Robert Lowell Moore Jr. (October 31, 1925 – February 21, 2008) was an American writer who wrote ''
The Green Berets
The United States Army Special Forces (SF), colloquially known as the "Green Berets" due to their distinctive service headgear, are a special operations force of the United States Army.
The Green Berets are geared towards nine doctrinal mis ...
'', ''
The French Connection: A True Account of Cops, Narcotics, and International Conspiracy'', and with
Xaviera Hollander and Yvonne Dunleavy, ''
The Happy Hooker: My Own Story''.
Moore co-authored the lyrics for the "
Ballad of the Green Berets
"The Ballad of the Green Berets" is a patriotic song in the ballad style about the United States Army Special Forces. It is one of the few popular songs of the Vietnam War years to cast the military in a positive light and in 1966 became a majo ...
", which was one of the major hit songs of 1966. The song was featured in the 1968 film ''
The Green Berets
The United States Army Special Forces (SF), colloquially known as the "Green Berets" due to their distinctive service headgear, are a special operations force of the United States Army.
The Green Berets are geared towards nine doctrinal mis ...
'', based on Moore's book, which starred
John Wayne
Marion Robert Morrison (May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979), known professionally as John Wayne and nicknamed The Duke or Duke Wayne, was an American actor who became a popular icon through his starring roles in films made during Hollywood's Gol ...
. A new edition of ''The Green Berets'' was published in April 2007, and his last book, ''Wars of the Green Berets'', co-authored with Col. Mike 'Doc' Lennon, was released in June 2007.
Moore was convicted of
tax fraud in 1986. At the time of his death, he was living in
Hopkinsville, Kentucky
Hopkinsville is a home rule-class city in and the county seat of Christian County, Kentucky, United States. The population at the 2010 census was 31,577.
History
Early years
The area of present-day Hopkinsville was initially claimed in 1796 b ...
, home to
Fort Campbell and the
5th Special Forces Group
The 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne) (5th SFG (A)) is one of the most decorated active duty United States Army Special Forces groups in the U.S. armed forces. The 5th SFG (A) saw extensive action in the Vietnam War and played a pivotal role i ...
, where he was working on his memoirs and three other books.
Early life and career
Born in
Boston, Moore was raised in
Concord, Massachusetts, where he attended
Middlesex School. He also attended
Belmont Hill School
Belmont Hill School is an independent boys school on a campus in Belmont, a suburb of Boston, Massachusetts. The school enrolls approximately 440 students in grades 7-12, separated into the Middle School (grades 7-9) and the Upper School (grad ...
.
During
World War II, he served as a
nose gunner in the
U.S. Army Air Forces
The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...
, flying combat missions in the
European Theater. For his service, he was awarded the
Air Medal. Moore graduated from
Harvard College in 1949, and one of his first jobs was working in television production and then at the
Sheraton Hotel Company co-founded by his father,
Robert Lowell Moore. While working in the hotel business in the
Caribbean
The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...
, he recorded the early days of
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (; ; 13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban revolutionary and politician who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and president from 1976 to 200 ...
in the nonfiction book ''The Devil To Pay''.
Training with Special Forces
Due to connections with Harvard classmate
Robert F. Kennedy, (Harvard class of 1948), Moore (Harvard class of 1949) was allowed access to the
U.S. Army Special Forces to write about this elite unit of the United States Army. General
William P. Yarborough
Lieutenant general (United States), Lieutenant General William Pelham Yarborough (May 12, 1912 – December 6, 2005) was a senior United States Army Officer (armed forces), officer. Yarborough designed the U.S. Army's Parachutist Badge#United Sta ...
insisted that Moore go through special forces training to better understand "what makes Special Forces soldiers 'special'." He trained for nearly a year, first at "jump school" for
airborne
Airborne or Airborn may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
Films
* ''Airborne'' (1962 film), a 1962 American film directed by James Landis
* ''Airborne'' (1993 film), a comedy–drama film
* ''Airborne'' (1998 film), an action film sta ...
training before completing the
Special Forces Qualification Course or "Q course", becoming the first civilian to participate in such an intensive program. Afterwards, Moore was assigned to the
5th Special Forces Group
The 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne) (5th SFG (A)) is one of the most decorated active duty United States Army Special Forces groups in the U.S. armed forces. The 5th SFG (A) saw extensive action in the Vietnam War and played a pivotal role i ...
on deployment 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 ...
. His experiences in-country formed the basis for ''
The Green Berets
The United States Army Special Forces (SF), colloquially known as the "Green Berets" due to their distinctive service headgear, are a special operations force of the United States Army.
The Green Berets are geared towards nine doctrinal mis ...
