Wild Bill Donovan Thesis

Major General William “Wild Bill” Donovan is a true American hero who has left a legacy behind that has withstood the tests of time. A man who began with a humble upbringing, Donovan dedicated his entire adult life in service to the United States. He was a man who upheld the law and fought for what was right, regardless of the opinions of others. Major General Donovan served in both World Wars, during which he earned the Nation’s four highest honors. He was a visionary who established the basic framework that inevitably became today’s modern Intelligence Community, and truly understood that the US had to remain ever vigilant in order to prosper. Even after his service in the US Army, Donovan continued to serve the US in advisory roles to the

president, and did so until five years prior to his death. William Donovan’s dedication to selfless service and his personal courage to do what he believed was right in the face of adversity have become an inspiration for all Soldiers to emulate. My intention with this paper is to examine the life and achievements of Donovan and demonstrate the impact that he has had on the type of legacy that I hope to leave behind as a leader.
William Joseph Donovan was born on New Years Day, 1883, in Buffalo, NY, to Timothy and Anna Letitia Donovan. Timothy and Anna were the children of Irish immigrants who, through hard work and self-education, were able to elevate themselves to being considered one of Buffalo’s prominent families. William’s parents believed in stern discipline, and sought to impart their better features upon their oldest son: style and etiquette from Anna, a sense of duty and honor to country and clan from Timothy. Both parents greatly emphasized the importance of formal education, which saw William enrolled into the Saint Joseph’s Collegiate Institute at the age of thirteen. It was here that Donovan learned public speaking, debating, and athletic competition, three skills that would play important roles throughout his life. In 1899, William enrolled in Niagara University, where he was eventually convinced to pursue a career in the legal field and was recommended to attend Columbia College in New York City. After receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree, he promptly enrolled in Columbia Law School and completed his education there within two years. He quickly began a career as a lawyer on Wall Street, and used the money he made to take care of his family. At this point, Donovan was on top of the world and set to be very successful, but it wasn’t enough; he still felt called to do more.
In 1912, Donovan and a group of fellow young professionals started their own cavalry unit within the Army National Guard. Troop I, as they were known, began as more of a weekend club for the boys of the city’s elite. As time progressed, they became more regimented and professional, setting specific standards and bylaws, and commencing drills every Friday night. In four years time, Troop I had over one hundred uniformed cavalrymen with even more in training and a list of individuals desiring to enlist. In 1916, Troop I was mobilized to the Texas border under General John Pershing’s command in order to hunt Pancho Villa and end his attacks on the American border. During the year that he spent on the Texas-Mexico border, Donovan was quickly promoted to the rank of Major. It was his success during this time that prompted Donovan to continue to pursue a military career, seeing him move on from Troop I to join the 69th “Irish” Regiment of New York City. The 69th was later re-designated as the 165th and became a part of the 42nd Division, where Donovan would work with the man that would later become an important friend, Major Douglas MacArthur. While in the 165th, Donovan drilled his men harder than any other element, and he garnered a reputation of not being well liked, but incredibly respected, and inspired the deepest loyalty of his men. In October 1917, the 165th mobilized and departed to serve in World War I, where Donovan would see even greater success and distinction.
It was Major Donovan’s strong reputation that found him responsible for the training and development of his battalion leading up to their deployment to France. Donovan earned the respect of all under his command through participating in all of the same rigorous training that his men did, leaving little room for questions or complaints. Upon arriving to France, Donovan was soon known for putting himself in dangerous proximity to the action in order to gain the best possible picture of the battlefield, and it was well known that the lives of any who accompanied him were surely in danger. Donovan always placed his mission first, and this was made evident through his numerous missions during this period of his life. It seemed that every objective his element was tasked to take was more futile and deadly than the last. Donovan did not falter, and constantly put himself in exposed positions in order to take care of his men, advance his front line, and deliver messages himself. It was because of actions such as these that Donovan sustained multiple injuries, to include gunshot wounds to his thigh, heel, hand, and knee. His service on the ground was so inspirational to his men that on multiple occasions they threw themselves in the line of sniper fire, offering their lives in order to protect his. It was Donovan’s strength under duress that saw him promoted to Lieutenant Colonel, appointed as field commander, and awarded the Distinguished Service Cross as well as the Medal of Honor, among numerous other awards for merit and valor. His Medal of Honor citation specifically notes the encouragement he gave to his men, his leadership by example, and the fact that he refused to be evacuated before his mission was complete. When he was presented this award, he promptly turned around, unclipped the medal and presented it to his unit, saying, “It doesn’t belong to me. It belongs to the boys who were lucky enough to come through.”
Following World War I, LTC Donovan took his wife to tour Japan, China and Korea at her request. During this trip, Donovan took it upon himself to assess the political climate within the Asian countries, speaking with diplomats, arranging briefings, and sitting in on classified briefings. This later turned into Donovan heading to Siberia along with Roland Morris and General William Graves in order to assist in assessing Russian forces at the time (a trip that Donovan paid out of his own pocket to attend). While this detour had a significantly negative impact on his marriage, Donovan’s findings over the course of this trip were that another major European war was inevitable; the Japanese alienated by the presence of the US in the Pacific and the corruption of the Russian government under Admiral Aleksandr Vasilyevich Kolchak being major factors in his assessment. Unfortunately this assessment did not carry much weight back in the US, as the State Department paid almost no attention to Donovan’s warnings when he brought his findings back with him.
