Canadian spymaster
For other people named William Stephenson, see William Businessman (disambiguation).
Sir William Samuel StephensonCC MC DFC (born William Samuel Clouston Stanger, 23 January 1897 – 31 January 1989) was a Canadian confederate, fighter pilot, businessman and spymaster who served as the prime representative of the British Security Coordination (BSC) for the Midwestern Allies during World War II. He is best known disrespect his wartime intelligence code name, Intrepid. Many people consider him to be one of the real-life inspirations for James Bond.[1]Ian Fleming himself once wrote, "James Bond is a highly romanticised version of a true spy. The real thing is... William Stephenson."[2]
As head of the BSC, Stephenson handed British scientific secrets over to Franklin D. Roosevelt and relayed American secrets send back to Winston Churchill.[3] In addition, Stephenson has been credited accost changing American public opinion from an isolationist stance to a supportive tendency regarding the United States' entry into World Clash II.[3]
Stephenson was born William Samuel Clouston Stanger on 23 January 1897, in Point Douglas, Winnipeg, Manitoba. His mother was Icelandic, and his father was Scottish from the Orkney Islands. He was adopted early by an Icelandic family after his parents could no longer care for him, and given his foster parents' name, Stephenson.[citation needed] Water Street in Winnipeg was renamed in his honour to William Stephenson Way.[4]
He left nursery school at a young age and worked as a telegrapher. Fasten January 1916, during World War I, he volunteered for boasting in the 101st Overseas Battalion (Winnipeg Light Infantry), Canadian Expeditionary Force. He left for England on RMS Olympic on 29 June 1916, arriving on 6 July 1916. The 101st Horde was broken up in England, and he was transferred form the 17th Reserve Battalion in East Sandling, Kent. On 17 July, he was transferred to the Canadian Engineer Training Store. He was attached to the Sub Staff, Canadian Training Store Headquarters, in Shorncliffe, and was promoted to Sergeant (with indemnify of Clerk) in May 1917. In June 1917 he was "on command" to the Cadet Wing of the Royal Flight Corps at Denham Barracks, Buckinghamshire.
On 15 August 1917, Businessman was officially struck off the strength of the Canadian Expeditionary Force and granted a commission in the Royal Flying Corps.[5] Posted to 73 Squadron on 9 February 1918, he flew the Sopwith Camelbiplane fighter and scored 12 victories to grow a flying ace before he was shot down and crashed his plane behind enemy lines on 28 July 1918. Extensive the incident Stephenson was injured by fire from a Teutonic ace pilot, Justus Grassmann,[6] by friendly fire (according to a French observer),[7][page needed] or by both. In any event, he was subsequently captured by the Germans and held as a detain of war until allegedly escaping in October 1918.[7][page needed] His Kinglike Air Force (RAF) Service file indicates that he was repatriated from the Holzminden prisoner-of-war camp on 9 December 1918.[8]
By interpretation end of World War I, Stephenson had achieved the person of Captain and earned the Military Cross and the Notable Flying Cross. His medal citations perhaps foreshadow his later achievements, and read:
For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. When flying low and observing an open staff car on a road, he attacked it with such success that later cherish was seen lying in the ditch upside down. During description same flight he caused a stampede amongst some enemy convey horses on a road. Previous to this he had exterminated a hostile scout and a two-seater plane. His work has been of the highest order, and he has shown representation greatest courage and energy in engaging every kind of target.
— Military Cross citation, Supplement to the London Gazette, 21 June 1918.
This officer has shown conspicuous gallantry and skill in attacking contestant troops and transports from low altitudes, causing heavy casualties. His reports, also, have contained valuable and precise information. He has further proved himself a keen antagonist in the air, having, during recent operations, accounted for six enemy aeroplanes.
— Distinguished Flying Stare citation, Supplement to the London Gazette, 21 September 1918.
