Desmond Fitzgerald (CIA officer)
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Desmond Fitzgerald (June 16, 1910 – July 23, 1967) was an American intelligence officer for the
Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
(CIA), where he rose to the position of Deputy Director of Plans. He served in the CIA from 1950 until his death. Posthumously he was awarded the
National Security Medal The National Security Medal is a decoration of the United States of America officially established by President Harry S. Truman in Executive Order 10431 of January 19, 1953. The medal was originally awarded to any person, without regard to natio ...
. An attorney, he had worked in New York City both before and after World War II. During the war, he was an Army officer, serving as liaison and adviser to the Chinese Army.


Early life

Desmond Fitzgerald was born in New York City in 1910, to a family in the upper class. He was educated at St. Mark's School in
Southborough, Massachusetts Southborough is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. It incorporates the villages of Cordaville, Fayville, and Southville. Its name is often informally shortened to Southboro, a usage seen on many area signs and maps, though ...
.


Education

Fitzgerald earned an undergraduate degree from
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
. In 1935, Fitzgerald earned a law degree from
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
.


Career

Fitzgerald worked for six years at a New York law firm. At the outbreak of World War II Fitzgerald was "a 31-year-old attorney with a wife and a child" yet he enlisted as a private in the Army. He soon transferred to
Officer Candidate School An officer candidate school (OCS) is a military school which trains civilians and Enlisted rank, enlisted personnel in order for them to gain a Commission (document), commission as Commissioned officer, officers in the armed forces of a country. ...
and was commissioned as an officer. His assignment was as liaison to the
Republic of China Army The Republic of China Army (ROCA), previously known as the Chinese Nationalist Army or Nationalist Revolutionary Army and unofficially as the Taiwanese Army, is the largest branch of the Republic of China Armed Forces. An estimated 80% of the ...
operating in the China-Burma-India theater, where he was promoted to the rank of major and awarded the
Bronze Star The Bronze Star Medal (BSM) is a United States Armed Forces decoration awarded to members of the United States Armed Forces for either heroic achievement, heroic service, meritorious achievement, or meritorious service in a combat zone. Wh ...
. He was linked with the Chinese 6th army which operated in Burma. After the war, Fitzgerald returned to New York City, where he worked at a Wall Street law firm. He enjoyed connections with the city's elite social circles.