After being taken off of Active Duty and put back among the civilian populace, Donovan continued to be a man of service. He quickly fell back into his previous career as an attorney with major ambitions. In 1922, Senator Wadsworth appointed him as the US Attorney for Buffalo and western New York. During his tenure in this position, Donovan began a strict campaign to enforce prohibition. This move was not because he had any true ill feelings toward alcohol, but rather because it was the law, and the crime surrounding it was causing the community to degenerate rapidly. Donovan didn’t just focus his campaign on the street level saloons; he believed in the equal distribution of justice, and persecuted the city’s elite the same as those who were not as fortunate. This did not win Donovan much support among the populace, especially with the Irish community that he was once a part of, and often led to threats on his life, family, career, and home. Due to his strict stance on prohibition, Donovan became increasingly unpopular within the community. This was made evident when he unsuccessfully ran for Lieutenant Governor of New York, and again at a later attempt for the Governor’s seat. These setbacks did not stop Donovan, and President Coolidge later appointed him as the deputy assistant to Attorney General Harry M. Daugherty in the United States Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division. It was in this position that Donovan became a political rival to John Edgar Hoover, who inevitably saw to the end of Donovan’s stay in the Capital in 1929. This unfortunate turn of events sent Donovan back on the path of being a normal attorney, however one whose reputation was slightly tarnished due to his previous campaign on prohibition. Things remained turbulent in Donovan’s personal and professional lives for the next decade, and did not begin to turn around until the onset of World War II.
In 1936, Donovan arranged and paid for a trip to Ethiopia, where he had managed to secure a meeting with Benito Mussolini after his invasion of the country. Donovan pitched the meeting under the guise of being an envoy of the US GOP, and wanted to be able to provide accurate advice on the Abyssinian conflict at the time. In reality, Donovan was following his sense of duty to his country, and saw an opportunity to assist his old friend Douglas MacArthur, who was at this point the Army’s chief of staff. MacArthur’s Military Intelligence Service had no luck at that point penetrating the Italian front, so he looked to Donovan to answer any questions he could in relation to the situation on the ground. Donovan’s meeting with Mussolini went so well that he was authorized to inspect and observe the Italian forces, and because of this was able to send reports to the British defense ministry, which accurately predicted key victories for the Italian forces moving through the theater. Donovan’s travels saw him also frequenting Berlin, which led to suspicions by J. Edgar Hoover that he was working with the Nazis. Instead, he was making key allies and establishing a line of confidential informants across the German front in anticipation for what was to come. In light of these actions as the nation moved closer to war, former enemy Franklin D. Roosevelt soon became a close ally to Donovan, and the two prepared the US for what was to come.
In 1939, William Stephenson, the head of the British Secret Service, invited Donovan to London, a trip that President Roosevelt personally cleared. It was at this time that America’s intelligence capabilities were less than reliable, and the US was failing to have a clear picture of what exactly was happening in Europe. Donovan used this trip to be an observer, and found himself quickly infatuated with how the British intelligence apparatus operated. He immediately saw the requirement for America to have a persisting intelligence agency in order for the country to have continuous, effective strategies to contend against potential threats. Based on the outline of the program that Donovan had submitted, Roosevelt appointed him to the newly created position of Director of Information (DOI), and tasked him with the responsibilities of research, analysis, and espionage for the sake of the nation. Donovan ran the organization like he did any of his previous Army units: from the front. If something important was happening, Donovan was there to oversee it personally, and he partook in any new and exciting training as it was made available. His personality paired with the fact that he was able to hand select his agents made the organization a force to be reckoned with.
When America officially began participation in World War II at the end of 1941, the office of the COI was brought under the Joint Chiefs of Staff and re-named the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). Donovan, as the head of the organization, was brought back into the Army at the rank of Major General so that he could continue to head the intelligence organization. Becoming a military organization opened up new doors within Donovan’s outlet, and began setting the groundwork for the intelligence disciplines the Army still employs today: Special Operations, counterintelligence, and saboteurs to name a few. The OSS saw quick success under Donovan’s supervision, but its unconventional nature made other members of the military uncomfortable, deeming his practices “unsportsmanlike”. This had little-to-no impact on Donovan, who continued to push the initiatives as far as they could go, with his enthusiasm and the loyalty of his troops making it possible for them to accomplish more than they could imagine at the time. The successes of the OSS continued through the conclusion of the war, and prompted the creation of a civilian intelligence office, which would later become known as the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). While the initial framework Donovan had established was used in its creation, he had no direct ties to the organization itself, as President Truman saw fit to retire him after his service following the war. For his service, he was awarded an oak leaf cluster to the Distinguished Service Medal.
