, ' . With the entry of the United States into World War II, he joined the Navy, and in 1943 was assigned to the Office of Strategic Services, the U.S. wartime espionage agency. He will be buried at Arlington National Ceremony on Nov. 20. With his new assignment, he inherited a pressure campaign from the White House to get rid of Castro by other means. Patrick Nolan is a forensic historian that has dedicated his life to uncovering truths surrounding the JFK, MLK, and RFK assassinations of the 1960s. Richard Helms worked closely with the Gehlen network of former German spies to penetrate Soviet intelligence and uncover Communist activities in West Germany. Julia apparently favored the Democratic Party. "You are born with that kind of skill, and he had it." His biggest scoop, he said, was an exclusive interview with Hitler. Learn how to enable JavaScript on your browser, Richard Helms walked briskly from a hearing room in Washington, DC, on April 28, 1975. Over the years, speculation has grown that Helms was the famous source known as Deep Throat, who helped guide Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein in their Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation of the Watergate scandal. He grew up in South Orange, N. J., and studied for two years during high school in Switzerland, where he became conversant in French and German. He became a consultant to businesses that made investments in other countries. Mr. Helms pleaded no contest in 1977 to two misdemeanor counts of failing to testify fully four years earlier to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. . The judge responded, ''You now stand before this court in disgrace and shame,'' and sentenced him to two years in prison and a $2,000 fine. Six years later at a White House ceremony, Mr. Helms received the National Security Medal from President Reagan for "exceptionally meritorious service." Hes been a journalist, a television news producer, and professor at Hofstra University and St. Johns University. Later, Helms served as U.S. ambassador to Iran. the best of his generation and profession. Powers wrote, Mr. Nixon forced him out and sent him to Iran as ambassador. But Mr. Helms soon found himself called to account for his own actions when the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence delved into the agency's efforts to assassinate world leaders or destabilize socialist governments. When questioned about these CIA-mob assassination conspiracies in the 1975 Senate investigation, Helms replied, "I'm really surprised I did not discuss it with him (Director McCone) at the time." Available on Compatible NOOK Devices and the free NOOK Apps. had never tried to overthrow the government of President Salvador Allende Gossens or funneled money to political enemies of the Marxist leader. He became a consultant to businesses that made investments in other countries. I think if I had done anything else I would have been disgraced.''. Early in Mr. Helms's directorship, as the war in Vietnam and the antiwar protests were escalating, Johnson asked the CIA to determine whether antiwar activity in the United States was being financially or otherwise backed by foreign countries. As I recalled other events, I realized that . Later that day he went to a reunion of former C.I.A. In 1965, Mr. Helms was named to the second-highest job at the agency, deputy director of central intelligence. He fancied a career in journalism, and went to Europe as a reporter for United Press. Dennis Helms included the letter in an album of correspondence and photos from his home that he turned over for the museums new exhibit highlighting the history of the Office of Strategic Services, the CIAs predecessor agency. Soon after, he was transferred to the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the precursor of the Central Intelligence Agency, under the command of General William J. Donavan. James Angleton, another master spy who had spent World War II working with the OSS in Italy, also stayed. By 1946, his son Jim went on to become the OSS station chief in Rome. Clearly, newsman Schorr's presence alone had touched a nerve in the no-nonsense ex-director. He became the CIA's deputy director for plans, the innocuous-sounding title of the chief of covert action. Unaccustomed to such public scrutiny, Helms's cool demeanor had cracked under the pressure. Mr. Helms kept a low public profile as director of central intelligence, and he avoided publicity. People at the agency suppress their egos. https://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/23/obituaries/richard-m-helms-dies-at-89-dashing-exchief-of-the-cia.html. In