The Princess Spy

by Larry Loftis

  Aline… Are you serious… As Ratibor’s husband… Every day… My dearest: Romanones, Spy Wore Red, 284–86. In her dialogue, Aline replaces Edmundo’s real code name, PELOTA, with TOP HAT, and Gregory Thomas’s real code name, ARGUS, with MOZART.

  Chapter 17: Butch

  Edmundo went to a society ball… Gloria: See Edmundo’s correspondence to Emilie Lassalle from the Palace Hotel on February 4, 1945. Huddleston, Edmundo, 74.

  February 5… Evarista Murtra: BUTCH memorandum to QUERES, February 5, 1945, located at RG 226, Entry 127, Box 22, NARA.

  Edmundo… illegal financial transactions: See routing sheet of Thomas’s cable to Washington (Madrid P.L. 286), April 27, 1945, at RG 226, Entry 127, Box 17, NARA.

  German embassy… 50 to 100 million in francs: QUERES (James MacMillan) memo to ARGUS (Gregory Thomas) and 1006 (a staff assistant; assistants carrying four-digit code numbers), May 1, 1945, citing Washington’s April 16, 1945, Safehaven cable. RG 226, Entry 127, Box 17, NARA.

  there is a reported flow: ARGUS (Gregory Thomas) memo to 983 (Larry Mellon) and QUERES (James MacMillan), April 17, 1945, via Pouch Letter 160, at RG 226, Entry 127, Box 17, NARA.

  May 12… six reports: These reports are all located in the BUTCH files at RG 226, Entry 127, Box 22, NARA. The Dollar-Peseta Exchange, Liesau, and Oficina Tecnica reports were prepared for MacMillan, while the Marta Film, Podevils, and Reuss reports were prepared for Mellon.

  Spain’s official exchange rate: BUTCH memorandum (Dollar-Peseta Exchange) to QUERES, May 12, 1945. Ibid.

  In May 1943… Dr. Liesau… has been a dangerous: BUTCH memorandum (Spanish Decree Ordering Freezing of Assets) to QUERES, May 12, 1945, located at RG 226, Entry 127, Box 22, NARA.

  sister memo to MacMillan: BUTCH memorandum (Oficina Technica Francisco Liesau) to QUERES, May 12, 1945, located at RG 226, Entry 127, Box 22, NARA.

  Larry Mellon… Marta Film… Guillermo Linhoff… Hans Schieb: BUTCH memorandum (Marta Film [Safehaven]) to LEGION, May 12, 1945, located at RG 226, Entry 127, Box 22, NARA.

  Countess Hexe Podevils… full-fledged Gestapo: BUTCH memorandum (Countess Hexe Podevils) to LEGION, May 12, 1945, located at RG 226, Entry 127, Box 22, NARA.

  Walt Disney Productions… Roy Disney… Pierre de Beneducci: BUTCH memorandum (Pierre de Beneducci) to LEGION, May 12, 1945, located at RG 226, Entry 127, Box 22, NARA.

  We want you to investigate: Ibid.

  State Department… Gloria von Fürstenberg… Subject is not actually… Ahmed Fakhry: “Report on Condesa Gloria Rubio de Furstenberg,” May 2, 1945, Foreign Service of the United States of America, American Embassy, located at RG 226, Entry 127, Box 22, NARA.

  Ambassador Carlton Hayes… animosity toward the OSS: Hayes, Wartime Mission in Spain, 20 (regarding his arrival date on May 16, 1942), 77–78 (regarding his attitude about the OSS).

  OSS chief historian Kermit Roosevelt… Members of the Madrid: Kermit Roosevelt, Overseas Targets, 33.

  anathema to effective diplomacy: Ibid. “The Ambassador considered espionage against a ‘friendly’ country to be ‘un-American,’ ” wrote OSS historian Kermit Roosevelt, adding: “He stated that OSS activities were jeopardizing his efforts to maintain close bonds between Spain and the United States.”

