#177 – Director of Centralized Snooping

#177 – Director of Centralized Snooping

Part 2 of our series on the creation of the CIA. After Truman’s decision to shut down the OSS, Wild Bill Donovan’s deputy, Brigadier General John Magruder, met secretly with John McCloy, the assistant secretary of war, taking advantage of the fact that Henry...
#176 – The CIA (part 1)

#176 – The CIA (part 1)

According to Truman, he never intended for the CIA to be a “Cloak & Dagger Outfit”. It was intended to be a centralized reporting agency, not to act as a spy organization. Today we start a series about how the CIA rose from the ashes of Wild Bill Donovan’s...
#126 – The Berlin Airlift

#126 – The Berlin Airlift

As part of their plan to re-build Germany, the USA secretly released a new currency, the Deutsche Mark, printed in New York, to replace the old Reichsmark. Frustrated at how the US, UK and France were re-building their zones of Germany without first reaching an...
#125 – The Berlin Blockade

#125 – The Berlin Blockade

The fault of the Berlin Blockade is often laid at the feet of Stalin. But the truth is a little more complicated. By 1948, the situation in Germany was still messy. The Four Powers (USA, USSR, UK, France) in control of Germany couldn’t agree on a path forwards....
#121 – Truman’s Hysteria

#121 – Truman’s Hysteria

In 1950 Harry Truman complained about a “great wave of hysteria” sweeping the nation – the Red Scare. He should know. He was really largely responsible for creating it. Between the launching of his “loyalty program” in March 1947 and it’s...