'', a bestseller that helped secure him international acclaim (see
United States Army Special Forces in popular culture).
Later writings
During the 1970s and '80s, Moore travelled widely, spending time in such places as
Dubai,
Iran,
Rhodesia
Rhodesia (, ), officially from 1970 the Republic of Rhodesia, was an unrecognised state in Southern Africa from 1965 to 1979, equivalent in territory to modern Zimbabwe. Rhodesia was the ''de facto'' successor state to the British colony of S ...
, and Russia. Having gathered the information needed, he wrote ''The Crippled Eagles'' (later published as ''The White Tribe'') and ''The Moscow Connection''. Due to political controversy, ''The Crippled Eagles'' was rejected by publishers and did not appear until the early 1990s. He also wrote the nonfiction books ''Rhodesia'' and ''Major Mike'' (with U.S. Army Major Mike Williams).
While researching what became ''The Crippled Eagles'', in 1976 Moore established what he called the "Unofficial US Embassy" in
Salisbury, and began hosting events for the
American volunteers who were serving in the Rhodesian Security Forces as well as doctoral students. He encouraged the volunteers to call themselves 'Crippled Eagles' due to the mistaken perception that they were being harassed, or could be harassed, by their government. He also sold t-shirts, sew-on patches and other merchandise using the 'Crippled Eagle' motif. During the same year wrote a book that argued that Rhodesia was not racist and included profiles of
foreign volunteers in the country.
Tax evasion
In April 1986, Moore pled guilty to
conspiracy to defraud the United States
Conspiracy against the United States, or conspiracy to defraud the United States,§ 92318 U.S.C. § 371—Conspiracy to Defraud the United States U.S. Department of Justice's ''United States Attorneys' Manual''. is a federal offense in the United ...
by means of roughly $37 million in literary
tax shelters which generated fraudulent
tax losses
A tax is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer (an individual or legal entity) by a governmental organization in order to fund government spending and various public expenditures (regional, local, o ...
for over 1,000 individual U.S. taxpayers involving paperback books whose value had been artificially inflated, thus facilitating claims for false
depreciation deductions and
tax credits.
Uzbekistan and Iraq
Moore travelled to
Uzbekistan in December 2001 to research the
CIA-
Northern Alliance war against the
Taliban and
al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremism, Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arab, Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military ta ...
, publishing the account in the bestseller ''The Hunt for Bin Laden''.
In 2003, continuing his interest in writing about the
war on terror, Moore traveled to
Iraq to research
Operation Iraqi Freedom
{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish)
, partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...
and the downfall of the
Saddam Hussein regime for his book, ''Hunting Down Saddam''. Before his death, he completed ''The Singleton: Target Cuba'' with Ret. USASF Major General
Geoffrey Lambert
Twelve candidates of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada were elected in the 2000 federal election, making the party the fifth-largest in the House of Commons of Canada. Many of the party's candidates have their own biography pages; info ...
, a novel about Fidel Castro and
biological warfare.
''The Hunt For Bin Laden'' veracity
Shortly after the publication of ''The Hunt for Bin Laden'', the veracity of the book was disputed, particularly regarding the involvement of
Jack Idema
Jonathan Keith "Jack" Idema (May 30, 1956January 21, 2012) was an American mercenary and former United States Army reserve non-commissioned officer, known for his vigilante activities during the War in Afghanistan.
Formerly a member of the U.S. ...
. Idema, who was one of Moore's major sources, provided what later proved to be fabricated accounts of his exploits. To portray himself as having a greater role in the operation, Idema apparently went as far as to rewrite much of Moore and Chris Thompson's text prior to publication under the direct authorization of Random House editor Bob Loomis. Special Forces soldiers who were on the mission (including those whom Moore interviewed) disputed Idema's claims.
With Idema thus discredited, Moore eventually disavowed ''The Hunt for Bin Laden'' and the book remains out of print.
Despite the dispute over the book's veracity, Moore continued to enjoy the respect of the Special Forces community.
Other works
Film
''The Green Berets'' is a 1968 film based on Moore's
1965 book.
Parts of the screenplay bear little relation to the novel, although the portion in which a woman seduces a Vietnamese communist leader and sets him up to be kidnapped by Americans is from the book. John Wayne requested and obtained full military co-operation and materiel from
President Johnson. To please the Pentagon, which was attempting to prosecute Robin Moore for revealing classified information, Wayne bought Moore out for $35,000 and 5% of undefined profits of the film.
[Moore, Robin ''Introduction to 1999 edition'' ''The Green Berets'' ''The Green Berets: The Amazing Story of the U.S. Army's Elite Special Forces Unit'' 2007 Skyhorse Publishing Inc.]