  I have become: Huddleston, Edmundo, 80.

  he was already married… Emilie Dew Sandsten… Pepita: Ibid., 3, 5.

  At the time of Germany’s… 3,000 agents: Kermit Roosevelt, Overseas Targets, 35.

  May 19… Barcelona… Mariano Calvino: BUTCH memorandum (Mariano Calvino) to BC-005, May 19, 1945, located at RG 226, Entry 127, Box 22, NARA.

  Chapter 18: Pay Dirt

  Heinrich Mueller… Herbert von Bibra: BUTCH memo to KATHY (Margaret J. Kasley), June 12, 1945, located at RG 226, Entry 127, Box 22, NARA. Aline’s informant was Countess Renata del Monti.

  SS man… the SD’s representative in Spain: Ladislas Farago, The Game of Foxes, 711.

  von Hohenlohe’s… wedding… Larry Mellon asked her: BUTCH memo to QUERES (James MacMillan), June 19, 1945, located at RG 226, Entry 127, Box 22, NARA.

  Bienvenida bullfighters… Liechtenstein… Hayes… Franco… Hitler: Ibid.

  Chipén… Max be followed… FLAMENCO: BUTCH memo to KATHY (Margaet J. Kasley), June 15, 1945, located at RG 226, Entry 127, Box 22, NARA.

  Juanito… finca in Andalucia… HISMA: BUTCH memo to QUERES, June 25, 1945, located at RG 226, Entry 127, Box 22, NARA.

  COLUMN: BUTCH memo to KATHY (Margaet J. Kasley), June 26, 1945, located at RG 226, Entry 127, Box 22, NARA.

  Calle Conde de Aranda… I was looking for you: Romanones, Spy Went Dancing, 79–80.

  I didn’t find… His touch: Ibid., 81–82.

  Rastro… I’m afraid a dealer: Ibid., 86.

  FRANCISCO: BUTCH memo to 983 (Larry Mellon), July 2, 1945, located at RG 226, Entry 127, Box 22, NARA.

  Beistegui: BUTCH memo to QUERES (James MacMillan), July 3, 1945, located at RG 226, Entry 127, Box 22, NARA.

  memo on the Hohenlohe family: BUTCH memo to LEGION (Larry Mellon) regarding August Hohenlohe, July 5, 1945, located at RG 226, Entry 127, Box 22, NARA.

  Manuel Ávila Camacho… plane to bring them to Mexico: BUTCH memo to QUERES (James MacMillan), July 6, 1945, located at RG 226, Entry 127, Box 22, NARA.

  July 9… Monsieur Brois: BUTCH memo to QUERES (James MacMillan), July 9, 1945, located at RG 226, Entry 127, Box 22, NARA.

  If you don’t keep: Romanones, Spy Went Dancing, 90.

  Villa Rosa… pasadoble: Ibid., 93–94.

  I think it’s better… Casilda’s my best: Ibid., 95.

  There are rumors… Our jobs: Ibid., 97.

  Chapter 19: Intelligence Goes to Ground

  Las Ventas… Ritz… El Coto… Bar Basque: Romanones, Spy Went Dancing, 110. Aline places the date here in September, but as explained two notes below, the month was August.

  I still thought: Ibid.

  ARGUS wants to see… I have disagreeable… Sorry: Ibid., 110–11. Aline uses her alias for Thomas’s code name, calling him MOZART. She also places the date of this meeting in September, which is a month off. Numerous records in Aline’s OSS personnel file show that the Madrid office was closed on August 15, 1945, and that this date was her last official day of employment with the agency. RG 226, Entry A1 224, OSS Personnel Files 1941–1945, Box 294, NARA.

  Dunev… Allied Mission in Spain: Dunev, Spy Reminisces, 63.

  supervised the closing of the German embassy: Memorandum from WILLIAMS (Dunev) to LEGION (Larry Mellon), May 9, 1945, located at RG 226, Entry 127, Box 19, NARA.

