Europe. FrankWisner18791963Frank Wisnerin U.S. Social Security Death Index (SSDI) Frank Wisnerwas born on September 14 1879. It was a warm summer night. Death 29 Oct 1965 (aged 56) Kent . The lights were turned off while Brad used slides during his report. [2] An event carried out Events Participated in References Tim Weiner, Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA, Penguin, 2007, pp.36-38. Alsop dutifully printed the story, which may or may not have been true.". This included the claim that Guatemala was the beginning of "Soviet expansion in the Americas". Mossadegh also abolished Iran's feudal agriculture sector and replaced with a system of collective farming and government land ownership. However, he got bored and enlisted in the United States Navy six months before Pearl Harbor. Hector (Rip Robertson) said only one, a courier . [6][7], Wisner arrived just as Romania joined the Allies and declared war on the Axis. Legal Statement. Some of this money was used to bribe journalists and publishers. Arbenz, on the other hand, had simply been trying to reform his country and had not sought foreign help in this. 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). 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). Also involved was Richard Bissell, head of the Directorate for Plans, an organization instructed to conduct covert anti-Communist operations around the world. On 18th June, 1954, aircraft dropped leaflets over Guatemala demanding that Arbenz resign immediately or else the county would be bombed. [11] On September 1, 1948, the office was formally established, although it was renamed to the Office of Policy Coordination (OPC) for obfuscation purposes. According to Nina Burleigh (A Very Private Woman) these journalists sometimes wrote articles that were commissioned by Frank Wisner. Almost 30 years after the fall of communism in. However, he began to get suspicious in 1951 and he asked William Harvey and James Jesus Angleton to investigate Philby. We and our partners use cookies to Store and/or access information on a device. He had been elected as President of Guatemala in March, 1951. According to Alex Constantine (Mockingbird: The Subversion Of The Free Press By The CIA), in the 1950s, "some 3,000 salaried and contract CIA employees were eventually engaged in propaganda efforts". "Instead of a dirge, it was exuberant, powerful, exultant," recalled Tom Braden. Wisner arrived in England in September, 1959. Frank Wisner, Jr. WASHINGTON Once a month or so, a coterie of aging diplomats convenes at the elegant Metropolitan Club of New York. 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. ", General Ridgeway answered. (The CIA posted guards to keep the KGB from seeing who was there.). Wisner also met Arthur Schlesinger, an OSS sergeant serving in Germany. Frank Wisner. Over the next few weeks riots took place in Poland and East Germany. 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. If it gets near the coast of Guatemala we'll sink the son-of-a-bitch. ' He served as third secretary at the U.S. Embassy in Algiers, Algeria. Others like Stewart Alsop, Joseph Alsop and James Reston, were recruited from within the Georgetown Set. Frank G. Wisner, Sr. did not dabble in small matters. It also highlights the structure and personalities of U.S. decision-making during that late spring of 1994 when hundreds of thousands were killed as the U.S. and other nations stood by. However, Wisner was cleared of all suspicions by the CIA Office of Security. I suspect that had we known more (it would have just made us more appreciative.) All the top officials of the agency, from director on down, were in attendance. The Scroll and Key tomb is admired for its Moorish Revival style Scroll and Key, Yale, New Haven, Connecticut David Atlee Phillips was appointed to run the propaganda campaign against Arbenz's government. 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. They were defiant and proud, but besieged. Over the next few weeks thousands were arrested on suspicion of communist activity. 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 . With the help of resident Anastasio Somoza, Castillo had formed a rebel army in Nicaragua. 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". Castillo now reversed the Arbenz reforms. 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.
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