The CIA Covenant
Nazis in Washington
Muller's Journal's
by Gregory Douglas
Sunday, 23 July 1950.
Small items:
The Senate has been yelling about McCarthy and the press is talking about some problem he has
with drawing his official pay as a judge while attending to other matters. They don’t have anything on him
or he would be gone by now but they just keep on shrieking every time he goes after some socially
prominent Roosevelt appointee.
I understand that MacArthur is getting enough troops and equipment on hand to make a
counterattack fairly soon. I have now a nice portfolio of stocks and am considering expanding.
We have had a very pleasant trip down into Virginia to look at the family property. It is a very
beautiful house, what is called here as “Georgian” after the British kings. A very large, impressive house in
a pinkish brick, copper roof with a fine patina, three stories, shuttered windows and a tall portico in front.
The total number of rooms is just over thirty with eight bedrooms, ten bathrooms or partial
bathrooms, a huge kitchen, library, dining room, assembly room, gallery, entrance hall, huge staircase
which ascends to the third floor, solid oak and rosewood doors, and marble floors. Much of the paneling is
old pine and there are fireplaces in almost every room in the house. There are four bedrooms on the second
floor, all with sitting rooms and bathrooms and on the third, four bedrooms with baths. Fireplaces in all but
one of the bedrooms.
House has an elevator and a large swimming pool that is set up to be used as a reservoir in case of
fires. Bath houses and dressing rooms also in brick. A beautiful formal garden and a tennis court! That’s a
sport I could take up when my knee is in service.
The section set aside for horses is immense! There is room for fifty horses, grooms, and
veterinarians. An indoor track, maternity stable for mares, a nursery for young horses.
Also, a barn for cows, various outbuildings for servants, pumps for the water, kennels for dogs,
boiler rooms and so on endlessly.
And not to be forgotten is an old church made out of stone on one edge of the property.
The property sits on over three hundred acres of rolling, wooded land and the weather there is
much milder than in the District. I am told that this is the most beautiful part of the state of Virginia and I
can easily believe it!
The town of Warrenton has less than 2,000 people and is very quiet and sedate. There are, of
course, many black people in this state but they are rural in composition and unlike the urban ones in
Washington, not given to crime.
The place will need additional security fencing, gates which can be controlled from the inside,
alarm systems and I will bring over at least ten more of my people to help out with the house and the
security.
No one has lived in the mansion for a number of years and the sunlight has faded some of the
curtains, all of which are old and must be replaced. I will wish to have the bathrooms modernized
somewhat and I have ideas about some statuary for the gardens which I would certainly wish to make over
more in the European style.
It is a very well built house in its own grounds and it even has a nice stream on the property.
There is a very good stream running through the place in Colorado and I might take up fly-fishing as a
sport.
We went there with a real estate agent and I left Bunny to talk with him while Heini and I made a
tour of the place. It took us over four hours to see everything and I must say I dozed off in the car on the
way back.
It is absolutely magnificent, without question, and certainly not that expensive considering my
assets. This would be a tremendous place for my collection of paintings and for the furniture I would like
to buy. Bunny has suggested American colonial but I like Louis XV and XVI. We can compromise, of
course.
She knows in the way that women have, that I am probably going to buy it and was absolutely
charming on the way home.
We told the agent that there needed to be work done on the property and I had filled my notebook
with all kinds of minor repairs. He, of course, believing that we wanted the place (he knows about Bunny’s
uncle and knows the family by name) and began to suggest a price “adjustment” for us.
I do not want to raise horses, but Bunny does, so she can have what she wants in that area.
I will go to the bank tomorrow and begin the transaction but we both know that the property
cannot be in my name. We have worked out a suitable plan whereby a very poor cousin will hold the actual
title but will give us back a signed deed to it so that we can execute it at any time we wish.
And, of course, I proposed to her after dinner tonight and she, of course, accepted. Bunny is
certainly strong enough to do that herself but propriety demands that the male make the first move. I did. I
don’t think Sophie would be too happy but life is cruel, isn’t it?
We will give up the house in Washington and I will either take the train into town or be driven. I
will get a new car; in fact the garage holds seven so we will see how many more we need.
If Bunny wants to come into town by herself, she can stay with aunt and I can stay at the club so
the unpleasantness of living in a hot, humid and nasty town will be a thing of the past.
I now own the place in Colorado, which is nowhere as large as the new estate but I want it for the
winter sports and Bunny is in complete agreement. That place has 640 acres and this over three hundred so
I will be an American landowner with a thousand acres to my holdings. I should design a coat of arms and
have it painted on all my cars and put onto the notepaper but that is simply too much vanity and is risking
the attention of fate.
How interesting life can be!
