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Recruitment | ||
In 1941, Hitler and Mussolini’s armies were sweeping through Europe, crossing political and geographical boundaries and threatening US interests. Reluctant to enter a war and needing an accurate yet clandestine account of foreign affairs, President Franklin Roosevelt charged William J. “Wild Bill” Donovan with the task of assessing the state of the Resistance movement in Europe. On July 21, 1941 General William Donovan created the Office of Secret Services (OSS). Patterned after the British Special Operations Executive (SOE), the OSS was the predecessor to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Donovan, a unique and controversial character, allowed his agents a great deal of freedom in accomplishing their missions. He encouraged inventiveness and non-traditional strategies. OSS methods were sometimes unorthodox, attracting serious political scrutiny from both US and British armed forces and intelligence networks. However, these methods contributed in large part to the success of the OSS. |
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