Donovan
Page 70
Page 72, lines 11–14: Duffy.
Page 72, lines 21–24: Freidel, Over There, 129.
Page 72, lines 29–39: Greene.
Page 73, line 6: Harbord, 246.
Page 73, line 25: Kilmer.
Page 74, line 44: “In what other regiment would a commander have dared to publish a soldier’s poems at retreat?” asked Col. Frank McCoy, one of Donovan’s fellow officers. Reilly, 209.
Chapter 7. Taking Hell with Bayonets
Page 76, lines 23–30: Flick.
Page 78, line 19: Colonel Frank R. McCoy dropped in on Donovan’s command post and wrote to Caroline Ames, “I found such interest and keen soldierly spirit that I quickly knew all the men about him.” Howe.
Page 78, lines 27–30: Anne Hard.
Page 79, lines 9–12: Berry.
Page 79, lines 32–36: Duffy.
Page 80, line 2: “Toward midnight Chalons was reached,” wrote Col. Frank McCoy after the war, “traversed, and the tail of our column passed the regulating point on the dot. The whole of a war-strength division moved through the narrow, dark streets of the ancient town, past the moonlit cathedral, without the confusion or as much jamming as usually takes place during a St. Patrick’s Day parade in New York.” Reilly, 272.
Page 80, line 32: Lenahan noted in his journal, “About 9 o’clock in the evening of July 14th, I received a telephone message in code, delivered to me personally. Translated it read, ‘Execute the order of the General Alert.’ I knew then that battle would be on by midnight.” USAMHI.
Page 80, line 40: An 18-year-old soldier wrote a letter about the fighting to the New York Sun. “It’s great sport ducking those shells. They have the cutest little whistling sounds. We don’t worry about the ones we hear whistling, because you won’t hear the one that’s going to get you.
“Fritz isn’t particular about the kind he sends over. He mixes them up for you. He gives you grenade shells, high explosives, minenwerfers, and shrapnel all at one time.
“The shrapnel has a nasty habit of taking off an arm or a leg. The minenwerfers are the best of the bunch, though. They come lobbing through the air like a stuffed pig. They dig about 10 feet in the ground before they go off and leave the nicest little hole after they go off.” Walter Bryan, July 28, 1918.
Page 81, line 4: “My brigade held what is known as ‘second position.’ Gen. Gouraud’s plan was to abandon the ‘first position’ just before the attack came; to permit the Germans to waste their strength on 1st position—when Germans had reached 1st position and felt that they had secured it, they were to be destroyed by our troops by fire action from 2nd position. The plan was successful. When the battle was over, German offensive power had ended.” Lenahan, 60, USAMHI.
Page 81, line 42: Howe. Donovan’s narrative of the fighting in the following pages is drawn from a letter he wrote to Caroline Ames, contained in this book.
Page 84, line 1: Berry, 325.
Page 84, lines 2–28: Scott.
Page 86, line 7: A corporal wrote “A courteous kindly gentleman and a true soldier” on a wooden cross made from an empty ammunition box and placed it over Ames’s grave at Meurcy Farm. Bostonians later gave the name Oliver Ames, Jr., Square to the place where Commonwealth Avenue meets Fenway Park. Howe.
Page 86, lines 16–38: Berry.
Page 88, line 18: Floyd Gibbons, having lost an eye in the fighting and wearing a sling, spoke at Carnegie Hall on September 8. He told his audience that the 69th and the Alabama Regiment had refused to fall back to safety during the fighting. “Wave after wave of picked German shock troops stormed their position, only to be sent scurrying back to their holes. Then the Germans sent low flying airplanes over their lines to rake them with machine-gun fire.
“On the fourth day, when the 69th and the Alabama continued to hold, the French general said, ‘Well, I guess there is nothing for me to do but fight the war out where the New York Irish want to fight it.” New York Sun, Sept. 9, 1918.
Chapter 8. Wild Bill Leads the Charge
Page 89, lines 29–35; Page 90, lines 1–4: Army Times, The Daring Regiments, 80.
Page 90, lines 20–26: Army Times, The Daring Regiments.
Page 99, line 10: By the third morning after Donovan’s attack began, the St. Mihiel salient no longer existed. It had been held since 1914. The Germans fell back, believing that they had been struck by two American divisions—the 42nd and the Rainbow. Ibid.
