Chef Julia Child, others part of WWII spy network

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Famed chef Julia Child shared a secret with Supreme Court Justice Arthur Goldberg and Chicago White Sox catcher Moe Berg at a time when the Nazis threatened the world.

While Julia Child was cooking pheasants, she was also part of an international spy ring during World War II. They served in an international spy ring managed by the Office of Strategic Services, an early version of the CIA created in World War II by President Franklin Roosevelt.

The full secret comes out Thursday, all of the names and previously classified files identifying nearly 24,000 spies who formed the first centralized intelligence effort by the United States. The National Archives, which this week released a list of the names found in the records, will make available for the first time all 750,000 pages identifying the vast spy network of military and civilian operatives.

They were soldiers, actors, historians, lawyers, athletes, professors, reporters. But for several years during World War II, they were known simply as the OSS. They studied military plans, created propaganda, infiltrated enemy ranks and stirred resistance among foreign troops.

Some of those on the list have been identified previously as having worked for the OSS, but their personnel records never have been available before. Those records would show why they were hired, jobs they were assigned to and perhaps even missions they pursued while working for the agency.

Among the more than 35,000 OSS personnel files are applications, commendations and handwritten notes identifying young recruits who, like Child, Goldberg and Berg, earned greater acclaim in other fields -- Arthur Schlesinger Jr., a historian and special assistant to President Kennedy; Sterling Hayden, a film and television actor whose work included a role in "The Godfather"; and Thomas Braden, an author whose "Eight Is Enough" book inspired the 1970s television series.

Other notables identified in the files include John Hemingway, son of author Ernest Hemingway; Quentin and Kermit Roosevelt, sons of President Theodore Roosevelt, and Miles Copeland, father of Stewart Copeland, drummer for the band The Police.

The release of the OSS personnel files uncloaks one of the last secrets from the short-lived wartime intelligence agency, which for the most part later was folded into the CIA after President Truman disbanded it in 1945.
"I think it's terrific," said Elizabeth McIntosh, 93, a former OSS agent now living in Woodbridge, Va. "They've finally, after all these years, they've gotten the names out. All of these people had been told never to mention they were with the OSS."

The CIA had resisted releasing OSS records for decades. But former CIA Director William Casey, himself an OSS veteran, cleared the way for transfer of millions of OSS documents to the National Archives when he took over the agency in 1981. The personnel files are the latest to be made public.

Information about OSS involvement was so guarded that relatives often couldn't confirm a family member's work with the group.

Walter Mess, who handled covert OSS operations in Poland and North Africa, said he kept quiet for more than 50 years, only recently telling his wife of 62 years about his OSS activity.

"I was told to keep my mouth shut," said Mess, now 93 and living in Falls Church, Va.

The files will offer new information even for those most familiar with the agency. Charles Pinck, president of the OSS Society created by former OSS agents and their relatives, said the nearly 24,000 employees included in the archives far exceeds previous estimates of 13,000.

The newly released documents will clarify these and other issues, said William Cunliffe, an archivist who has worked extensively with the OSS records at the National Archives.

"We're saying the OSS was a lot bigger than they were saying," Cunliffe said.

Chef Julia Child, others part of WWII spy network - CNN.com

 

Does anyone know if anything similar was done with British WWII Secret Service files? My parents vehemence, particularly my mother's that she swore lifetime secrecy oaths keep me wondering. Recently, when I had my last chance to ask her sister - she knew little, and when I asked she said telephone operator... but oh, a telephone operator in WWII could cover so many possibilites!!

Thanks, Ike.

 

That is quite true as per the British secret services, but not all inclusive. Some files and records will be sealed until 2046 (100 years), but they can be de-classified by the government in Britain if they are seen as no longer a "threat" or an embarassment to said government. At least as a non-Brit that is how I have interpreted the few articles I have read on the subject.

Some of America's "secrets" are also still under the seal of classification, much to the consternation of conspiracy threoritst. On the one hand they are sure there is a conspiracy because they cannot access the files, and on the other hand even if they gain access to the files they will generally claim that the "whole story" is still not revealed. But, that is how they sell books and stuff too.

The American CIGABA (SIGABA?) coding and decoding machine from WW2 wasn't declassified until the 1990s, even though the machine itself had been out of service since the 60s! Many of those who participated in the "secret" areas of the war, were not only sworn to secrecy, they took it seriously. It is not outside the realm of possibility that their children may be deceased before their secrets are opened up.

My Dad's sister, his only sibling, worked for the Navy Intel branch and all Mildred woud ever say was that she was a "clerk". She passed away at age ninty-six, and took any secret she had to the grave with her. I was always just a bit suspicious of her story since directly after the war she became a "punch card" programer for AT&T and retired at a very early age with two pensions, one from the USN, and one from AT&T. She and her husband then became what can only be called "gentleman farmers" since to my knowledge their land holdings were far too small to justify their life-style. One home in the city of Havre, one home on their ranch, and a "winter home" in Phoneix AZ. Two new cars every other year, and with no children they had set up a college fund for myself and my brothers and sister. Hmmmm, never did figure out what she did eventhough her husband had been a Combat Engineer, and was at Remagen at the end of the war. His combat injury was a mine, and was most likely the reason I had no cousins on that side of the family.

 

I've had a hard time taking her seriously since Dan Akroyd did that fall down funny send up of her on SNL.

In all seriousness, it says volumes about her that she never spoke of her OSS past. She could've sold books and maybe a movie deal-insead she just stuck to her cooking show and culinary talents.