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. [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. First headed by Allen Dulles, Wisner succeeded Dulles in 1951 when Dulles was named Director of Central Intelligence. Samuel Zemurray, United Fruit Company's largest shareholder, with the help of Tommy Corcoran, organized an anti-Arbenz campaign in the American media. On April 4, 1953, Wisner persuaded Allen W. Dulles to approve $1 million to be used "in any way that would bring about the fall of Mossadegh." Hector (Rip Robertson) said only one, a courier . Frank Wisner was constantly looked for ways to help convince the public of the dangers of communism. After the war, he headed the Office of Policy Coordination (OPC), one of the OSS successor organizations, from 1948 to 1950. 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. When Lansdale was manipulating electoral politics in the Philippines in 1953, Wisner asked Joe Alsop to write some columns warning the Filipinos not to steal the election from Magsaysay. On January 31, 2011, he was sent to Egypt by President Barack Obama to negotiate a resolution to the popular protests against the regime that had swept the country. 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. The POWs were returned by a U.S. Air Crew Rescue Unit via the Popeti-Leordeni Airfield. Mussadegh in Iran was left-wing and had indulged in talks with Russian diplomats about possible alliances and treaties. Even with my curious nature, I myself was unaware, except in the vaguest terms, what political action projects were going forward and how (Frank Wisner was spending Marshall Plan counterpart funds.) Four months later he agreed to retire from the CIA. As a result the resolution was defeated by 5 votes to 4. ", In December, 1956, Wisner had a mental breakdown and was diagnosed as suffering from manic depression. Castillo's new government was immediately recognised by President Dwight Eisenhower. We drank iced tea as we sat around a garden table in Dulles' back yard. A decision was reached to create an organization within the CIA to conduct secret political operations. This secret operation involved recruiting former German officers and diplomats who could be used in the covert war against the Soviet Union. While in Germany he served under Allen W. Dulles. The Central Intelligence Agency decided that Arbenz had to be removed from power. 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. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. 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). Frank Wisner married Antonie Chalupsky, daughter of Frantisek Chalupsky and Katerine Chudly about 1881 and they . Henry Cabot Lodge tried to block the Security Council from discussing a resolution to send an investigation team to Guatemala. 1944, Wisner was sent to Turkey. According to Deborah Davis, Meyer became Mockingbird's "principal operative". 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. 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. He condemned the Great Purge and accused Stalin of abusing his power. Frank Wisner died rather suddenly at age 29 years while still living in Tama County, Iowa. 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. Now internal subversion communism from within - was an additional cause for direct action. 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. All rights reserved. This included James Truitt, Russell Wiggins, Phil Geyelin, John Hayes and Alan Barth. Eisenhower shook hands all around. One of the most important journalists under the control of Operation Mockingbird was Joseph Alsop, whose articles appeared in over 300 different newspapers. Wisner grew very fond of Philby and was unaware that he was a Soviet spy betraying all his operations to his masters in Moscow. 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. The only thing theyre proving is the law of gravity, said one CIA officer. When he finished Alien Dulles said, "Brad, I've never heard such crap." At Arlington Cemetery, Frank Wisner was buried as a naval commander, his wartime rank. With the help of resident Anastasio Somoza, Castillo had formed a rebel army in Nicaragua. All the top officials of the agency, from director on down, were in attendance. FrankWisner18791963Frank Wisnerin U.S. Social Security Death Index (SSDI) Frank Wisnerwas born on September 14 1879. A month earlier word had spread through the agency that the New York Times was embarking on a first-ever investigation of the CIA. 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. This included the claim that Guatemala was the beginning of "Soviet expansion in the Americas". The CIA was also busy bribing Arbenz's military commanders. Harvey reported back in June 1951 that he was convinced that Philby was a KGB spy. In March 1945, Wisner was transferred to Wiesbaden, Germany. Contents Admiral. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. [1] He was also tapped for the Seven Society. Under this innocuous title, the United States was now fully in the business of covert political operations. http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKwisner.htm, Your email address will not be published. [17] Another project he was involved in was with regard to the Belarus Brigade's leaders, a unit incorporated into a German SS division, who were assisted into the United States after the Second world war, due largely to his efforts. 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. The DPP now accounted for three quarters of the CIA budget and 60% of its personnel. Frank Wisner was married to Christine de Ganay, the stepmother of Nicolas Sarkozy, the President of France from 2007 until 2012. In April 1962 Richard Helms recalled Wisner to Washington. Wisner was born in New York on July 2, 1938. We and our partners use cookies to Store and/or access information on a device. It was a warm summer night. He had upset the US government by nationalizing Iran's oil industry. Tracy Barnes was field commander of what became known as Operation Success. Four days later, after a day in which Mubarak allies took violent reprisal against democracy activists, Wisner spoke to a security conference in Europe and called it "crucial" that Mubarak stay on in the interest of "stability." 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]. All rights reserved. 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). If you would like to change your settings or withdraw consent at any time, the link to do so is in our privacy policy accessible from our home page.. Frank Gardner Wisner was born in Laurel, Mississippi, in 1910. On June 18, 1948, the United States National Security Council approved NSC 10/2 which created the Office of Special Projects. Arbenz, on the other hand, had simply been trying to reform his country and had not sought foreign help in this. In fact, according to several of his friends, on social occasions he became very aggressive when discussing politics. 