Page 99, lines 30–44: Sweeney, 291.
Page 101, line 26: The Record and Telephone Book of the 149th Field Artillery kept during the battle contains terse details of the struggle. On October 14 at 21:43, the log states, “Gould called, said Col. Donovan wanted barrage along line of German wire, was told the line in on X.286.6, which is just north of line Donovan asks for.” On October 15, “Message from Donovan. Order for attack received by him at 12:05. Company’s A&C ref. against enemy machine-gun fire, and enfilade artillery fire from left. Long range enfilade fire from both flanks.” USAMHI.
Chapter 9. The Men We Left Behind
Page 107, line 15: MacArthur was twice awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the Distinguished Service Medal, two Purple Hearts, and a number of French awards. He never quite forgave Donovan for eclipsing him in the 42nd Division’s roster of heroes. James, 239.
Page 110, lines 25–33: Donovan to Thomas M. Johnson, Jan. 5, 1942, American Legion National Headquarters Library.
Page 110, line 33: Pershing was at the time an active candidate for president of the United States, and the rumors that morale was plummeting in the AEF disturbed him. General Eric Fisher Wood stated, “There was actually a very stormy meeting in General Pershing’s office. The call for the Paris Caucus had been issued by Wood, without prior knowledge on the part of General Pershing and his staff. Pershing was furious. He considered this a transgression of his rights. Several of those meeting with the Committee of 20 were called to Pershing’s office by orders marked ‘Urgent.’ Among those present were Roosevelt, Donovan, White, and Wood. These civilian soldiers did not ‘knuckle under’ to General Pershing. Roosevelt was suave about it. Donovan was brutally frank and said words to the effect that ‘the General apparently does not realize that the war is over.’ Finally, General Pershing said he would not oppose the Paris meeting.” Wood also said that George White was “the real brains throughout the formation of the Legion. Roosevelt, Donovan, Wood, and Clark were all younger than White. Thirty years old or less. They furnished the energy. White was older, a leading statesman in Oregon, the moving spirit of the ‘Portland Oregonian,’ a respected and valued friend and adviser to Theodore Roosevelt, Sr. He was much looked up to by the others. They willingly accepted the guidance of his snaffle rein. He made the bricks they threw; and indicated what heads they were to be thrown at.” American Legion Library.
Page 110, line 39: Donovan chaired the Committee on Permanent Organization. He urged that an Executive Committee be named to go back home and organize the American Legion community by community. Then delegates could meet at another caucus that would have a broader base than the Paris Caucus. “The Paris Caucus.”
Page 111, lines 9–13: George White.
Page 111, line 25: Washington Star, March 16, 1949.
Page 112, line 17: “There were 615 gold stars on the white banner which led the regiment up the avenue, each star for a valiant comrade who ‘went West’ in the winning of the decisive fields in France.” Hogan, 270.
Page 112, line 22: Kaye, 202.
Page 112, lines 28–31: Corey Ford interview with Vincent Donovan, Dartmouth College Library.
Page 113, lines 7–24: Souvenir of “Father Duffy Day at Polo Grounds,” May 15, 1919.
Chapter 10. Siberian Adventure
Page 117, lines 1–16: Graves.
Page 118, line 10: During the decades to come, O’Brian was to combine a distinguished legal career with government service and to carry out confidential intelligence missions, much like Bill Donovan. He would be an important member
of the unofficial intelligence community made up of gentleman amateurs. Donovan was also to be part of this elite circle of men who shared their information and insights concerning world affairs and in one way or another kept their government informed.
Page 118: Donovan diary, 1917–1918. The material in the chapter attributed to Donovan is from this diary, which is in the possession of the author.
Page 118, lines 33–44: Diplomatic Section, National Archives.
Page 119, lines 3–5: Ibid.
Page 119, lines 30–37: Graves.
Page 120, line 43: Both historic maps are preserved among Ambassador Morris’s papers in the Manuscript Division, Library of Congress.
Page 121, line 29: Reuters Pacific Service also carried a Harbin report on July 15. Its correspondent identified the American general as General Greffs.
Page 122, line 25: Diplomatic Section, National Archives.
Page 122, line 32–44; Page 123, lines 1–3: Manuscript Division, Library of Congress.
Page 124, lines 41–44; Page 125, lines 1–8: Diplomatic Section, National Archives.