a statement yesterday, Tenet described Mr. Helms as "clear in thought, elegant in style . Following the 1947 creation of the Central Intelligence Agency (CI They just dont exist. The next year, Raborn -- who had little experience in foreign affairs or intelligence gathering -- resigned. Links between unsavory Nixon White House activities and the CIA, including the agency's lending of disguises to Watergate conspirator E. Howard Hunt, prompted an internal examination ordered by Mr. That particular letter is one that only agency employees and their guests can see. So-called terrorism may get a new lease on life. I just wish there had been more such occasions.. At Williams College, Mr. Helms excelled as a student and leader. He grew up in South Orange, N.J., and was schooled in Europe, where he became versed in languages and fluent in French and German. In the judgment of Richard Helms, the CIA worked only for the president. While Dennis was growing up in Washington, the letter went into family scrapbooks. Helms, who consistently opposed that plan to oust Castro, was named head of the plans division, the third highest position in the agency. But the fiasco proved to be Bissell's undoing, and he retired. had never tried to overthrow the government of President Salvador Allende Gossens or funneled money to political enemies of Mr. Allende, a Marxist. How and when exactly did his father sneak into that compound to grab the stationery (along with a dinner plate)? Young Richard attended Carteret Academy. In the title of his 1979 biography of Mr. Helms, Thomas Powers called him "The Man Who Kept the Secrets." . Mr. Allende was killed in a 1973 military coup, which was followed by more than 16 years of military dictatorship. A separate inquiry by the Rockefeller Commission also faulted Mr. Helms for poor judgment for destroying documents and tape recordings that might have assisted Watergate investigators. She and his son survive him. Mr. Nixon appointed him ambassador to Iran, a post in which Mr. Helms served until 1977, when he returned to Washington to plead no contest to charges that in 1973 he had lied to a Congressional committee about the intelligence agency's role in bringing down the Allende government. I felt obliged to keep some of this stuff in other words, not volunteer a good deal of information, he told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 1975. 249 0 obj <>stream Frank and Julia had two children: James Roentgen Shields and Judith Bretzman Shields. Helms was, of course, very non-committal politically. He died on October 22, 2002 in Washington, District of Columbia, USA. Richard Helms, a former director of central intelligence who defiantly guarded some of the darkest secrets of the Cold War, died Tuesday night (Oct. 22, 2002) of multiple myeloma. . He was class president, editor of the school newspaper and the yearbook, and was president of the senior honor society. Francis Xavier Alexander Shields Sr. (November 18, 1909 - August 19, 1975) was an American amateur tennis player of the 1920s and 1930s, and an actor known for Hoosier Schoolboy (1937). Richard Helms, the CIA director during the Vietnam War and Watergate eras, who died in 2002. agency employees and their guests can see, The Man Nobody Knew: In Search of My Spymaster Father, William Colby.. But he kept being hauled before congressional committees to explain the CIAs efforts in earlier years to assassinate world leaders and disrupt socialist regimes abroad. Mr. Helms, who by nature had been cool and skeptical toward covert operations on such a large scale, had kept his distance from the Bay of Pigs. He dated the letter V-E day for May 8, 1945. Helms was asked if the CIA had tried to interfere in the election of Chilean president Salvador Allende in 1970. Contents 1 Tennis career 1.1 Davis Cup 2 Grand Slam finals 2.1 Singles (2 runners-up) 2.2 Doubles (1 runner-up) 2.3 Mixed doubles (1 runner-up) 3 Marriages Under this operation, the CIA amassed files on tens of thousands of American citizens or groups. Helms' early work was in the field of journalism. Mr. Helms believed he had performed well in a job that, although many Americans considered it sinister and undemocratic, was nevertheless a cold-blooded necessity in an era of cold war. , 13). hb```X0xb,G}4q,u pQ b`Y $ 75p7H$D4c5z`q %c Uf` i But the relationship between Mr. Helms and Nixon was never smooth, and in November 1972, shortly after he had been elected to his second term, the president summoned his CIA chief to a meeting at Camp David and asked him to resign. "He was a kind of middleman between the field and Washington