Franklin A. Lindsay (12 March 1916 – 13 October 2011) was a spy and business executive. Lindsay graduated from Stanford University in 1938 and ended up working for the

Office of Strategic Services The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was the intelligence agency of the United States during World War II. The OSS was formed as an agency of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) to coordinate espionage activities behind enemy lines for all bran ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. During the war he parachuted to the Slovene Partisans in 1944 and worked with them to blow up the rail lines in Southern Austria. Later, he became head of the military mission to Tito. He wrote a book about his wartime experiences, ''Beacons in the Night'', and has been awarded Slovenia's highest decoration. After the war, he became involved in a wide range of government and private sector activities. In the public sector, he was a member of the

US Atomic Energy Commission The United States Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) was an agency of the United States government established after World War II by U.S. Congress to foster and control the peacetime development of atomic science and technology. President ...

to the United Nations; he helped set up the European side of the

Marshall Plan The Marshall Plan (officially the European Recovery Program, ERP) was an American initiative enacted in 1948 to provide foreign aid to Western Europe. The United States transferred over $13 billion (equivalent of about $ in ) in economic re ...

and helped fellow OSSer

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 ...

establish the

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 ...

(OPC). In the private sector he spent time at the

Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a US$25,000 gift from Edsel Ford. By 1947, after the dea ...

, McKinsey & Co., and as head of

Itek Itek Corporation was a United States defense contractor that initially specialized in camera systems for spy satellites and various other reconnaissance systems. In the early 1960s they built a conglomerate in a fashion similar to LTV or Litton, ...

, a high tech company, which, among its products, developed the camera's for satellites that overflew the Soviet Union and scouted the moon and Mars. He also served on the Senate Intelligence Advisory Committee, chaired the committee for Economic Development's program and policy committee and chaired the board of the

National Bureau of Economic Research The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) is an American private nonprofit research organization "committed to undertaking and disseminating unbiased economic research among public policymakers, business professionals, and the academic c ...

. After his retirement, he started a seven-year stint helping Ukraine's International Management Institute turn its curriculum towards a market economy. While in Kiev, he also worked with Ukraine's National Security Council and helped develop a program for Ukraine's military officers and national security officials at

Harvard Kennedy School The Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), officially the John F. Kennedy School of Government, is the school of public policy and government of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school offers master's degrees in public policy, public a ...

. The program continues today in an expanded form to include not only participants from Ukraine but also from the other countries surrounding the Black Sea. He is survived by his wife Margot, two children, and three granddaughters.

References

External links

Register of the Franklin Lindsay Papers
an
selected documents online
at the Hoover Institution Archives, Stanford University. {{DEFAULTSORT:Lindsay, Frank 1916 births 2011 deaths Stanford University alumni World War II spies for the United States