Page 126, lines 17–20 and 27: Manuscript Division, Library of Congress.
Page 128, line 19: Nevertheless, McDonald gave Donovan a sheaf of grim pictures of the corpses left by Semionoff’s men. Today these pictures, among the Morris papers in the Library of Congress, serve as reminders of how vicious civil war in Siberia was.
Page 129, line 13: Eichelberger’s confidential report details Japanese anti-American propaganda and harassment of American personnel. Graves turned the report over to Donovan and Morris. “Conduct of Japanese in Siberia which would indicate an unfriendly attitude towards the United States,” Sept. 22, 1919, Diplomatic Section, National Archives.
Chapter 11. Fact-Finding in Europe
Page 130, line 3: Manuscript Division, Library of Congress.
Page 133, line 8: Flick.
Page 133, lines 20–31: Interview with Buffalo Mayor James D. Griffin.
Page 133, line 33: Donovan continued to take an interest in Siberia. He wrote to Morris, “I attended a dinner the other night and send you a list of those that were most interesting in it. It was a small dinner of only 40 at which the Russian Ambassador, Mr. Root Washburn, the war correspondent, and Russel, a Socialist, spoke. They talked up until midnight, at which time I had to leave to catch a train, but the disappointing part of it was that no one offered any real basis to work upon. The thing that impressed me was that all of them were ignorant of, or else glossed over, the real inefficiency, as was evident to us, of the crowd surrounding Kolchak.”
Donovan also informed Morris that he had attended a dinner in New York in honor of Pershing. “There were only 28 people there, and when I sat down and looked them over, the crowd struck me as significant. I immediately jumped to the conclusion that there was an effort being made to launch a boom for Pershing. . . . The man behind the movement is supposed to be Charles Dawes, who is president of a bank in Chicago, and who was a brigadier general in the service of supply abroad. Pershing is now making a tour of the country, ostensibly to inspect the army posts and camps.”
Donovan remarked too about “hysteria here in regard to the Reds. Committees of citizens are assembled by government officers, and these citizens go out in automobiles to round up alleged Bolsheviks. Generally they are not furnished with warrants, but a slip of paper saying that warrants are on file in the office of the United States District Attorney, and that no opportunity should be given the suspects of talking with anyone. Some of the methods now used are very highhanded, and there is a general tendency to characterize all kinds of free speech as Bolshevism.” Manuscript Division, Library of Congress.
Page 134, line 30: Chicago Tribune, June 6, 1920.
Page 135, line 15: Ibid., June 7, 1920.
Page 135, line 35: Chicago Daily News, June 7, 1920.
Page 137, line 25: “Our First War Commissioner Dies.”
Page 141, line 28: Donovan to Ellis Loring Dressel, Sept. 16, 1920. Donovan wrote, “I was sorry not to see you before leaving. I am particularly anxious that you should know how much I appreciated your fine courtesy while I was in Berlin.
“The information which I obtained chiefly through the facilities that you placed at my disposal has been a great help in obtaining a proper view of the present situation. I am grateful not only for that, but for your kindness.
“I asked Wilson to tell you that I found your organization there not only the most courteous and helpful, but also the most efficient I have seen in any of our legations or embassies.”
Chapter 12. Racket-Busting DA
Page 142, lines 23–30: New York Times, Sept. 7, 1922.
Page 143, lines 2–8: Buffalo Courier-Express, Dec. 21, 1922.
Page 143, line 16: Ibid., Feb. 12, 1922.
Page 143, lines 19–24: Ibid., Feb. 15, 1922.
Page 143, line 26: “Wild Bill Donovan, War-Time and Peace-Time Fighter.”
Page 143, line 33: Anne Hard.
Page 144, line 20: Harvard University Library.
Page 145, lines 9–34: Mullany.
Page 145, line 43: Donovan’s agent Chung Su was shot and killed in New York’s Chinatown a short time afterward during what the newspapers portrayed as a Tong War. Donovan always believed that the killing was a gangland revenge.
Page 146, lines 21–25: Bentley to Hoover, Jan. 18, 1929, Hoover Library.
Page 147, line 18: New York Republican leaders met in Washington on September 13, and picked Donovan to be their candidate at the convention later in the month. New York Times, Sept. 13, 1922.
Page 147, lines 20–29: Ibid., Sept. 29, 1922.