CIA

Fitzgerald was recruited to the CIA's
Office of Policy Coordination The Office of Policy Coordination (OPC) was the covert operation wing of the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Created as a department of the CIA in 1948, it actually operated independently until October 1950. OPC existed until 1 A ...
by
Frank Wisner Frank Gardiner Wisner (June 23, 1909 – October 29, 1965) was one of the founding officers of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and played a major role in CIA operations throughout the 1950s. Wisner began his intelligence career in the Off ...
in 1950. According to Prados, Fitzgerald worked in the CIA's Far East Division on a diverse array of projects, dealing with Tibet, China, Philippines, Japan and Korea. He became friends with
William Colby William Egan Colby (January 4, 1920 – May 6, 1996) was an American intelligence officer who served as Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) from September 1973 to January 1976. During World War II Colby served with the Office of Strateg ...
, also in the Far East Division (Colby became DCI in 1973). Fitzgerald was especially interested in the Tibetan Task Force, which supported the continuing Tibetan resistance against the Maoist Chinese takeover and, particularly, the
1959 Tibetan uprising The 1959 Tibetan uprising (also known by other names) began on 10 March 1959, when a revolt erupted in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, which had been under the effective control of the People's Republic of China since the Seventeen Point Agreemen ...
. He told officers to work with Tibetan leader Gyalo Dhondup. He warned other officials against the agency becoming involved in a failed 1958 rebellion in Indonesia.
Ralph McGehee Ralph Walter McGehee Jr (April 9, 1928 – May 2, 2020) was an American case officer for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) for 25 years and an author. From 1953 to 1972, his assignments were in East Asia and Southeast Asia, where he held admi ...
's CIA memoir mentions FitzGerald, describing him as Chief of Station in the Philippines in 1955 or 1956. In January 1961, Fitzgerald approved
James William Lair James William Lair (often referred to as Bill Lair) (4 July 1924 – October 28, 2014) was an influential Central Intelligence Agency paramilitary officer from the Special Activities Division. He was a native Texan, raised in a broken family, ...
's proposal for arming
Hmong Hmong may refer to: * Hmong people, an ethnic group living mainly in Southwest China, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand * Hmong cuisine * Hmong customs and culture ** Hmong music ** Hmong textile art * Hmong language, a continuum of closely related to ...
guerrillas to fight in the
Laotian Civil War The Laotian Civil War (1959–1975) was a civil war in Laos which was waged between the Communist Pathet Lao and the Royal Lao Government from 23 May 1959 to 2 December 1975. It is associated with the Cambodian Civil War and the Vietnam War ...
. In February 1964, Fitzgerald became chief of Western Hemisphere (WH) Division responsible for clandestine operations in Central America, South America, Caribbean and Cuba. In June 1965, Fitzgerald was selected as Deputy Director of Plans, responsible for worldwide collection of foreign intelligence. Fitzgerald supervised the increase in personnel assigned to
South Vietnam South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam ( vi, Việt Nam Cộng hòa), was a state in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975, the period when the southern portion of Vietnam was a member of the Western Bloc during part of th ...
to support military operations. In one instance he asked Edgar Applewhite to attack '' Ramparts'' magazine as part of the CIA's Cold War strategy. Applewhite claimed he used "dirty tricks" and blackmail to harm the magazine's business. Later, Fitzgerald worked on the CIA's accurate prediction of the outbreak of the
Six-Day War The Six-Day War (, ; ar, النكسة, , or ) or June War, also known as the 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states (primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, S ...
in the Middle East between Egypt and Israel. He was regarded highly by many, including
Allen Dulles Allen Welsh Dulles (, ; April 7, 1893 – January 29, 1969) was the first civilian Director of Central Intelligence (DCI), and its longest-serving director to date. As head of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) during the early Cold War, he ov ...
, who became director of the agency. Dulles described Fitzgerald as "an officer of imagination and sense of daring, backed by his credentials as a fellow Wall Street lawyer and his impeccable social connections, coupled with his ability to get things done."
John Kenneth Galbraith John Kenneth Galbraith (October 15, 1908 – April 29, 2006), also known as Ken Galbraith, was a Canadian-American economist, diplomat, public official, and intellectual. His books on economic topics were bestsellers from the 1950s through t ...
, an economist and diplomat who was influential in the Kennedy administration, also admired him, although also describing Fitzgerald as reckless.


Personal life

On September 2, 1938, Fitzgerald married Marietta Peabody. Following World War II, Fitzgerald divorced Marietta. Fitzgerald's daughter Frances FitzGerald is a journalist and a writer. In 1967, while playing tennis in
Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
, Fitzgerald suffered a heart attack and died. He was 57. His funeral was attended by
Vice President A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on t ...
Hubert Humphrey Hubert Horatio Humphrey Jr. (May 27, 1911 – January 13, 1978) was an American pharmacist and politician who served as the 38th vice president of the United States from 1965 to 1969. He twice served in the United States Senate, representing Mi ...
,
Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
Robert F. Kennedy Robert Francis Kennedy (November 20, 1925June 6, 1968), also known by his initials RFK and by the nickname Bobby, was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 64th United States Attorney General from January 1961 to September 1964, ...
and publisher
Katharine Graham Katharine Meyer Graham (June 16, 1917 – July 17, 2001) was an American newspaper publisher. She led her family's newspaper, ''The Washington Post'', from 1963 to 1991. Graham presided over the paper as it reported on the Watergate scandal, whi ...
among others.


Legacy and honors

He was posthumously awarded the
National Security Medal The National Security Medal is a decoration of the United States of America officially established by President Harry S. Truman in Executive Order 10431 of January 19, 1953. The medal was originally awarded to any person, without regard to natio ...
.


References


Additional sources

* Conboy, Kenneth and James Morrison (1995). ''Shadow War: The CIA's Secret War in Laos''. Paladin Press. . * McGehee, Ralph (2002).''Deadly Deceits: My 25 Years in the CIA''. Ocean Press. . {{DEFAULTSORT:Fitzgerald, Desmond 1910 births 1967 deaths Lawyers from New York City People of the Central Intelligence Agency Harvard Law School alumni 20th-century American lawyers