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. He pointed out that they had spent a great deal of money on Radio Free Europe "to get these people to revolt". The UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold was so upset by the actions of the USA that he considered resigning from his post. Wisner, who reside on the George Wedge farm east of town. Afterward, he obviously wasnt equipped to go back to the Directorate of Plans, so he was made the station chief in London. With the help of George Kennan, the Office of Special Projects was created in 1948. 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 expected the United States would help the Hungarians. Admiral. Frank Wisner, Jr., had a more steady career in the State Department, was the ambassador in Egypt between 1986 and 1991. . Arbenz, on the other hand, had simply been trying to reform his country and had not sought foreign help in this. He retired in 1963, and committed suicide with a shotgun in 1965. The company wanted $16 million for the land. Wisner, as head of the Office of Policy Coordination (OPC), took overall responsibility for the operation. CIA's Voice of Liberation also put out similar radio broadcasts. It wasnt long before the United States recognized the obvious mistake it had made in shutting down its intelligence capabilities. Frank Gardner Wisner was born in Laurel, Mississippi, in 1910. When this failed he put pressure on Security Council members to vote against the resolution. Samuel Zemurray, United Fruit Company's largest shareholder, with the help of Tommy Corcoran, organized an anti-Arbenz campaign in the American media. "I got a cable in Kuala Lumpur, where I was stationed," said Arthur Jacobs, the "Ozzard of Wiz" who had been Wisner's aide in the early 1950s. Wisner was appointed director of the organization. [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. Wisner was a genteel lawyer from Mississippi who grew bored with office life and joined the Navy. He was diagnosed as manic depressive and received electroshock therapy. 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. Arbenz began to tackle Guatemala's unequal land distribution. In March 1953, 209,842 acres of United Fruit Company's uncultivated land was taken by the government which offered compensation of $525,000. He was educated at Woodberry Forest School in Orange and the University of Virginia. However, Wisner was cleared of all suspicions by the CIA Office of Security. In 1951 Allen W. Dulles persuaded Cord Meyer to join the CIA. When this failed he put pressure on Security Council members to vote against the resolution. After leaving the OSS Wisner joined the Wall Street law firm, Carter Ledyard. 1944, Wisner was sent to Turkey. 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. At this time Wisner began plotting the overthrow of Mohammed Mossadegh in Iran. As a result Philby was forced to leave the United States. 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? 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). "What about the Russians? Wisner's death saddened but did not shock his colleagues. ", Assassination of John F. Kennedy Encyclopedia, In December, 1956, Wisner had a mental breakdown and was diagnosed as suffering from manic depression. However, in 1947, he was recruited by Dean Acheson, to work under Charles Saltzman, at the State Department's Office of Occupied Territories. Let's run over your presentations." It was the nearest thing to an expletive I ever heard Dulles use. 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. Wisner left Bucharest in the last week of January 1945.[6]. View. 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He described the OPC as "Wisner's gang of weirdos" and began carrying out investigations into their past. Frank Wisner was born in Laurel, Mississippi, in 1910. The agents whom he and Burke infiltrated into Romania, Poland, the Baltic states and East Germany all disappeared; most were probably killed. No senior gure of the time at CIA ever had anything to do with that organization. After the West German counterintelligence chief, Otto John, defected to the Soviet Union in 1954, Wisner fed Alsop a story that the West German spymaster had been kidnapped by the KGB. Wisner added that he felt personally betrayed by this behaviour. Wisner's FBI file tells scurrilous tales of his wild life during and after World War II. Some of our partners may process your data as a part of their legitimate business interest without asking for consent. 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". He was so depressed that his wife, Polly, worried that he would try to commit suicide. Unlike most members of the Georgetown Crowd, Meyer now abandoned his liberal views. Alumni include Frank Wisner, one of the CIA's founders, and US ambassador to the UN Edward Stettinius, Jr. They also produced three films on Guatemala for showing free in cinemas. During the Hungarian Uprising an estimated 20,000 people were killed. He is the son of CIA official Frank Wisner (1909-1965). Frank Wisners new agency was called the Office of Policy Coordination, which should tell you an awful lot about its business. He served as third secretary at the U.S. Embassy in Algiers, Algeria. However, he got bored and enlisted in the United States Navy six months before Pearl Harbor. Their articles appeared in over 300 different newspapers. [4] A White House spokesman said that Wisner had vast experience in the region as well as close relationships with many Egyptians in and out of government. With the help of George Kennan, the Office of Special Projects was created in 1948. The Guatemalan Foreign Minister, Guillermo Toriello, asked the United Nations for help against the covert activities of the United States. "He just has many, many friends in. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Castillo now reversed the Arbenz reforms. The consent submitted will only be used for data processing originating from this website. (A separate Office of Special Operations conducted secret actions aimed solely at gathering intelligence.) Wisner grew very fond of Philby and was unaware that he was a Soviet spy betraying all his operations to his masters in Moscow. His army was outnumbered by the Guatemalan Army. The CIA propaganda campaign included the distribution of 100,000 copies of a pamphlet entitled Chronology of Communism in Guatemala. This became the espionage and counter-intelligence branch of the Central Intelligence Agency. It was the nearest thing to an expletive I ever heard Dulles use. The CIA was also busy bribing Arbenz's military commanders. Eisenhower shook hands all around. When the Central Intelligence Agency was established in 1947, its founding officers had to figure out how to build a global network of spies, run secret missions, overthrow governments, and recruit agents.