One year a hunted war criminal and the next, a Virginia gentleman, soon slated to be a colonel in
the American General Staff, an advanced collector of very valuable, often significant art (almost all of
which was stolen but we don’t talk about that, do we?). A beautiful, well-bred and very intelligent wife and
companion, an excellent domestic staff and perhaps seven cars!
I can sit here and remember my very humble beginnings with great (and often unpleasant) clarity
and marvel about the ways of God and man!
Tuesday, 25 July 1950
I had Philby come by the club and had a brief meeting with him. Several of the members know
him and there was considerable polite back-and-forth but finally we got rid of the nuisances.
Conversation turned on the Korean business. It seems Moscow wants to know as much as they
can about Truman’s intentions and especially about the bomb. I gave P. a document, suitably doctored,
which shows we will do nothing more in Korea and will not drop the bomb on either northern Korea or on
China if it gets into the business.
I had this made myself and it has nothing to do with the CIA. It certainly
looks authentic and Philby has no reason to doubt it. Why? Well, if the war goes on there, my investments
will certainly prosper. It is not to my advantage to see a quick end to this business.
He, in turn, gave me information on British spies here. These are sources for the British, not the
usual FO (Foreign Office, ed.) types that come over here and spy. The sources can now be fed false
information to show American weakness and lack of determination to finish the course in Asia.
If Stalin gets this sort of information from a number of sources he will absolutely believe it. I
made my career dealing with Josef and I can now enhance my personal fortune doing the same thing.
Philby is drinking too much and did so at the club. He can handle his liquor well but drinking as
he does will eventually kill him and certainly affect his critical judgment. He drinks from early in the
morning and I only drink at night and then very little compared with my late war consumption.
Monday, 31 July 1950
The FBI is about to make the final arrests in the atomic bomb spy ring uncovered earlier.
Rosenberg, the leader of the ring, his wife and others involved. His wife’s brother was caught and
informed on all of them. I understand the case will be sent before a very ruthless judge who has been asked
to make an example of them. A brief conversation with Philby who is well aware of the ring and rather sad
it was caught but that is the way things go.
We really need a few public executions to terrify the others and I have made this point a number
of times, especially to Harry who agrees, but is concerned about international opinion. Who cares? Are we
worried about Russia? France? Italy? All are either controlled by the communists or are so sympathetic as
to be useless. The British are so weak and so infiltrated that their opinions are equally worthless.
I have been advocating rounding up all the British agents and hanging a few of them but of
course, this will never happen. We could do to them what they did in America during the war. When the
British agents here found someone who they disapproved of, they simply killed him. Hoover knows about
this and has given me some files on it. I suggested to him that I have a few of my people do the same to
them now and he merely smiled and said not to tell him any more about it.
Once I get a few more names from Philby, I will have a talk with Arno and see what can happen.
Philby was loudly complaining that the officials in London were posting a man named (Anthony,
ed.) Burgess here next month. P. tells me that Burgess is a “real horror” who is an outrageous homosexual
and a drunk with a terrible, destructive drive. P. says that America is the most important diplomatic posting
and why this lunatic is being sent here is not to be believed. Also says that Burgess is involved with Soviet
intelligence so we will have someone else to watch. Philby said he likes to put on women’s dresses and
pick up sailors off the streets so perhaps we can have him arrested for this behavior and then question him
privately...and very severely.
Of course, it is my observation that so many of the British are screaming fairies that one more
won’t make much of a difference in this town, which is full of domestic ones, so Burgess must be terrible
indeed to draw such comments from Philby. He said he went to university with Burgess and his conduct
was outrageous even then.
Maybe he will become Ambassador. I can just see him (I would rather not) at a dinner there
wearing a gown with jewels, rouge and lipstick! I doubt that something like that can be blackmailed but
perhaps Arno could flense him like a whale. P. says he is “nasty, smelly and fat.”
I wonder what there is about government service that draws these assholes to it like flies to pig
shit? There were hundreds in Berlin before Hitler came to power and I know that there must be thousands
in England. Washington has enough to fill the sewers of Paris and that is one of the reasons why I will be
happy to get down into the country.
August is always the worst month in Washington and I will be happy to get to Virginia and see
about the house. I bought it, of course, and everyone here is very happy except one of the servants, one of
my own from Germany, who has a girl friend here. He came to see me, looking very sad, and mentioned
his true love and how much she meant to him. I was sympathetic and because he is a good man, I offered to
hire her as well so now all is joy here.
The packing, crating and moving will be an enormous project but the goal makes it worthwhile.
Bunny found an interior decorator who runs around like his legs were tied together at the knees
and waves his arms around like an Italian tenor in a Verdi opera. She wants him to oversee the decorations
and he has good taste, except no doubt, in his choice of bed partners. And they are so expensive and
difficult to deal with.