  Foreign Economic Administration… Aline being accepted on August 8: Multiple memoranda in Aline’s personnel file record this anticipated transfer, which never panned out. See, e.g., July 24, 1945, file notation: “FEA Madrid wants to hire BUTCH. Embassy approves. Suggest she be employed on ‘reimbursable detail’ ”; memo from QUERES to George, August 8, 1945, sent via diplomatic pouch to Washington (“she is being employed by the F.E.A…. as of September 1st, on reimbursable detail”). RG 226, Entry A1 224, OSS Personnel Files 1941–1945, Box 294, NARA.

  Dunev was accepted into X-2 on August 9: See memo from E. W. Andrews to Special Funds, August 9, 1945, requesting the transfer, and memo from B. Homer Hall to Special Funds, July 25, 1946, acknowledging it (“On August 16, 1945, he was transferred from S.I. to X-2. This transfer was approved by Washington in a cable to Madrid dated late July 1945”). RG 226, Entry 224, Box 204, NARA. In his memoir, A Spy Reminisces (p. 63), Dunev recalled being transferred to an interim agency, the Strategic Services Unit (bridging the OSS to the CIA), but his first stop, as of August 16, 1945, was with X-2.

  FEA decided at the end of August: See the handwritten memorandum to Aline’s personnel file by Miss Wise, August 29, 1945 (“someone advised FEA that we would not release Miss Griffith on reimbursable basis”). RG 226, Entry A1 224, OSS Personnel Files 1941–1945, Box 294, NARA.

  September… Friday… Señorita… I can’t believe…
Are you pleased: Romanones, Spy Went Dancing, 113–14.

  OSS is being disbanded… You’re one of the lucky ones: Ibid., 115. In all of her accounts about this transition with Frank Ryan, Aline asserts that she was the only one from the Madrid office who had been selected to carry on with espionage. This was untrue; Robert Dunev was the only Madrid staffer selected to carry on with intelligence (see Dunev accepted into X-2, above). While the Donovan-Stephenson-Ryan entity might have conducted espionage through British American Canadian Corporation (or its successor, World Commerce Corporation), there’s no evidence in the record that it did, and Aline provides no verifiable incident where she personally did so. Dunev, on the other hand, continued with X-2, and was then transferred to the SSU, and then the CIA, which sent him to the Philippines. Dunev, Spy Reminisces, 70.

  And you must convince: Romanones, Spy Went Dancing, 115–16. Aline’s recollection of whom she was to persuade is confused. In The Spy Went Dancing (p. 115) that person was “Culbertson, who is acting ambassador.” In “The OSS in Spain” (p. 126), however, she writes that the person is “Walter Butterworth, the Acting Ambassador.” Paul T. Culbertson was indeed the chargé d’affairs and acting ambassador in Madrid, but not until June 1947. With Butterworth, Aline botches the name slightly; William Walton Butterworth was the US embassy counselor in Madrid in 1945, but he was never the acting ambassador. Given that the month in question is September 1945, the person she would have met with was Ambassador Norman Amour, who was in office from December 15, 1944, to December 1, 1945.

  36 Wall Street: See Frank Ryan’s personal stationery with this address in his letter of May 26, 1947, to Colonel Knox Pruden. Ryan also gives this address for Bache & Co. in his correspondence to Colonel Pruden on May 20, 1947. Both letters are in Aline’s personnel file located at RG 226, Entry A1 224, OSS Personnel Files 1941–1945, Box 294, NARA.

  John J. Ryan & Sons… Frank’s brother: Continuing with her cover name for Ryan—John Derby—Aline cites the company name as John J. Derby & Sons in The Spy Went Dancing (p. 116). In “The OSS in Spain” (p. 126), however, she gives the correct name. John J. Ryan, Jr. was the eldest of the four Ryan brothers. See the obituary for Frank’s brother, Joseph, in the New York Times, October 26, 1950.