After all of his previous service, William Donovan still felt the calling to do more. Following his retirement from service, Donovan used his training as a lawyer to help persecute Nazi war criminals during the Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal in Germany. Donovan became the special assistant to Chief Prosecutor Robert H. Jackson, arriving in Nuremberg two days after the OSS had seen his departure and closed its doors. Donovan’s specialized skill set that he had developed during his tenure at the OSS was put to good use by Jackson, who utilized special methods of interview and interrogation to aid in his prosecution of war criminals. Unfortunately, tensions began to develop between the two as their personalities clashed and their views on how the criminals should be prosecuted. Jackson had believed that everyone within the German High Command should have be charged as members of a “criminal organization” with loose proof of being involved with the organization. Donovan had believed that under that logic, he himself could have been charged with war crimes as well for some of the actions of his men in World War I. Donovan believed, as he always had, that justice must be served fairly and equally, that the punishment must fit the crime for each individual and not the collective whole. As time progressed, tensions between Jackson and Donovan worsened, and it inevitably saw Donovan sent back to the US. Even though Donovan would not be present for the remainder of the trials, he continued to consult with his allies on the prosecution team remotely, which led to appropriate punishments being issued based on the severity of each individual’s crime, as he had hoped.
Returning from Nuremberg saw Donovan broke and struggling to adjust to the norms of civilian life, something he had not been accustomed to since he was a child. What affected him more than being in debt was the fact that he was no longer involved in the major decisions of the country, a country that he had dedicated his life in service to. Donovan began his work in the legal sector again, but saw it mainly as a way to make ends meet. Not content with his newfound lifestyle, Donovan thrust himself back onto the political scene in 1949 by chairing the American Committee for United Europe, which later became the foundation for the creation of the European Union. Donovan’s initiative gained the support of both President Truman and Winston Churchill and saw great success. Donovan later became a major campaign member for Eisenhower’s presidential run in 1952. The friendship between these two men led President Eisenhower to appoint Donovan as the Ambassador to Thailand in 1953, which would become his last position of service to the United States.
Donovan’s appointment in Thailand had been one of major controversy for many involved. The White House had considered the Pacific nation to be a hot spot given how close it was to the Communist influence of Vietnam. Donovan went into the position with the same enthusiasm that he had shown previously during both his time in World War I and his tenure in the OSS. Donovan only spent a little over a year serving in his new position before retiring, but in that time he established a strong foundation for CIA, and later Special Operations, missions throughout the Pacific area of responsibility. At this point in his life, Donovan was 70 years old, and his age had started to catch up with him. Despite glowing praise from both American and Thai officials, by the spring of 1954, Donovan finally gave in to retirement, and left his last major assignment.
Five years later, on February 8, 1959, William Donovan died due to a “pulmonary embolism,” a blood clot that blocked the main artery of his lung. Following his death, the United States celebrated his life. The many men and women whose lives he had touched packed Washington’s Saint Matthew’s Cathedral beyond capacity during the Requiem Mass to honor him. Donovan was buried with a full military funeral service at Arlington National Cemetery. He left behind him a strong legacy, one that was continued by his son David, who was a naval officer in World War II, and his grandson William, who was an enlisted soldier in Vietnam.
The story of William Donovan wasn’t one that was known to me when I began my career in the Army.

In fact, it was introduced to me quite recently. My battalion commander had told some of my Soldiers to research his story to see how impactful his career was and still is to this day. I read along with them and could not believe the tale that had been presented to us. Donovan’s dedication to service, to doing the right thing regardless of the challenges he faced, is truly inspirational. He was an “outside of the box” thinker that was always planning ahead, and put as much enthusiasm as he could into everything he did. The personal sacrifices he made inspired his men to thrust their lives into danger to follow him into hostile fire. His actions didn’t just lead to the betterment of the US, but rather the betterment of the world as a whole. It was these things that really made me evaluate where I am now and where I hope to go with my career. I had never truly thought about the legacy that I want to leave behind me when I hang my beret in the next decade or so, but I can only hope that the people I have served with, as well as the individuals I will serve with in the future, remember me as someone who always did the right thing and did not take no for an answer, just like William Donovan. I hope that my Soldiers think back to me as a leader who was always next to them, whether it be during training or on a mission, just like Donovan did throughout his entire life. Finally, I hope to be known as a forward thinker who stuck to his ideas regardless of what other people thought or said about them, much like Donovan with his opinions on forming a standing intelligence body after the war. I do not expect to have as far reaching of an impact as “Wild Bill” did, but if even a few people remember me in those ways, I would be thrilled by the thought of

it.
In conclusion, I would like to reinforce the fact that William Donovan is a true American hero, and that his legacy is still felt today. From the CIA to the military’s various Special Operations elements, the groundwork that Donovan worked so hard to build is still intact and relevant. He was not a man who let a truly humble upbringing stop him from achieving his goals, and what makes that sentiment worth even more is that all of his goals fell in line with service to his country. When he was a boy, Donovan’s father sought to teach him the importance of duty and honor to country and clan. I believe he succeeded in doing so, and inevitably raised a man whose legacy will be emulated for years to come.