“Oh no, dear, that has to go there! Oh, and this just won’t do at all!”
I will let her do that part. We can get married either here or down in Virginia. She wants to get
married here but on that, I am firm. I do not want the zoo from the CIA to pollute my wedding. They
would all get drunk, go into the garden and plot to murder the King of the Belgians because someone
thinks he might be a communist agent.
Aunt is not happy. Aunt, I find out, does not have as much money as I thought.
The house down the street, the limousine and all that belong to the estate and Bunny is one of two
beneficiaries of the trust, which keeps aunt in nice things. Well, she is an interesting old lady and will stay
where she is. Bunny has plenty of money so I informed her that she could spend it on her horses, which she
agrees to.
I refuse to get up on a horse.
Next week, Bunny and I will go to New York to see about additional furniture. We are going to
take everything out of this house and quite a bit from hers. I don’t think aunt is overly happy but she has
plenty to keep her happy.
I told Bunny to let her keep the family pictures because, frankly, most of them look like people
with gland disorders. I didn’t tell her that, naturally.
I doubt if Truman would come down there but he might after all.
There is one room which could do duty as a ball room but people don’t have formal dances these
days so I plan to turn it into a room with all of the Imperial Russian artifacts.
Tuesday, 1 August 1950.
Large Otto (Skorzeny, ed.) will be here the first week of August to confer with Wisner and others
and we will all get together. Angleton is concerned that someone might notice him (after all, Otto is huge
and badly scarred from his student days) so we will meet on a boat out on the river. We can dine (and
Wisner can drink himself into his usual stupor) and Otto and I can discuss the old days while the lights of
Washington glitter in the distance.
Otto will be bringing an Irishman with him whom everyone here seems to be genuinely terrified
of. He is a secret power in the IRA (Irish Republican Army, a group of Irish freedom fighters, ed.) who has
a reputation for violence and savagery that terrifies even the CIA. Of course they are only theoretical
murderers. I can’t imagine any of them actually killing anyone and most of them would wet their pants if
they had to witness one of their assassination projects. I should like to meet this holy terror and probably
will.
Bunny and I have picked out a good deal of furniture, both from Washington and the showrooms
of New York. There is a gang of workers painting, polishing, mending and such in Virginia and we have
postponed our wedding until the first day of September. The house should be done by then and even now;
my people are starting to crate everything. The back terrace is piled high with lumber, a saw and such so all
day long we hear the sounds of hammering and the scream of the saw.
Maxl knows something is going on and looks at me very anxiously with his brown eyes but I keep
talking to him and I know he trusts me. I think he will have a marvelous time down in Virginia and he and
Bunny get along very well. This is a good sign. If my dog doesn’t trust someone, neither do I.
No one at work knows I am moving and I intend to keep it that way. None of them would be of
the slightest help and hopefully, the new place is far enough away to discourage any casual visiting. This
Georgetown area is incestuous, believe me. Chattering gossips of both sexes, greed, ambition, lies,
licentiousness, drunkenness and a pathological thirst to be Someone Who Knows. That’s the way it is.
None of these ninnies wants to be left out or be thought of as someone not important enough to
know important people or events. “Oh yes,” one of them will say upon hearing of some state secret being
openly discussed at a raucous cocktail party at the Greek embassy, “Oh yes, I know all about that and only
last week the President told me...” But the President doesn’t even know them and wouldn’t want to. All the
Russians would have to do would be to give parties at their embassy and they wouldn’t need a spy ring at
all.
Gabble, gabble, just like a flock of geese. And most of them act like geese, too. Rip up everything
and shit all over it.
Sunday, 6 August 1950
A marvelous weekend was had by at least two of the participants.
Large Otto arrived here, along with his fearsome Irishman, and was put up at a safe house that I
am sure the Russians are watching.
After it got dark, we all got onto a nice excursion boat that was staffed with CIA men and went
for a nice cruise up and down the Potomac. As I thought, Otto has gained weight, Wisner got very drunk
and vomited all over some aide before falling down and I met the notorious Irishman.
Very interesting, the Irish. I found this one, who calls himself Fergus (but who isn’t) to be
exceptionally intelligent if somewhat cruel. Otto is working with the IRA now at the CIA’s request. The
Army got Otto out of detention camp in Germany after he had been acquitted of war crime charges and
then Wisner took him over.
It seems that the U.S. has financial interest in certain business properties in England and Ireland
and the CIA cut a deal with the very militant IRA to protect this property (the Irish love bombs).
The agreement?
We would train and arm the IRA provo wing and others of a like-minded attitude providing they
kept away from U.S. property. Otto is doing the job very well and Cummings is supplying the Irish with
British weapons he bought in India! How entertaining! The Irish are killing the British and their various
informers with their own weapons!