Other
* Creator of the comic strip ''
Tales of the Green Beret'' and the book ''
The Man with the Silver Oar
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in ...
''
* Co-screenwriter for the film ''
Inchon'' about the
Inchon landing
The Battle of Incheon (), also spelled Battle of Inchon, was an amphibious invasion and a battle of the Korean War that resulted in a decisive victory and strategic reversal in favor of the United Nations Command (UN). The operation involved s ...
during the
Korean War
* Co-founder of
the Crippled Eagles
There were a number of American volunteers in the Rhodesian Bush War who fought with the Rhodesian Security Forces. These men were nick-named the Crippled Eagles by author Robin Moore, who offered a house in Salisbury as a meeting place for the A ...
club in Rhodesia (now
Zimbabwe) for
expatriate Americans serving with the Rhodesian Security Forces
Honors
At the 2007 5th Special Forces Group reunion banquet, Col. Chris Conner confirmed Moore as a lifelong member of 5th SFG. At the same banquet, Moore was made a
Kentucky colonel.
Death and burial
Robin Moore died in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, on February 21, 2008, after a long illness. A memorial service was held in the First Presbyterian Church in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. Eulogies were given by Rudi Gresham, Major General
Victor J. Hugo Jr., Major General
Thomas R. Csrnko
Thomas may refer to:
People
* List of people with given name Thomas
* Thomas (name)
* Thomas (surname)
* Saint Thomas (disambiguation)
* Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church
* Thomas th ...
,
Alexander N. Rossolimo, and Moore's brother John. A Presidential citation was presented to Helen Moore by General Hugo. Full military honors were rendered immediately after the service by a complement of 5th Group Special Forces soldiers from
Fort Campbell .
Moore was cremated and his remains were interred in
Sleepy Hollow Cemetery (Concord, Massachusetts)
Sleepy Hollow Cemetery is a rural cemetery located on Bedford Street near the center of Concord, Massachusetts. The cemetery is the burial site of a number of famous Concordians, including some of the United States' greatest authors and thinke ...
with full military honors rendered again by a complement of Special Forces soldiers from the 5th Group of
Fort Campbell and this time th
Concord Independent Batterydelivered gun salutes. This was followed by a sounding of Echo Taps.
Major General Gary L. Harrell, deputy commanding general of the
United States Special Operations Command, issued this statement in praise of Moore:
Bibliography
* ''The Devil To Pay'' (1961) ()
* ''
The Green Berets
The United States Army Special Forces (SF), colloquially known as the "Green Berets" due to their distinctive service headgear, are a special operations force of the United States Army.
The Green Berets are geared towards nine doctrinal mis ...
'' (1965) ()
* ''Pitchman'' (1966)
* ''
The French Connection: A True Account of Cops, Narcotics, and International Conspiracy'' (1969) ()
* ''The Country Team'' (1970)
* ''The Happy Hooker: My Own Story'' (with Xaviera Hollander) (1971) ()
* ''The
Khaki Mafia
''The Khaki Mafia'' is a novel about the Vietnam War by Robin Moore and June Collins, published by Crown in 1971. Collins was an entertainer who had performed for US troops in Vietnam and later testified before a U.S. Senate committee about corr ...
'' (1971) (with June Collins)
* ''Court Martial'' (1972) (with Henry Rothblatt)
* ''The Fifth Estate'' (1973)
* ''Adventures of a Treasure Hunter'' (1973) (with Howard Jennings)
* ''The Family Man'' (1974) (with
Milt Machlin
Milt Machlin (June 26, 1924 – April 3, 2004) was an American journalist, author and adventurer. He is best known for coining the phrases " Bermuda Triangle" and "Abominable Snowman," as well as his expedition to find scion Michael Rockefeller, ...
)
* ''The London Switch'' (1974) (with
Al Dempsey
Al Dempsey is an American author of historical fiction.
Tim Kyle
Dempsey's spy series "Pulsar" (co-written with Robin Moore), contains the books ''The London Connection'' and ''The Italian Connection''. They feature the main character Tim Kyle, t ...
)
* ''The Italian Connection'' (1975) (with
Al Dempsey
Al Dempsey is an American author of historical fiction.
Tim Kyle
Dempsey's spy series "Pulsar" (co-written with Robin Moore), contains the books ''The London Connection'' and ''The Italian Connection''. They feature the main character Tim Kyle, t ...
)
* ''The Set Up: The Shocking Aftermath To The French Connection'' (1975) (with
Milt Machlin
Milt Machlin (June 26, 1924 – April 3, 2004) was an American journalist, author and adventurer. He is best known for coining the phrases " Bermuda Triangle" and "Abominable Snowman," as well as his expedition to find scion Michael Rockefeller, ...