  That very month… international trade company: “World Trade Body Ready to Function,” New York Times, September 24, 1947. While author Anthony Cave Brown provides an organization date of May 1945 in his excellent work, Wild Bill Donovan: The Last Hero, 795, the Times article listed a commencement date of September 1945 (“World Commerce Corporation was originally formed in September, 1945, as the British American Canadian Corporation”).

  formed in Panama: Brown, Wild Bill Donovan, 795.

  British American Canadian Corporation: “World Trade Body Ready to Function,” New York Times, September 24, 1947. As the Times article notes, the company name was subsequently changed to World Commerce Corporation. Aline cites it as “World Commerce, Inc.” in The Spy Wore Silk (p. 65) and “The OSS in Spain” (p. 127); as “World Commerce” in The End of an Epoch (p. 45); but disguises it as “Worldwide Trade, Inc.” in The Spy Went Dancing (p. 122).

  who’s who of espionage… Donovan… Stephenson… Hambro: “World Trade Body Ready to Function,” New York Times, September 24, 1947, 35; Brown, Wild Bill Donovan, 796.

  none had any experience in international trade: While Ryan’s father had founded the textile export company John J. Ryan & Sons, Ryan was not active in it. He appears to have been a general partner in Bache & Company, the legendary investment banking firm, before the war and until he joined the OSS in August 1942. After the war Ryan was a general partner at Bache until May 1948, when he changed his status to limited (inactive, nonmanagerial) partner. He also joined his family’s firm as a vice president after the war, apparently so that he could use it as his cover business while working with Donovan and Stephenson to establish the BACC. For Ryan’s dual role as general partner with Bache and vice president with John J. Ryan & Sons, see “Flies to Europe Today for Business Survey,” New York Times, November 6, 1945. For his change of status with Bache, see “Changes in Bache & Co. Include a New Partner,” New York Times, May 17, 1948.

  president—Frank T. Ryan: “World Trade Body Ready to Function,” New York Times, September 24, 1947; Thomas E. Mullaney, “Anglo-U.S. Group Called ‘Little ECA’: World Commerce Corporation Supplies Raw Materials to Non-Satellite Nations,” New York Times, January 2, 1949; “Brokerage Firm Acquired,” New York Times, December 12, 1949. Anthony Cave Brown suggests that John Pepper had originally been slated to be the company’s president (Wild Bill Donovan, 796), but cites no authority for the notion. Indeed, it was Ryan who traveled to Europe on November 6, 1945, to “survey” possibilities for international trade (“Flies to Europe Today to Survey Business,” New York Times, November 6, 1945).

  Chapter 20: Paris

  office… No. 11 Calle Marqués de Riscal… Barcelona… manufacturers: Romanones, Spy Went Dancing, 117; “The OSS in Spain,” 126.

  Robert Dunev… married on September 12… Barnaby Conrad: Dunev, Spy Reminisces, 61–63.

  rumors of Gestapo agents… Hans Lazar: Romanones, Spy Went Dancing, 117.

  Edmundo… Walt Disney Company: Huddleston, Edmundo, 82–83. On October 28, 1945, Edmundo wrote to his wife, Emilie (who was in Washington), while he was in New York: “I am just waiting around for developments… Roy Disney has written to the State Department for my passport.” Two days later, he sent an update: “Roy Disney wants me to go with him to Washington next week. I suggest we have him for dinner…. He is very sweet and unassuming. You will like him.” Ibid.

  She has a special aptitude: Correspondence from James MacMillan to Whitney Shepardson, November 5, 1945, located at RG 226, Entry A1 224, OSS Personnel Files 1941–1945, Box 294, NARA.

  following day Ryan boarded the Clipper: “Flies to Europe Today to Survey Business,” New York Times, November 6, 1945.

  Jockey… La Reboite… When we danced: Romanones, Spy Went Dancing, 118.

  Puerta de Hierro… twenty-five holes… swimming pool… bar: Walter Smith, Glimpses of Spain, 94.