Fergus has a very sharp sense of humor, speaks very well but with an accent and I found him quite
delightful. He is a very literate man, well versed in history and invective, and once he heard that I was
German and detested the British, we at once became good friends.
Later, I spoke with both Fergus and Large Otto in private and found that Otto now has a new chief
of staff who is every bit as capable as Radl whom we used to call “Skorzeny’s Nanny.”
Otto is a decent fellow but not overly bright but his aide makes up for it. He and I discussed Irish
authors, playwrights and Schiller for some time and I have made up my mind I will invite him to visit me
in Virginia. We could hear Wisner cursing from the cabin when he woke up and found himself all alone
but no one paid any attention to him at all. His aide, covered with royal puke, was cleaning off his coat in
the lavatory and the rest of us were sitting out on the deck enjoying the cooler air and so on.
Otto asked me, in his Viennese German, if I thought Hitler was dead. I told him he knew the
answer to that but he winked and pointed to a CIA man who was listening from the other side of an
awning.
I assume the man spoke German or I would have suggested to Otto that we might see if the man
could swim. As it was, I got up, asked the man if we could help him and he looked very annoyed and
walked away. It’s too bad Arno wasn’t here or he and Fergus might have had some fun.
The rest of the trip was devoted to technical matters and some light humor. Wisner sobered up and
began to talk to himself. This is always a bad sign because Frank is a certifiable lunatic who will one day
end up at St. Elizabeth’s monkey house.
St. Elizabeth is an establishment for the insane in Washington. When prominent members of
Congress had alcoholic or psychotic lapses, they went to Bethesda where a whole floor had to be set aside
for their care and feeding. An entire floor was necessary because of the numbers of the afflicted.
Frank Wisner eventually went completely insane and had to be confined in such an institution. He
never fully recovered from the Hungarian Revolt fiasco and eventually blew his brains all over the ceiling
with a shotgun.
The American involvement with the IRA has never been discussed before in public. One of the
members whom Otto Skorzeny had trained was part of the team that blew up Lord Louis Mountbatten,
close relative of the British Queen.
At a later period, persons on the CIA’s Canada desk supplied the Quebec Librè movement with
weapons, money and assistance. The rationale behind this was that if Quebec separated from Canada, that
country would no doubt break up into various independent units and the U.S. could obtain British
Columbia, a province which was felt to be important both geographically and as a repository of useful
natural resources.
A number of plastique bombs were detonated, people were killed and civil disorder broke out but
that bothered no one at Langley because bombs were always being detonated, people were always being
killed and civil disorder was the natural by product of their manic experiments. If any of these projects
ever succeeded, no one has ever discovered it but when the inmates run the asylum, one cannot expect
order to follow.
Friday, 11 August 1950
It now appears that MacArthur is preparing to mount a counterattack against the Koreans very
soon now...probably early next month. This means that the war will certainly go on for a time. Philby has
said that this is certainly a proxy war on the part of Stalin, designed not to gain territory for Russia but to
preoccupy the U.S. in Asia to give him more freedom in Europe. Stalin has been balked in Greece and Italy
but still has hopes in getting some control in Italy and France. The Netherlands are out for him but Belgium
is a possibility.
In this case, Stalin is acting the fool. Josef was always a clever man who knew exactly how far he
could push before stopping. Now, he has guaranteed a buildup of American military power and has so
alarmed the public here that they will readily accept such a thing as universal conscription and a massive
increase in military spending. Stalin does not have the industrial base that they do here and Japan found
this out to her sorrow. Once aroused, the people here are formidable indeed.
Naturally, I have no complaints about this situation because I have been making serious
investments in American defense (or attack) industry. I have been privately told that there will be a huge
order placed for more, heavy U.S. tanks to fight the larger (and much better) Soviet ones.
My broker will place three orders tomorrow in this area. Who will get the contracts will be
revealed next week so we can wait until then to know exactly where to put the money.
So far, it is only the North Koreans who are fighting but the Chinese are very concerned with this
and as I see it, they ought to be pushed along in the right direction. Moscow is pushing them from one
direction, namely to prepare to support North Korea if the United States gets into that country. Russia does
not want American troops on her border so close to the vital naval bases at Vladivostok. They fought the
Japanese over this and they will fight anyone else.
On the other hand, Stalin knows that if he attacks this country, he will be destroyed and in spite of
his growing irrationality (due to his age I am told), he will not openly fight us. Truman would use the bomb
and Stalin really doesn’t have one. We know this but the public does not, and there is much talk about a
surprise Soviet attack here. Nonsense! Children have to get under their desks in school and one sees Civil
Defense material being published now.
This harkens back to the great war scare of 1948 which has its basis in actions on the part of Stalin
but was and has been greatly, and deliberately, enhanced by the military here. I should add, the military
coupled with the very aggressive Republicans in Congress.