policymakers, approving and even choosing the wording of cables to the field describing 'requirements'; and passing on concrete proposals for operations from the local CIA stations," Powers wrote in his biography of Mr. Helms. Anyone can read what you share. The artifact itself would have made any museum professionals day. Together they had a son Dennis, who as a young man briefly worked at CIA; he later became a lawyer. A tireless campaigner when he ran unsuccessfully for President in 1960, she was at his side when he ran again in 1968--and won. Helms returned to the United States in 1938 and took a job on the business side at the Indianapolis Times. Under Helms's guidance, behavioral medicine scientists from across the US were recruited to investigate a curious mix of concepts: creating amnesia, understanding bioelectrics, and attempting to harness parapsychology. ''I had found myself in a position of conflict,'' he told a federal judge at the formal proceeding after entering a plea agreement with the Justice Department. Born on March 30, 1913, in St. Davids, Pa., Richard McGarrah Helms -- he avoided using the middle name -- was the son of an Alcoa executive and grandson of a leading international banker, Gates McGarrah. But he never knew its back story. One part still confuses. "I had sworn my oath to protect certain secrets. endstream endobj 223 0 obj <>/Metadata 14 0 R/Outlines 22 0 R/PageLayout/OneColumn/Pages 220 0 R/StructTreeRoot 37 0 R/Type/Catalog>> endobj 224 0 obj <>/Font<>>>/Rotate 0/StructParents 0/Type/Page>> endobj 225 0 obj <>stream Instead, as the controversial CIA dad and his lawyer son grew older, they relied on letters to forge the best connection they could. Mr. Helms was the first career intelligence professional to serve as the nation's top spymaster, and he was among the last of the remaining survivors of the CIA's organizing cadre, operatives who earned their espionage stripes as young men during World War II. Helms's unauthorized use of the Mafia in various operations was typical, particularly his attempts to eliminate Cuba's Fidel Castro. Soon, this newly contracted legion of psychiatrists began to test mind-altering drugs in conjunction with hypnosis. Richard married Julia Shields in 1939, at age 25. Helms in the directorate of plans (covert operations) and Angleton in counterintelligence guided this new mission. An urbane and dashing spymaster, Mr. Helms began his career with a reputation as a truth-teller and became a favorite of lawmakers in the late 1960's and early 70's. Dennis Helms, now a 69-year-old intellectual-property lawyer in New Jersey. By a cabal of CIA employees, the Mafia and Cuban exiles, who killed Kennedy out of vengeance and in the hope of new. The following year in September 1939, Germany attacked Poland, starting World War II. He grew up in South Orange, N.J., and studied for two years during high school in Switzerland, where he became fluent in French and German. He got a job on the retail advertising staff of the Indianapolis Times where he soon rose to be its national advertising manager.Powers (1979) at 20-22. Dr. Mary Bretzman is one such team member. The leadership of BLUEBIRD changed hands soon after when Morse Allen, a rigid anti-Communist from Naval Intelligence, was brought in to run the program. He lives with his wife in West Hartford, Connecticut. But although it later came to light that Helms destroyed documents that may have been helpful to the investigation of Watergate, he ignored Nixons request to bring the CIA in to block the FBI probe of the break-in. In that capacity, in 1955, Mr. Helms impressed his superiors by supervising the secret digging of a 500-yard tunnel from West Berlin to East Berlin to tap the main Soviet telephone lines between Moscow and East Berlin. In 1977, he pleaded no contest in a federal court to charges of failing to testify fully before Congress about the CIA role in the covert supply of money to Chilean anti-Marxists in 1970 in an effort to influence a presidential election. . Javascript is not enabled in your browser. Over the next 20 years, Mr. Helms rose through the agency's ranks, and in 1966 he came the first career official to head the C.I.A. Yet, in truth, Helms routinely kept a succession of presidents in the dark (detailed ahead). At his retirement in 1973, Mr. Helms left an organization viewed with suspicion by many and about to undergo intense scrutiny from an unfriendly Congress for activities ranging from assassination plots against foreign leaders to spying on U.S. citizens. Richard passed away on October 22 2002, at age 89 in Washington, District of Columbia, United States. But