  You seem lost… Pulpito: Romanones, Spy Went Dancing, 119.

  CLOSE MADRID… When can I see you… I have no idea: Ibid., 120–21.

  Emilie Lassalle… Washington… second week of November… divorcing: Huddleston, Edmundo, 83–84. See also Edmundo’s letter to his wife on December 7, 1945. Ibid., 84.

  November 21 Frank Ryan… Estoril Palacio: Pacheco, ed., Hotel Palácio, 350–51.

  San Régis: Romanones, Spy Went Dancing, 123; End of an Epoch, 47. Note that Aline confuses the spelling of the hotel name with a nearby café, calling it the “Hotel St. Regis.”

  Hôtel Plaza Athénée: Romanones, Spy Went Dancing, 120; End of an Epoch, 47.

  boss… John B. “Jack” Okie… Lisbon… thirty: Romanones, “The OSS in Spain,” 127; End of an Epoch, 44. In both accounts Aline refers to him as “Jack,” but his actual name was John B. Okie. See Okie’s entry in the OSS personnel directory at RG 126, Entry 224, Box 571, Stack 230, Row 86, Compartment 37, Shelf 07, NARA.

  Czechoslovakia, Switzerland, Sweden… Germany: Romanones, End of an Epoch, 45; “The OSS in Spain,” 127.

  Balenciaga… Vogue magazine: Romanones, End of an Epoch, 46–47.

  Ryan… information he wanted: Ibid., 45–46.

  I’ve been reading… What were you doing: Ibid., 47.

  Aline returned to New York: It is unclear on which date Aline returned to the US. In her OSS file, handwritten notes from Douglas Hartshorne (handing Aline’s OSS transportation expense reimbursement) indicate in one place that she arrived on January 12, 1946, and in another place that she arrived on February 9. Correspondence from W. A. Martinez to Hartshorne on May 5, 1947, located at RG 226, Entry A1 224, OSS Personnel Files 1941–1945, Box 294, NARA. See also Aline’s correspondence of February 22, 1946—written from her New York home—to Mr. Rehm; her correspondence to R. C. Read on March 29,
1946—also written from New York—indicating that she was now returning to Madrid; and her correspondence to George White on June 3, 1946, stating that she had been in the US in February and March. Ibid. It is also unclear, what, if anything, Aline did during this six weeks or so in New York. Aline’s various writings skip from the period after she is hired by Frank Ryan and leaves for Paris, November 1945, to April 1946 when she is again back in Paris. In her OSS file, there is a peculiar “memo to the file” dated June 13, 1946, and signed by W. Wyllys Andrews, a former OSS Washington staffer. The memo is from “Iberian Desk, SI,” to “Files,” and the subject is “Marie Aline Griffith.” But in June 1946 there was no Iberian Desk, and there was no OSS. The Iberian Desk had been closed some ten months earlier, and the OSS followed with its own dissolution shortly thereafter.

  In his memo to the file (which specifically noted that no copies were made; it went to no one), Andrews writes about Aline: “Upon her return to this country, and apparently at her own behest, large pictures appeared on the front pages of at least a dozen prominent U.S. newspapers under such captions as ‘Modern Mata Hari returns from Spain.’ These also stated that subject had ‘worked as a spy for the Office of Strategic Services in Spain under the U.S. State Department throughout the war.’… Subject must under no circumstances ever be considered for undercover or clandestine employment by this organization.”

  It is possible that Aline could have given such interviews during this six-month stay in the US, but it would have been an egregious violation of OSS’s confidentiality commitment. What is curious is that this memo comes just seven months after James MacMillan’s recommendation of Aline for further espionage work. In addition, Andrews provides no copies of said newspaper articles, nor does he provide the identity of a single paper where such stories supposedly ran—not even the Mata Hari story he identified. Without such, his entry is hearsay. Additionally, no such story was ever published in the New York Times.