The Gehlen report was complete fiction as we know, but it served to terrify Congress and the
people here with its talk about an imminent Soviet invasion.
There was the diplomatic detente between Finland and Russia; the mutual assistance pact. This
was taken together with the “seizure” of Czechoslovakia. The report was deliberately planned to play on
the fears these two Soviet events engendered here. Of course, Finland did not become an actual ally of
Stalin and the communists already had de facto control over the Czechs but here it was viewed as the
rumblings of a volcano about to erupt.
And what was the actual purpose of all this? I see this as all very simple.
Roosevelt had gotten, and maintained, his power through his courtship with the radicals in this
country. They were not a majority but were a very well organized and effective bloc that was able to keep
him in power. In order to keep their support, which was absolutely vital, Roosevelt opened the ranks of his
bureaucracies to their numbers, formally recognized Stalin’s repressive government, openly courted the
American radicals in the trade unions, especially the C.I.O, and furthermore, was publicly sympathetic to
Stalin and supported the Reds in Spain in 1936.
When Hitler was given power in Germany and at once began to pressure the Jewish community
there, many of its members fled to America and brought with them their (quite natural) hatred of Hitler and
National Socialism. These people gravitated to Hollywood, to the academic world and to the banking
community.
Very soon, all three of these areas began to systematically attack Germany and Hitler, and as
many of these people and their friends had gained Roosevelt’s ear, and very often, positions inside the
government, the President began to attack Germany at every opportunity.
We then had a union here of active communists and the Jewish community keeping Roosevelt
agitated against Germany. He didn’t care anything at all about Japan although left wing elements in the
government were anti-Japanese because they were very pro-Russian. As Russia and Japan were enemies,
the enemies of Russia were the enemies of Roosevelt and his left wing supporters.
At that time, England was the banking capitol of the world and her banks survived and expanded
on interest-bearing loans. England has always maintained that no other country on the continent of Europe
could ever challenge her financial and industrial might. Any nation that did so was destroyed. England
could not tolerate Napoleon’s protectionist attitude towards a growing French industry and she launched
into a war that ravaged Europe for many years. The same happened when Germany united, did away with
its internal trade barriers, and began a period of great economic expansion following 1870.
As British trade lost out to German trade, England decided to crush Germany and eventually did
so. Of course, she did herself terrible damage in the process but that in no way slowed her down.
Then, when it looked as if England had control of the economic situation on the continent, Hitler
came along and began another period of German economic expansion. It was his introduction of the barter
system coupled with his unfortunate anti-Semitism that guaranteed the active animosity of the British
bankers, an animosity that spread to their co-religionists in this country and led to a unified economic
attack against Germany.
When this did not prove to be successful because, like Napoleon, Hitler instituted his own
continental system, the next level of attack aimed at a military intervention and we know what happened
then.
Interestingly enough, the communists also became a party to this campaign although they then
became allied with the banking communities of the West.
Germany was strongly anti-communist and her official policy of anti-Semitisim was a two-fold
attack on Russia because so many of the leaders of the party and of Stalin’s government were Jewish.
There is a strong link between all Jewish communities throughout the world and it is an inter-nationalistic community that is loyal only to itself and never to the country in which it is located.
Communism was founded by these people and maintained by them so that an attack on both the Jews and
communism resulted in a very far-reaching network of bitter enemies being created.
I really do not think that if Hitler had not promulgated his anti-Jewish programs that it would have
mattered in the end, because of the animosity of the international banking community. All large banks, and
many small ones, are linked to each other and all consider each other’s problems as their own.
This situation is as old as civilization and the bankers have a centuries-old record of making and
breaking governments, emperors and kings who did not suit their needs. The Templars, great bankers of
their day, were destroyed by the French king who then took over the banking for himself.
Interestingly enough, the Jewish bankers in Czarist Russia gained too much power and the
nobility owed them too much money so the great pogroms of the late 19th century ensued, the grip of the
bankers on Russia’s economy was broken and many of its members were chased out of the country where
they ended up either in Germany or the United States.
We can see the power of the banks even in the postwar situation with Germany. Although a
number of shrill voices has been raised that all German industry should be destroyed forever, American
banks and corporations do not want this situation.
Therefore, Germany is forgiven her past and it will be business as usual. Many senior members of
Hitler’s party were punished but very few businessmen, and then only a token number. I know from my
own knowledge that many American firms did business with us up until the last days of the war and were
eager to continue once Roosevelt was dead.
Roosevelt's and Hitlers come and go but business abides and in the end, it will win. Business, after
all, made huge profits from the last war, saw its income decrease with the advent of peace and is now
pushing to keep things going the way they are right now. None of the business people, like Behn or some
of my new friends at the Metropolitan Club, want another world war so soon after the last but rearmament
and limited military engagements are considered excellent for business all the way around.