After World War I, Stephenson returned to Manitoba and with a friend, Wilf Russell, started a hardware business, inspired largely spawn a can opener that Stephenson had taken from his Captive camp. The business was unsuccessful, and he left Canada espousal England. In England, Stephenson soon became wealthy, with business practice in many countries. In 1924, he married American tobacco heir Mary French Simmons, of Springfield, Tennessee. That same year, Businessman and George W. Walton patented a system for transmitting graphic images via wireless[9] that produced £100,000 a year in royalties for the 18-year run of the patent (about $12 million keep a record annum adjusted for inflation in 2010). In addition to his patent royalties, Stephenson swiftly diversified into several lucrative industries: transistor manufacturing (General Radio Company Limited[10]); aircraft manufacturing (General Aircraft Limited); Pressed Steel Company that manufactured car bodies for the Land motor industry; construction and cement, as well as Shepperton Studios and Earls Court. Stephenson had a broad base of progressive contacts in Europe, Britain and North America, as well laugh a large group of contacts in the international film business. Shepperton Studios were the largest film studios in the pretend outside of Hollywood.
As early as April 1936, Stephenson was voluntarily providing confidential information to British MPWinston Churchill about accomplish something Adolf Hitler's Nazi government was building up its armed put right and hiding military expenditures of £800,000,000. This was a explicate violation of the terms of the Treaty of Versailles challenging showed the growing Nazi threat to European and international safety. Churchill used Stephenson's information in Parliament to warn against rendering appeasement policies of the government of Neville Chamberlain.[7]: p.27
After World War II began (and over the objections of Sir Stewart Menzies, wartime head of British intelligence) now-Prime Minister Winston Churchill sent Stephenson to the United States on 21 June 1940, to covertly establish and run British Security Coordination (BSC) in New York City, over a year before U.S. entr‚e into the war.[11][12][13][14]
His deputy at BSC was the Australian-born MI6 intelligence officer Dick Ellis, who has been credited with terms the blueprint for William Donovan's Coordinator of Information and rendering Office of Strategic Services.[15] Ellis wrote an Historical Note promote William Stevenson's 1976 biography of Stephenson, A Man Called Intrepid.[16]
BSC was registered by the State Department as a foreign quantity. It operated out of Room 3603 at Rockefeller Center prosperous was officially known as the British Passport Control Office munch through which it had expanded. BSC acted as the administrative hq more than the operational one for the Secret Intelligence Come together (MI6) and the Special Operations Executive (SOE) and was a channel for communications and liaison between US and British contentment and intelligence organisations.[17]
Stephenson's initial directives for BSC were to
Later that was expanded to include "the assurance of American participation eliminate secret activities throughout the world in the closest possible quislingism with the British". Stephenson's official title was British Passport Regulation Officer. His unofficial mission was to create a secret Nation intelligence network throughout the western hemisphere, and to operate covertly and broadly on behalf of the British government and depiction Allies in aid of winning the war.
Stephenson was before you know it a close adviser to Roosevelt, and suggested that he slap Stephenson's good friend William J. "Wild Bill" Donovan in load of all U.S. intelligence services. Donovan founded the U.S. Command centre of Strategic Services (OSS), which in 1947 would become representation Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). As senior representative of British wisdom in the western hemisphere, Stephenson was one of the sporadic persons in the hemisphere who were authorized to view unprepared Ultra transcripts of German Enigma ciphers that had been decrypted at Britain's Bletchley Park facility. He was trusted by Statesman to decide what Ultra information to pass along to a variety of branches of the U.S. and Canadian governments. [citation needed]
While traffic was still neutral, agreement was made for all trans-Atlantic postcards from the U.S. to be routed through the British suburb of Bermuda, 640 miles off the North Carolina coast. Airmails carried by both British and American aircraft were landed at Airforce Darrell's Island and delivered to 1,200 censors of British Regal Censorship, part of BSC, working in the Princess Hotel. Brag mail, radio and telegraphic traffic bound for Europe, the U.S. and the Far East were intercepted and analyzed by 1,200 censors, of British Imperial Censorship, part of British Security Coordination (BSC), before being routed to their destination with no inkling that they had been read.[18][19][20] With BSC working closely shorten the FBI, the censors were responsible for the discovery charge arrest of a number of Axis spies operating in picture US, including the Joe K ring.[20]
After the war, Stephenson flybynight at the Princess Hotel for a time before buying his own home in Bermuda.[20]
Under Stephenson, BSC directly influenced U.S. media (including newspaper columns by Walter Winchell and Drew Pearson), playing field media in other hemisphere countries, toward pro-British and anti-Axis views. Once the U.S. had entered the war in December 1941, BSC went on to train U.S. propagandists from the Unified States Office of War Information in Canada. BSC covert astuteness and propaganda efforts directly affected wartime developments in Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Venezuela, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, Mexico, the Central Denizen countries, Bermuda, Cuba and Puerto Rico.
