Thursday, August 14, 2008

Julia Child Was a WWII Spy



The secret came out Thursday, all of the names and previously classified files identifying nearly 24,000 spies who formed the first centralized intelligence effort by the United States. The National Archives, which this week released a list of the names found in the records, will make available for the first time all 750,000 pages identifying the vast spy network of military and civilian operatives.

They were soldiers, actors, historians, lawyers, athletes, professors, reporters. But for several years during World War II, they were known simply as the OSS. They studied military plans, created propaganda, infiltrated enemy ranks and stirred resistance among foreign troops.
Among the more than 35,000 OSS personnel files are applications, commendations and handwritten notes identifying young recruits who, like Child, Goldberg and Berg, earned greater acclaim in other fields — Arthur Schlesinger Jr., a historian and special assistant to President Kennedy; Sterling Hayden, a film and television actor whose work included a role in "The Godfather"; and Thomas Braden, an author whose "Eight Is Enough" book inspired the 1970s television series.
Here's the rest of the article.

3 comments:

Naomi said...

this is totally intriguing! Julia Childs always seemed like a really practical person and apparently she was. Saw something that needed to be done, and stepped in, from the sounds of this.

Prunella Jones said...

And she could cook a damn good chicken. What a goddess she was!

D. Prince said...

I know! I'm feeling pretty useless at the moment.