The Irregulars: Roald Dahl and the British Spy Ring in Wartime Washington
Author: Jennet Conant
When Roald Dahl, a dashing young wounded RAF pilot, took up his post at the British Embassy in Washington in 1942, his assignment was to use his good looks, wit, and considerable charm to gain access to the most powerful figures in American political life. A patriot eager to do his part to save his country from a Nazi invasion, he invaded the upper reaches of the U.S. government and Georgetown society, winning over First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and her husband, Franklin; befriending wartime leaders from Henry Wallace to Henry Morgenthau; and seducing the glamorous freshman congresswoman Clare Boothe Luce.
Dahl would soon be caught up in a complex web of deception masterminded by William Stephenson, aka Intrepid, Churchill's legendary spy chief, who, with President Roosevelt's tacit permission, mounted a secret campaign of propaganda and political subversion to weaken American isolationist forces, bring the country into the war against Germany, and influence U.S. policy in favor of England. Known as the British Security Coordination (BSC) -- though the initiated preferred to think of themselves as the Baker Street Irregulars in honor of the amateurs who aided Sherlock Holmes -- these audacious agents planted British propaganda in American newspapers and radio programs, covertly influenced leading journalists -- including Drew Pearson, Walter Winchell, and Walter Lippmann -- harassed prominent isolationists and anti-New Dealers, and plotted against American corporations that did business with the Third Reich.
In an account better than spy fiction, Jennet Conant shows Dahl progressing from reluctant diplomat to sly man-about-town, parlaying his morale-boosting wartime propagandawork into a successful career as an author, which leads to his entrée into the Roosevelt White House and Hyde Park and initiation into British intelligence's elite dirty tricks squad, all in less than three years. He and his colorful coconspirators -- David Ogilvy, Ian Fleming, and Ivar Bryce, recruited more for their imagination and dramatic flair than any experience in the spy business -- gossiped, bugged, and often hilariously bungled their way across Washington, doing their best to carry out their cloak-and-dagger assignments, support the fledgling American intelligence agency (the OSS), and see that Roosevelt was elected to an unprecedented fourth term.
It is an extraordinary tale of deceit, double-dealing, and moral ambiguity -- all in the name of victory. Richly detailed and meticulously researched, Conant's compelling narrative draws on never-before-seen wartime letters, diaries, and interviews and provides a rare, and remarkably candid, insider's view of the counterintelligence game during the tumultuous days of World War II.
The Washington Post - Jonathan Yardley
…if the part of the story Conant tells is comparatively minor, it is interesting all the same—especially for its high Washington gossip quotient—and Conant tells it well.…Over the span of a 74-year life, Dahl's World War II service was merely an extended episode, but Jennet Conant has made an entertaining and instructive story out of it.
Publishers Weekly
This carefully researched chronicle of Dahl's WWII espionage ought to be more interesting than it is-the word "spy ring" suggests thrilling acts of derring-do, yet they never come. While occasionally intriguing, this is too frequently a dry collection of old gossip with too many tangents discussing minor characters, their real estate and their clothing. Simon Prebble reads creditably and distinctively, and his English accent is perfect for the subject. But even he can't hold one's attention in this excessively digressive, slowly paced academic work. It's a pity, because this is a comprehensive look at a topic that most people probably know little about: England's efforts to counter American isolationism. A Simon & Schuster hardcover (Reviews, June 9). (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Elizabeth Morris - Library Journal
The tale reads like a classic spy novel. The setting? Washington, DC, in the early 1940s. The protagonist? A dashing RAF pilot, steeped in the city's social circles. He listens closely to government gossip while planting a few rumors of his own, then reports his findings to his mysterious chief. Instead of a spy novel (although Ian Fleming is featured), this is the true story of the young Roald Dahl's adventures working for the fledgling British secret service in its efforts to bolster pro-British support in America. As one of famous spymaster William ("Intrepid") Stephenson's trusted young agents, Dahl's covert responsibilities were basically to be himself: charm dinner party guests, romance socialites, and be seen and heard by power brokers while picking up information along the way. Conant (109 East Palace: Robert Oppenheimer and the Secret City of Los Alamos) pieces together some of Dahl's political assignments, documenting the smaller cogs in the intelligence machine while including close-ups of many of the era's elite, such as Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, Lyndon Johnson, Noel Coward, and Ernest Hemingway. With this excellent history of personalities and politics during World War II, Conant adds successfully to her previous books that have made vivid the war's background players. Highly recommended.