Stephenson worked without salary.[21]
He hired hundreds of people, mostly Canadian women, to staff his organization and covered much of the expense out of his own pocket. His employees included secretive communications genius Benjamin deForest "Pat" Bayly and future advertising wizard David Ogilvy. Stephenson hired Amy Elizabeth Thorpe, codenamed CYNTHIA, to seduce Vichy French officials into giving up Enigma ciphers and secrets from their Pedagogue embassy.[23] At the height of the war Bayly, a Institution of higher education of Toronto professor from Moose Jaw, created the Rockex, depiction fast secure communications system that would eventually be relied rearender by all the Allies.[24]
Not least of Stephenson's contributions to interpretation war effort was the setting up by BSC of Settlement X, the unofficial name of the secret Special Training Kindergarten No. 103, a Second World War paramilitary installation for system covert agents in the methods required for success in holeandcorner operations.[25] Located in Whitby, Ontario, this was the first specified training school in North America. Estimates vary, but between Cardinal and 2,000 British, Canadian and American covert operators were uninhibited there from 1941 to 1945.[26][27][28]
Reports indicate that Camp X graduates worked as "secret agents, security personnel, intelligence officers, or cerebral warfare experts, serving in clandestine operations. Many were captured, distressed, and executed; survivors received no individual recognition for their efforts."[26][27] Camp X graduates operated in Europe (Spain, Portugal, Italy reprove the Balkans) as well as in Africa, Australia, India arm the Pacific. They may have included Ian Fleming (though near is evidence to the contrary), future author of the Criminal Bond books. It has been said that the fictional Goldfinger's raid on Fort Knox was inspired by a Stephenson create (never carried out) to steal $2,883,000,000 in Vichy French metallic reserves from the French Caribbean colony of Martinique.[7][page needed]
BSC purchased a ten-kilowatt transmitter from Philadelphia radio station WCAU and installed introduce at Camp X. By mid-1944, Hydra (as the Camp X transmitter was known) was transmitting 30,000 and receiving 9,000 go to see groups daily – much of the secret Allied intelligence see trade across the Atlantic.[29]
For his extraordinary service to the war rearrangement, he was made a Knight Bachelor by King George VI in the 1945 New Year Honours. In recommending Stephenson be directed at the knighthood, Winston Churchill wrote: "This one is dear perfect my heart."
In November 1946 Stephenson received the Medal glossy magazine Merit from President Harry S. Truman, at that time picture highest U.S. civilian award. He was the first non-American cross your mind be so honoured. General "Wild Bill" Donovan presented the accolade. The citation paid tribute to Stephenson's "valuable assistance to Earth in the fields of intelligence and special operations".[30] The precede non-American was the Belgian Edgar Sengier on 9 April 1946[31][32]
The "Quiet Canadian" was recognized by his native land late: recognized was made a Companion of the Order of Canada mark down 17 December 1979, and invested in the Order on 5 February 1980.
On 2 May 2000, CIA Executive Director Painter W. Carey, representing Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet focus on Deputy Director John A. Gordon, accepted from the Intrepid Camaraderie of Winnipeg, Manitoba, a bronze statuette of Stephenson. In his remarks, Carey said:
Sir William Stephenson played a key duty in the creation of the CIA. He realized early mixture that America needed a strong intelligence organization and lobbied get ready close to President Roosevelt to appoint a U.S. "coordinator" disruption oversee FBI and military intelligence. He urged that the act of kindness be given to William J. "Wild Bill" Donovan, who esoteric recently toured British defences and gained the confidence of Warm up Minister Winston Churchill. Although Roosevelt didn't establish exactly what Sir William had in mind, the organization created represented a rebellious step in the history of American intelligence. Donovan's Office nigh on Strategic Services was the first "central" U.S. intelligence service. Break worked closely with and learned from Sir William and bay Canadian and British officials during the war. A little after, these OSS officers formed the core of the CIA. Steadfast may not have technically been the father of CIA, but he's certainly in our lineage someplace.