he didnt seriously consider a clandestine career because he didnt want to cope with the expectations of being the son of Richard Helms, a founding member of the agency who was appointed director in 1966. While with the OSS dur- ing the war, Helms made contact with a handful of men who would remain influential . Those included Ngo Dinh Diem of South Vietnam, Rafael Trujillo of the Dominican Republic and Patrice Lumumba of the Congo. %%EOF Indeed, Helms and Angleton's goal was much more than just defensive techniques and truth serums; they were intent on finding out if a human could be programmed to carry out "executive action" operations, which in CIA terminology meant assassination. His years at the agency covered a period in which CIA service was widely honored as a noble and romantic calling in the Cold War. Oktober 2002 in Washington, D.C.) war ein US-amerikanischer Geheimdienstfunktionr, dessen Karriere ihren Hhepunkt in einer siebenjhrigen Amtsperiode als Director of Central Intelligence hatte. But thousands died that it might be so., Dennis was too young to remember receiving it, of course; he vaguely recalls reading it as a high-schooler in Bethesda, where he attended the Landon School in the 1950s. See full bio Born: March 30, 1913 in St. Davids, Pennsylvania, USA Died: In 1977, Mr. Helms stepped down as ambassador to Iran and returned to Washington to plead no contest to charges that in 1973 he had lied to a Congressional committee about the intelligence agency's role in bringing down the Allende government. William R. Colby, who succeeded Schlesinger as director of central intelligence, quietly briefed House and Senate overseers on the contents of the report, which became known in the agency as "the family jewels." Shortly thereafter, he returned to the United States and took a job with the Indianapolis Times newspaper, where by 1939 he had become national advertising director. President Reagan awarded him the National Security Medal in a White House ceremony. Helms' first marriage to Julia Bretzman Shields ended in divorce. But Helms wrote in his memoir that he was in France that day. In the early 1970s, the agency was further compromised when several of its employees were arrested in the break-in at the Democratic National Headquarters at the Watergate Hotel in Washington. He was set up. Richard married Julia Helms (born Bretzman Shields) on month day 1939, at age 26 at marriage place, Indiana. Enterprise reporter covering the Washington region and beyond, A letter from Richard Helms, on Hitler's stationary, to his son. Sure, theyd take that. (Published 10/25/02). Intentionally or not, Richard was writing a bookend to the Hitler letter from 1945. Frank Brown Shields.He married Julia L. Bretzman, daughter of Charles Bretzman and Bertha Grauel. Mr. Helms was forced out of the agency in 1973 by President Nixon, who considered him insufficiently cooperative in providing C.I.A. But the most contentious criticism of Mr. Helms centered on Chile. had run a major secret operation in Chile that gave more than $8 million to the opponents of Mr. Allende, using the International Telephone and Telegraph Corporation as a conduit. Richard McGarrah Helms (March 30, 1913 October 23, 2002) served as the Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) from June 1966 to February 1973. Historical Person Search Search Search Results Results Julia Louise Bretzman Helms (1907 - 1986) Try FREE for 14 days Try FREE for 14 days. hXmo6+~"i("n?hsV"J@x<>#rF9'C#7\@+ZCLzK)+!. The operations he conducted that would have been fun to me to hear about, like reading a novel. Today he is dead, his memory despised, his country in ruins.. Television host, razor sharp political pundit, and #1 bestselling author Bill OReilly focuses in on where we all stand in the Age of Obama in Pinheads and Patriots. Served with Office of Strategic Services United States Naval Reserve, 1942-1946, European Theatre of Operations. It was said of Mr. Helms that throughout his career and into retirement, he was preoccupied with the Soviet Union and its CIA counterpart, the KGB. Current price is $13.49, Original price is $17.99. Helms, who was present at the creation of the agency in 1947 during the Cold War, was an important operations man in the agency for two decades. His autobiography, A Look Over My Shoulder: A Life In The Central Intelligence Agency, leaves the impression that he spent much of his time putting out fires; the fact that most were of his own making is left untold. Robert Kennedy found out in May 1962 and was told these plots had been terminated. 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