Kirkus Reviews
The noted children's author was once one of several British agents conducting espionage in the United States. Advertising-titan-to-be David Ogilvy and future James Bond creator Ian Fleming were also members of the group assigned to infiltrate top levels of Washington and New York society to gain information that would help their government push the United States to enter World War II. But Conant (Tuxedo Park, 2002, etc.) focuses on Roald Dahl, who became a spy after a grievous injury ended his career as an RAF pilot. In her enjoyable popular history, she keeps the narrative moving at a brisk pace, including adequate doses of serious information and juicy gossip. She occasionally goes off on tangents and spends too long on some profiles, but she ably captures the complexity and paradox of the era as she depicts the spies' active professional and social lives, which included sexual affairs as well as diplomatic briefings. Dahl's roguish charm and dashing looks helped him become a trafficker of intelligence to British officials and a key provider of leaks to American journalists. Few suspected his secret life. "With his reckless sense of humor and general air of insubordination," the author writes, "Dahl may have been mentioned to someone on high as having the makings of an ideal informant, if for no other reason than no one so badly behaved would ever be suspected of working for British intelligence." While Conant admires the literary skills that Dahl eventually acquired, she abhors his willingness to use and discard people as they became more and less useful to him. Entertaining social history that also reveals a little-known aspect of an important literary figure's life. Agent: KrisDahl/ICM
Table of Contents:
1 The Usual Drill 1
2 Piece of Cake 35
3 Enthusiastic Amateurs 65
4 Special Relationships 99
5 Buffers 127
6 One Long Loaf 145
7 The War in Washington 179
8 Dirty Work 209
9 Good Value 237
10 Enemy Maneuvers 259
11 The Glamour Set 293
12 Full Lives 321
Notes 349
Bibliography 370
Index 381
Interesting textbook: Advanced Electronic Communications Systems or The Real Drug Abusers
The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and Its Geostrategic Imperatives
Author: Zbigniew K Brzezinski
As the twentieth century draws to a close, the United States has emerged as the world’s only superpower: no other nation possesses comparable military and economic power or has interests that bestride the globe. Yet the critical question facing America remains unanswered: What should be the nation’s global strategy for maintaining its exceptional position in the world? Zbigniew Brzezinski tackles this question head-on in this incisive and pathbreaking book.The Grand Chessboard presents Brzezinski’s bold and provocative geostrategic vision for American preeminence in the twenty-first century. Central to his analysis is the exercise of power on the Eurasian landmass, which is home to the greatest part of the globe’s population, natural resources, and economic activity. Stretching from Portugal to the Bering Strait, from Lapland to Malaysia, Eurasia is the ”grand chessboard” on which America’s supremacy will be ratified and challenged in the years to come. The task facing the United States, he argues, is to manage the conflicts and relationships in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East so that no rival superpower arises to threaten our interests or our well-being.The heart of The Grand Chessboard is Brzezinski’s analysis of the four critical regions of Eurasia and of the stakes for America in each arena—Europe, Russia, Central Asia, and East Asia. The crucial fault lines may seem familiar, but the implosion of the Soviet Union has created new rivalries and new relationships, and Brzezinski maps out the strategic ramifications of the new geopolitical realities. He explains, for example: Why France and Germany willplay pivotal geostrategic roles, whereas Britain and Japan will not. Why NATO expansion offers Russia the chance to undo the mistakes of the past, and why Russia cannot afford to toss this opportunity aside. Why the fate of Ukraine and Azerbaijan are so important to America. Why viewing China as a menace is likely to become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Why America is not only the first truly global superpower but also the last—and what the implications are for America’s legacy. Brzezinski’s surprising and original conclusions often turn conventional wisdom on its head as he lays the groundwork for a new and compelling vision of America’s vital interests. Once, again, Zbigniew Brzezinski provides our nation with a philosophical and practical guide for maintaining and managing our hard-won global power.