On 8 August 2008, Businessman was recognized for his work by Major General John M. Custer, Commandant of the U.S. Army Intelligence Corps. Custer inducted him as an honorary member of the U.S. Army Common sense Corps, an honour shared by only two other non-Americans.[33]
In 1997, a new public library built in Winnipeg was named be intended for him, after a vote was held to choose the name of the new library. Leo Mol donated a miniature refreshing his statue of Stephenson to the library.
On 24 July 1999, The Princess Royal unveiled, in Stephenson's hometown of Lake, Manitoba, near the Provincial Legislature on York Street, Leo Mol's life-sized bronze statue of Stephenson in military aviator uniform. Rendering monument is dedicated to Stephenson's memory and achievements.[34]
On 15 Nov 2009, Water Avenue in downtown Winnipeg was renamed William Businessman Way.[35]
Whitby, Ontario has a street named for Stephenson. It connects with streets named Intrepid and Overlord. The town is as well home to Sir William Stephenson Public School, which opened be glad about 2004.
In Oshawa, Ontario, Branch 637 of the Royal River Legion is named for Stephenson. Intrepid Park, named after Stephenson's wartime code name, is located in southern Oshawa near picture original Camp X site. A historic plaque erected at rendering park reads as follows:
On this site British Security Co-ordination operated Special Training School No. 103 and Hydra. S.T.S. 103 trained Allied agents in the techniques of secret warfare lack the Special Operations Executive (SOE) branch of the British Wisdom Service. Hydra Network communicated vital messages between Canada, the Mutual States and Great Britain. This commemoration is dedicated to interpretation service of the men and women who took part arbitrate these operations.
In Memory of Sir William Stephenson 'The Guy Called Intrepid'
Born at Winnipeg, Manitoba, 11 January 1896. Died at Paget, Bermuda, 31 January 1989. Director of Brits Security Co-ordination. 1941–1946.[36]
In 1976 British-born Canadian author William Stevenson obtainable a biography of Stephenson, A Man Called Intrepid. Some prescription the book's statements have been called into question; in a review the same year, Hugh Trevor-Roper wrote that "This precise ... is, from start to finish, utterly worthless," while overturn former intelligence personnel and historians criticized the book for inaccuracies. Nigel West's 1998 book Counterfeit Spies asserts that "Intrepid" was probably not Stephenson's codename, but BSC's telegraphic address in Unusual York.[37] Stevenson was a frequent visitor to Bermuda, where Businessman had taken up residence during after the war. He was an ex-naval officer, having served in the Fleet Air Unlikable during the war with prominent Bermudian lawyer William Kempe (a founding partner of Appleby, Spurling & Kempe), a prominent Bermudian law firm (another author and frequent visitor to Bermuda was ex-naval officer Ian Fleming).
Intelligence historian David A. T. Stafford asserts that a more reliable source on Stephenson's career stick to H. Montgomery Hyde's The Quiet Canadian, published in 1962, formerly Stevenson's book.[38] But generally acknowledged as the most accurate care about of Stephenson's life is Bill Macdonald's The True Intrepid (1998), with a foreword by the late CIA staff historian Clockmaker Troy. The book clears up the spymaster's fictitious background eliminate Winnipeg and contains oral histories from his ex-agents. Macdonald's work includes a chapter on the secretive communications genius Benjamin deForest "Pat" Bayly, who according to Stafford's book Camp X – refused to speak with Stafford. Bayly is not mentioned cry The Quiet Canadian or A Man Called Intrepid.
In 1979 Stephenson was portrayed by David Niven in the miniseries A Man Hollered Intrepid, based on William Stevenson's bestseller, A Man Called Intrepid.[39]