)
* ''Hotel Tomayne'' (1976)
* ''The Season'' (1976) (with Patricia Hornung)
* ''Dubai'' (1976)
* ''The Pearl Harbor Cover-Up'' (1976) (with Frank Schuler)
* ''The Terminal Connection'' (1976)
* ''The Kaufman Snatch'' (1976)
* ''Valency Girl'' (1976) (with Susan Deitz)
* ''Phase of Darkness'' (1976) (with
Al Dempsey
Al Dempsey is an American author of historical fiction.
Tim Kyle
Dempsey's spy series "Pulsar" (co-written with Robin Moore), contains the books ''The London Connection'' and ''The Italian Connection''. They feature the main character Tim Kyle, t ...
)
* ''The Establishment'' (1976) (with Harold Shumate)
* ''The Death Disciple'' (1977) (with Gerald G Griffin)
* ''Mafia Wife'' (with Barbara Fuca) (1977) ()
* ''Our Missile's Missing'' (1977) (with Stan Gebler Davies)
* ''Combat Pay'' (1977)
* ''The Washington Connection'' (1977)
* ''Rhodesia'' (1977) ()
* ''The Big Paddle'' (1978)
* ''The Black Sea Caper'' (1978) (with Hugh McDonald)
* ''Chinese Ultimatum'' (1978) (with Edward McGhee)
* ''Caribbean Caper'' (1978)
* ''Death Never Forgets'' (1978)
* ''Diamond Spitfire'' (1978)
* ''The Hillside Strangler'' (1978) (with Robin H. Neville)
* ''Red Falcons'' (1978) (with
Al Dempsey
Al Dempsey is an American author of historical fiction.
Tim Kyle
Dempsey's spy series "Pulsar" (co-written with Robin Moore), contains the books ''The London Connection'' and ''The Italian Connection''. They feature the main character Tim Kyle, t ...
)
* ''The Cobra Team'' (1978) (with Edward E Mayer)
* ''The Last Coming'' (1978) (with Gerald G Griffin)
* ''The Treasure Hunter'' (1979) (with Howard Jennings)
* ''The New York Connection'' (1979)
* ''Search and Destroy'' (1980) ()
* ''Only the Hyenas Laughed'' (1980) (with Neville H Romain)
* ''The Gold Connection'' (1980) (with Julian Askin)
* ''Compulsion'' (1981)
* ''London Connection'' (1981) (with
Al Dempsey
Al Dempsey is an American author of historical fiction.
Tim Kyle
Dempsey's spy series "Pulsar" (co-written with Robin Moore), contains the books ''The London Connection'' and ''The Italian Connection''. They feature the main character Tim Kyle, t ...
)
* ''Fast Shuffle'' (1981) (with Sidney Levine)
* ''Black Sea Connection'' (1981) (with Hugh McDonald)
* ''The Tales of Green Beret'' (1985)
* ''Force Nine'' (1986)
* ''The Man Who Made It Snow'' (1990) (with Richard Smitten and
Max Mermelstein
Max Mermelstein (November 1, 1942 – September 12, 2008) was an American drug smuggler for the Medellín Cartel in the late 1970s and early 80s, who later became a key informant against the organization. In the words of James P. Walsh, the U.S. ...
)
* ''The White Tribe'' (1991) (with Barbara Fuca)
* ''The Moscow Connection'' (1994)
* ''The Sparrowhook Curse'' (1996)
* ''The Accidental Pope'' (2000) (with Ray Flynn)
* ''The Hunt for Bin Laden: Task Force Dagger (2003)
* ''Hunting Down Saddam – The inside story of the search and capture'' (2004) ()
* ''React : CIA Black Ops'' (2004) (with Chuck Lightfoot)
* ''The Singleton: Target Cuba'' (2004) (and Jeff Lambert)
* ''The Wars of the Green Berets'' (2007) (and Michael Lennon) ()
References
External links
Website dedicated to Robin Mooremaintained by Chapter 38 of the
Special Forces Association
Excerpts from Robin Moore's FBI file
{{DEFAULTSORT:Moore, Robin
1925 births
2008 deaths
20th-century American male writers
20th-century American non-fiction writers
20th-century American novelists
American male non-fiction writers
American male novelists
Belmont Hill School alumni
Harvard College alumni
Non-fiction writers about the French Connection
Middlesex School alumni
Military personnel from Massachusetts
People from Concord, Massachusetts
People from Kentucky
Recipients of the Air Medal
United States Army Air Forces officers
United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II
American people convicted of fraud