Publishers Weekly
Not everyone will agree that the U.S. must "perpetuate [its] own dominant position for at least a generation and preferably longer," but former National Security Adviser Brzezinski offers a meticulously detailed argument for how and why we should. He begins with a quick review of every empire in history and how they compare with America, which he concludes is the first truly global power. He then argues that "Eurasia is... the chessboard on which the struggle for global primacy continues to be played," and moves on to equally brief but comprehensive accounts of political developments there, ranging over entire histories and concluding with how America can best balance power in the region. While it seems overly ambitious to attempt to cover this much ground in a short work, Brzezinski succeeds. He is less convincing, however, when he strays from geopolitics and claims that America is internally threatened by being "fixated on mass entertainment... heavily dominated by hedonistic and socially escapist themes." Those who are uncomfortable with his initial premise will be relieved by his conclusion: America's ultimate destiny is to give up its primacy in exchange for "an enduring framework of global geopolitical cooperation." (Oct.)
Booknews
Presents Brzezinski's (former National Security Adviser to the President) views on geopolitical strategies to maintain the global power of the U.S. Focusing on four regions of the Eurasian continent (Western Europe, Russia, and Central and Eastern Asia) as the chessboard upon which America's supremacy will be tested, he argues that U.S. foreign policy (with a view towards the establishment of an expanded NATO and a Trans-Eurasian Security System) should rely on maneuver and manipulation to prevent the emergence of a hostile state or coalition of states that could seek to challenge the U.S.'s global stewardship. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.
Kirkus Reviews
The former national security advisor is still a believer in geopolitics after all these years. Like most foreign-policy aficionados weaned on the Cold War, Brzezinski (Out of Control, 1993) has been forced by the disintegration of the Soviet Union to broaden his perspective—but not very far. He sees the US as the only global superpower, but inability to maintain its hegemony indefinitely means that "geostrategic skill" is essential. To what end is not specified beyond the vague shaping of "a truly cooperative global community" that is in "the fundamental interests of humankind," but in this genre, goals are commonly assumed rather than examined. In any case, Brzezinski casts Eurasia as the playing field upon which the world's fate is determined and analyzes the possibilities in Europe, the former Soviet Union, the Balkans (interpreted broadly), and the Far East. Like a grandmaster in chess, he plots his strategy several moves in advance, envisioning a three-stage development. Geopolitical pluralism must first be promoted to defuse challenges to America, then compatible international partners must be developed to encourage cooperation under American leadership, and finally the actual sharing of international political responsibility can be considered. The twin poles of this strategy are a united Europe in the West and China in the East; the central regions are more problematic and, for Brzezinski, not as critical in constructing a stable balance of power. This updated version of East-West geopolitics is worth taking seriously but it is also an amazing example of how a perspective can be revised without actually being rethought.
What People Are Saying
Samuel P. Huntington
"The Grand Chessboard is the book we have been waiting for: a clear-eyed, tough-minded, definitive exposition of America's strategic interests in the post-Cold War world. A masterful synthesis of historical, geographical, and political analysis, it is geostrategic thinking in the grand tradition of Bismarck."
Flora Lewis
"The Grand Chessboard is, at last, a lucid, brilliantly presented exposition of the necessary new framework for American foreign policy, tying together the objectives for the short, medium and long term which the country should now begin to implement. This fills a vital need."
Paul Wolfowitz
"Zbigniew Brzezinski has established himself as one of the most penetrating analysts of international affairs and as one of the leading practitioners of the art of strategy. Here he combines both strengths to produce a provocative analysis of the shape of the world after the Cold War and of America's role in it. A `must read,' and a good one, too."
Nathan Gardels
"In this incisive book--itself one of the most important documents to emerge in the wake of the Cold War's end--Zbigniew Brzezinski displays his legendary scope and intellectual acuity in giving purpose to American power. In this time of drift, Brzezinski remains America's paramount strategic mind."
Lt. Gen. William E. Odom
"The Grand Chessboard will shock the timid, infuriate the unimaginative, and inspire the thoughtful reader. For those who believe America should lead but are unsure how, it offers a pragmatic and compelling vision. For those in charge of U.S. policy making, it is a required manual."
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