Roosevelt's Secret War: FDR and World War II EspionageDespite all that has already been written on Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Joseph Persico has uncovered a hitherto overlooked dimension of FDR's wartime leadership: his involvement in intelligence and espionage operations. Roosevelt's Secret War is crowded with remarkable revelations: -FDR wanted to bomb Tokyo before Pearl Harbor -A defector from Hitler's inner circle reported directly to the Oval Office -Roosevelt knew before any other world leader of Hitler's plan to invade Russia -Roosevelt and Churchill concealed a disaster costing hundreds of British soldiers' lives in order to protect Ultra, the British codebreaking secret -An unwitting Japanese diplomat provided the President with a direct pipeline into Hitler's councils Roosevelt's Secret War also describes how much FDR had been told--before the Holocaust--about the coming fate of Europe's Jews. And Persico also provides a definitive answer to the perennial question Did FDR know in advance about the attack on Pearl Harbor? By temperament and character, no American president was better suited for secret warfare than FDR. He manipulated, compartmentalized, dissembled, and misled, demonstrating a spymaster's talent for intrigue. He once remarked, "I never let my right hand know what my left hand does." Not only did Roosevelt create America's first central intelligence agency, the OSS, under "Wild Bill" Donovan, but he ran spy rings directly from the Oval Office, enlisting well-placed socialite friends. FDR was also spied against. Roosevelt's Secret War presents evidence that the Soviet Union had a source inside the Roosevelt White House; that British agents fed FDR total fabrications to draw the United States into war; and that Roosevelt, by yielding to Churchill's demand that British scientists be allowed to work on the Manhattan Project, enabled the secrets of the bomb to be stolen. And these are only a few of the scores of revelations in this constantly surprising story of Roosevelt's hidden role in World War II. |
Contents
Strange Bedfellows | |
Spymaster in the Oval Office | |
The Defeatist and the Defiant | |
There Is No U S Secret Intelligence Service | |
Spies Versus Ciphers | |
Distrusting Allies | |
Deceivers and the Deceived | |
The White House Is Penetrated | |
If Overlord Fails | |
Cracks in the Reich | |
A Secret Unshared | |
Take a Look at the OSS | |
Sympathizers and Spies | |
Donovan Enters the Game | |
Our Objective Is to Get America into the War | |
Catastrophe or Conspiracy | |
Secrets of the Map Room | |
Intramural Spy Wars | |
Premier Secret of the | |
Enter the | |
We Are Striking Back | |
An Invasion for a Bomb | |
Leakage from the | |
A Leaky Vessel | |
Who Knewand When? | |
Stalin Has Been Deceiving Me All Along | |
The Following Are the Latest Casualties | |
Aftermath | |
Notes | |
Bibliography | |
About the Author Also by Joseph E Persico Copyright Page | |
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Abwehr Admiral Adolf Berle agents Allen Allied ambassador American Andrew Army asked Astor atomic bomb attack began Bentley Berlin Biddle Bill Donovan Britain British intelligence Bullitt cabled chief Churchill codebreakers Colonel commander Communist Currie decrypts diary diplomatic Doris Kearns Goodwin Earle Edgar Hoover embassy enemy espionage FDR’s FDRL foreign German Goodwin Hanfstaengl Harry Hopkins Henry Stimson Hitler ibid intercepted invasion Japan Japanese Jews Kennedy knew Last Hero later leaders Magic Marshall military mission months Morgenthau Moscow naval Navy Nazi NKVD operation Oshima Oursler Overlord Pacific Pearl Harbor Polmar President President's Prime Minister PSF Box Putzi Reich Roosevelt Russian secret secretary sent Shadow Warriors Sherwood Silvermaster Soldier of Freedom Soviet Union spies Spy Book staff Stalin Stimson Suckley Tehran Tokyo told troops Truman United Vincent Astor wanted warned Washington White House Wild Bill William World wrote York