Once Truman came to power, he realized very quickly that he could not continue to do business
with Russia the way Roosevelt had. He was not liberal, did not like the strange people like Wallace who
represented them, and realized from first-hand experience with Stalin (at Potsdam) that he could get
nowhere with him.
Stalin also realized this and began to push here and there, just to see how weak Truman might be.
Truman was not, as witness the Berlin Air-lift, and Stalin was thwarted in his expansionist programs. He
still had a formidable body of supporters in America and he turned to them to see what he could
accomplish.
Truman stopped the destruction of Germany, blocked Eisenhower’s attempts to implement the so called
Morgenthau Plan which Eisenhower himself had suggested, sent food and medical aid to Germany
and then set up a plan to assist all of Europe to recover from the war.
This was absolutely anathema to Stalin whose communist agents thrived on poverty and
discontent and he did what he could to discredit Truman. Aside from his bureaucratic assistants in place,
his biggest weapons were the trade unions that were filled with active and very aggressive communists.
Truman did not want to alienate these unions, whose support was vital to the needs of the
Democratic Party but at the same time, he would not tolerate the situation that Roosevelt engendered. He
tried to walk a fine line between anti-communism, which was quickly growing in this country, and the
union support. The bankers, aside from the Jewish ones, were not particularly against him and looked with
favor on the rebuilding of the European social and business infrastructure.
But there were rumblings from Hollywood as well as the trade unions and he was not able to walk
a fine line for very long. Soon, he made it clear that if there was any political sabotage from the far left, he
would retaliate very severely.
The arrogance of this group was astounding but perhaps understandable considering how
Roosevelt had paid active court to them for twelve years. They say that times change and we must change
with them but most people do not understand this and simply go on their way, doing what they have done
for years.
Truman coupled his European recovery program with a very limited movement against
communists in America. One thing Truman did not do, nor ever will, was to attack or attempt to expose the
very large number of communists that are now entrenched in the government. He has no problem with
McCarthy’s trouble making but has been very stubborn about letting anyone get into the personnel files of
government employees.
He has been talked to about this reluctance and is slowly moving away from his original position
but I must say, very slowly. All of this started very slowly but has gained a terrible momentum which will
overcome Truman and the rest of us before it runs its course. Strangely enough, the strongest opponent of
the McCarthy efforts to slash into the communists in government has been Colonel Hoover! In talks with
me, he has indicated that this is a bad idea and can lead to serious problems in this country if allowed to
continue unchecked.
I agree with him but have pointed out that a heightened awareness of the presence of communists
would nullify their political efforts to attempt to regain power. Wallace is politically dead, thank God, but
there are others waiting in the wings to come onto the stage with various “progressive” movements, and all
of these ought to be set a very serious example. The Rosenberg atom spy ring has been exposed although I
am told that several high-level scientists in the program have been officially left alone because they are far
too valuable to the bomb program to tamper with.
I myself had a similar problem after the July 20 business when I was investigating the High
Command. This bunch was full of anti-Hitler people and some of them assisted in the dirty business.
However, we simply could not arrest them all because it would have put the military out of business at a
very critical period in our history. One has to exercise a great deal of caution at times.
This business has now gotten out of hand and I am interested to see where it will go. Of course I
will benefit from it and at present, I am the one expert on communist espionage and infiltration in this
country. And they all know it, so for the time being I am safe enough. If Stalin dies, as he is bound to, and
Russia collapses, then my services will no longer be needed and it will be incumbent on me to make my
plans for a quick removal from danger now. Money and identification is not a problem but my final
destination is.
I cannot go to any country where this country has any power because they would probably come
after me and the other countries are filthy, poverty-stricken backwaters of society.
Probably the best course is to get my hands on as much incriminating material on the top people
as I can and then let them know about it. The Karlsefni business appears to be the very best and it is
working, as I well know from my friends at the CIA offices. They are terrified of this man (myself) who
seems to know so much about them.
They do not tell me anything about him but I do read the confidential (and secret) paperwork here.
They think he might be in Formosa and are frantically looking for him there so as to be able to murder him
after they force him to give up his files.
They should really look down the hall on that one.
Sunday, 13 August 1950
Wallace has now left his Progressive Party because he publicly supports the intervention in Korea.
There wasn’t much left of his party anyway and there has been a great deal of pressure put on him lately.
Truman called him a communist and the war in Korea, (a war and not a “police action”) has done terrible
damage to the friends of the peace-loving Soviet Union. I believe that if such a war did not begin by the
actions of the communists, it would have been necessary for us to instigate one.