Page 148, lines 1–4: Ibid., Nov. 6, 1922.
Page 148, lines 18–27: Hoover Library.
Page 149, lines 12–24: “Town Tidings.”
Page 149, line 33: Buffalo Times, Feb. 3, 1929.
Page 150, line 8: Interview with Raichle.
Page 150, line 39: Buffalo News, Jan. 19, 1923.
Page 151, lines 1–33: The military attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Berlin first suggested to Donovan that he should try to see Hitler. Conversations with Donovan and interview with Putzell.
Page 151, lines 34–39: New York Times, April 18, 1923.
Chapter 13. With the Department of Justice
Page 152, lines 21–28: Alpheus Mason, 141.
Page 154, line 23: Wheeler never looked at it that way. In his autobiography he wrote that Eleanor Patterson, then a leading Washington hostess, had “tipped me off that Colonel Donovan, then an assistant attorney general, knew Mrs. Wheeler was pregnant and scheduled the trial so as to coincide with the expected date of the birth. She said the idea was that I would probably ask for a continuance and the government could then drag the case out. But I didn’t do so.”
Mrs. Wheeler did present her husband with a baby on the very day he was acquitted. The story made the rounds of Washington, and it did Donovan very little good. Wheeler, 241.
Page 154, lines 25–30: Interview with James Murphy.
Page 154, line 35: Donovan sent Mary J. Connor, red-haired, blue-eyed, and beautiful, to break the Chicago kitchen-cabinet rackets since the cabinets in question were shipped across the state line from Indiana to Illinois. Mary Connor was a prototype of hundreds of OSS women to come, and she did her job with efficiency. Shepherd.
J. Edgar Hoover suffered in silence as Donovan dispatched his agents on racket-busting missions. On April 8, 1928, he finally complained to Donovan, “I didn’t know even where the accountants or Special Agents were, and it was only after several months that I was able to have orders issued that would at least enable me to know where these men were.” Whitehead, 332.
Page 154, lines 35–44; Page 155, lines 1–9: “Wild Bill Donovan, War-Time and Peace-Time Fighter.”
Page 155, line 9: Shepherd.
Page 155, lines 13–19: Land, 120.
Page 155, lines 19–23: “Wild Bill Donovan, War-Time and Peace-Time Fighter.”
> Page 155, line 24: A Saturday Evening Post writer poked fun at Donovan as “The Nadir of Wildness.” He inveighed against misleading nicknames, maintaining that “Wild Bill is a quiet, low-voiced good-looking young man, whose speech, garb, and demeanor are as little deserving of the epithet ‘Wild’ as were those of the impeccable John Drew in ‘The Tyranny of Tears.’” “Who’s Who—and Why.”
Page 156, line 12: In 1926 Donovan served on the campaign committee of New York Sen. James W. Wadsworth, an old friend. Wadsworth ran on a Wet platform, and this was to make many Dry leaders fear that Donovan, despite his record as a racket-busting DA in western New York, was too Wet for their support. Fausald, 192. The same year Donovan also was talked about as GOP nominee for governor of New York. It was thought that he would help “balance the ticket.” Buffalo Courier-Express, July 11, 1926.
Page 156, lines 20–21: Buffalo Times, March 24, 1925.
Page 156, line 27: Anne Hard.
Page 156, lines 24–35: Donovan in this way helped those who came to be called constructive cooperationists to avoid unnecessary legal difficulties in efficiently organizing American industrial activities to meet the challenge of the growing complexity of the economy. Hawley, 102.
Page 157, lines 1–22: Choate.
Page 157, lines 23–28: Anne Hard.
Page 157, lines 37–44; Page 158, lines 1–2: “The Aluminum Case.”
Page 158, lines 14–26: Anne Hard.
Page 158, line 35: “Town Tidings.”
Page 158, lines 38–42: Choate.
Page 159, line 6: The University of Notre Dame gave Donovan an honorary doctor of laws and literature degree on May 31, 1925. Donovan went about America making speeches before bar associations and business congresses on such subjects as cartels in Europe. Archives of the University of Notre Dame.
Page 159, line 7: On May 23, 1926, 9-year-old Patricia’s pony Raggle Tail won the blue ribbon at the National Capital Horse Show, and her father was the proudest man in town. Washington Star, May 23, 1926.