Wars have a wonderful unifying effect on a dissident population. I recall, even though I was
young at the time, the effect the declaration of war by Germany in 1914 had on the left wing in the
Reichstag. Much unity...for a time. It will be that way here for a brief period and then the left wing, seeing
its friends being shot at, will clamor for peace. Truman can’t give it to them because he has declared
himself to be the head of the war party and cannot back down.
He is now being faced with a military, not a civilian, problem. That problem now is: where to stop
in the event this country manages to shove the enemy back to their own borders? A “police action” should
logically stop when the invaders have been expelled but the military will see this as a chance for greater
glory and they will wish to pursue their new enemy into his own country.
Monday, 21 August 1950
I have heard from Sophie, through the cut outs, that she is not happy with her current situation.
She wants more money, which I can certainly supply, and wants me to visit her! Mad woman! They are
watching the house as I well know and a recent contact has told me that the Russians are also watching.
Interestingly enough, my contact, Viktor, is an NKVD man who is here in Washington disguised as a
Canadian businessman connected to their trade mission! How interesting to talk to another professional
again and one from the enemy camp. A very clever man, this one. I met him at the club last week where he
was a guest. I could see that he wanted to talk to me so I made myself available and we had a nice chat in
the library.
I spotted him as a Russian immediately. He speaks perfect English...too perfect...but his questions
tended to give him away. If you listen to someone very carefully, you can find out exactly what they want
from you. In this case, he was probing me. He has seen me with Behn and others, knows I am Swiss, or has
been told this, and is curious. Viktor also speaks German and knows the difference between German and
Swiss dialects. I, on the other hand, speak Russian and we can both spot the differences in our fronts.
Entertaining. Finally, yesterday, we had another chat and this time we decided to stop wasting time and get
right down to business.
He knows who I am and I know who he is and there we sat, smoking good cigars and talking shop
with each other. V. knows Philby who I suspect has tipped him off but at this level, who cares? The public
has no idea of the fact that people like V. and myself are purely professional and are not interested in
emotional ideology.
Neither one of us has the slightest intention of exposing the other. That would be unprofessional
and rude so we sit and chat about various matters. His family is in Moscow, no doubt as hostages for his
good behavior, and mine is in Pasing because I can’t go back and frankly, don’t want to.
V. shares my contempt for the British who he says are unprincipled whores, kissing and sucking
up to both the Russians and ourselves.
After the cigars, a very good game of chess. He is hard to beat; Russians are superb chess players,
but I beat him. We will have to play again and when we were leaving the club, V. made some sly comment
about the difference between the home in Pasing and my place in Georgetown.
I told him he should come by sometime for a drink and a game of chess but considering that a
good part of the first floor is furnished with stolen works of art from his country, I doubt if my house
would be a good idea and besides, the place is now empty. At least he doesn’t know that much and because
I haven’t told Philby that I have moved, Victor is dealing with stale coffee.
The Soviets would beat the Americans with my presence here if it would benefit them but no
doubt they think to turn me around to work for them. This, of course, would never happen but maybe I can
turn Viktor to work for me! Stranger things have happened and he is the best chess player I have found
since I came here. Those at the CIA who think they are so clever play like young children and are so easy
to beat that the games are not entertainment whatsoever.
I mentioned this to Bunny and she thought it was most entertaining and that we ought to cultivate
him.
I told her that as we were getting married next week, I disapproved of bringing strange men into
the house, even if it is in the line of business. I told her that we had agreed to keep the business away from
the house but women are peculiar after all.
Speaking of the wedding, the invitations have been sent out to her relatives and my staff and those
few among my co-workers who would be infuriated not to have been invited. One takes the good along
with the bad!
The house is now almost completely redecorated and furnished and I must agree with Bunny that
the place looks very grand indeed. One can get used to luxury very quickly and I was thinking of the cold water
apartment I once occupied in Berlin. Comparisons are often odious but in this case, quite pleasant.
Bunny is not Catholic but I have insisted on being married in the Church and on this issue, we are
in agreement. One of my friends from Georgetown will perform the services although my new friend,
Cardinal Spellman, would have been more impressive.
The hothouses will supply the flowers; Hayes is supplying the music and my kitchens will supply
the food and wines.
Saturday, 2 September 1950
Now I am a happily (I sincerely hope...not like the last time) married man!
Now what Bunny and I do is legal. Maybe that will rob it of some of the forbidden fun but a
pleasant home is much to be desired.
Such a great deal of fuss which could be accomplished in a simple Washington court room but
Bunny and her aunt had their hearts set on an elaborate ceremony and I must say, they certainly had it.
All of her friends, of course (simply showing off her catch of the day) and my staff, aunts, cousins
and so on. The place smelled like a funeral and the women were weeping. The men were shaking my hand
because, after all, Bunny is very attractive as well as very rich, and so on.
The service was held in the main drawing room and afterwards, we all adjourned to a huge buffet
(I prefer these to a sit-down dinner) in the gallery. A string orchestra was playing Mozart. Champagne,
very good vintages I regret to say, was vanishing at an alarming rate but there were no drunken rampages
such as I have witnessed at the parties of a number of my CIA friends. My guests know how to hold their
liquor.
An amusing incident with my new bosom friend, Viktor. He behaved like a proper Canadian
businessman until he saw some of my Russian treasures and then became somewhat agitated. I took him by
the arm and showed him other treasures that had come from France.
His comment? Typically Russian. “But these pieces are only stolen from rich Jews. The other
pieces are stolen from our state museums!”
Like most Russians, Viktor does not like Jews and said to me later, “At least we did have some
things in common with the Nazis. We both hate Jews.”
Which was typical and amusing because I do not hate Jews. I don’t have any on my staff nor do I
work with any at the CIA (who doesn’t have many at all and no one in the inner circles) but I have better
things to do than to persecute Jews. We can let the Republicans and the Army people do that.
And there were two Generals, one Colonel, one Admiral (retired) and a number of lesser ranks in
attendance.
Bunny and I made the circle of the guests; stopping here and there to talk to people she or I knew.
Very much like a royal court. A levee indeed! King Heinrich and his royal consort receiving the nobility.
And tables full of very expensive gifts, mostly ornate silver pieces, only a few of which are plate.
Our rings are very simple affairs but the engagement ring I gave her has a one-carat square cut
emerald mounted in platinum. Old (again, another Imperial Russian piece) but very elegant. There is a
matching emerald and diamond choker (or dog collar as Bunny calls it), which I wanted her to wear, but
we both decided that it was too ornate for the occasion. It will take days to clean up the mess here and I
will stay and supervise.
Bunny is getting more items from her aunt’s place and she tells me that my place is being cleaned
up and will be put onto the market soon. I outgrew it soon enough, but this place is a small kingdom and
ought to absorb quite a bit of art.
It certainly is much cooler here than in the District and we are going to rebuild the old chapel on
the roadside. My father used to do that for a living and I have acquired a bit of knowledge in that area. It
obviously was for a Protestant family and I will convert it to a Catholic chapel, but I doubt if I will have a
chaplain on my staff. Now if I could get Bunny to convert, that might be different. I do have a number of
very valuable relics such as altarpieces, plates and so on, which would do much better in a church than in
my house.
Wednesday, 6 September 1950
Autumn is coming by small steps. It will be very beautiful here then. I am used to four seasons,
which we do not have in Washington, but does happen here. Hoover is expanding his FBI to have a total of
5,000 agents. I think he will get the funds for this because everyone on the Hill is afraid of what Hoover
has in his files! Truman has asked for this and it ought to go through. Hoover says he can arrest 12,000 of
the most important communists here if he gets the money. Of course, this is all nonsense and nothing of the
sort will happen but this is pressure against Congress that will certainly work.
Viktor (that is his real name, not the one he uses here) and I had a good laugh over this nonsense.
I think it would be entertaining to have V. and P (hilby, ed.) to dinner at the club next week. They both
know each other but no one is supposed to be aware of this.
A small tableaux to entertain me.
I have met, albeit briefly, this Burgess fellow P. has been complaining about and I can see why P.
hates him. Why such a creature was ever sent to their Embassy here is beyond all of us. He is a fat, dirty,
screaming homosexual who does not hide his tastes as he ought to and flounces around like our interior
decorator. I would introduce them but Burgess likes truck drivers and sailors so he and Andre would
probably scratch each other’s eyes out after a duel with purses. B. was probably getting fellatio, or giving
it, to someone in the FO (British Foreign Office, ed.).
I will have to talk to Fergus about this the next time I see him.
Various anti-communist measures are moving about in the legislature; there have been a number
of strikes which is labor’s way of warning everyone that they are still powerful. Truman will have to move
against them if it gets any worse. He has already alienated some of their more radical leaders who have
given up on him as a second Roosevelt. Make them or break them, I say.
The House is in recess from the 1st through the 11th and things are very quiet in the District. I
have been in to work twice and am doing much more here. I don’t have to put up with the nonsense and
uproar and can accomplish a great deal more.
Sunday, 17 September 1950
MacArthur has made a brilliant move, landing troops at Inchon deep in the rear of the North
Korean forces. The Koreans are in a state of shock and are being pushed back everywhere. Good news, but
the war mustn’t end too quickly.
I never read the sports page but I now always read the financial pages. I get a copy of the New
York Times which has the best coverage and I check the stock prices daily. Also, I am having a ticker put
in down here in my study so I can keep up with what is happening.
next...
Thursday, 21 September 1950(123)
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