OBITUARIES ADM. ROSCOE HILLENKOETTER, FIRST CIA DIRECTOR, DIES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00901R000500180006-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 24, 2003
• Sequence Number: 6
• Publication Date: June 22, 1982
• Content Type: NSPR

STATINTL
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ARTICLL .&?PEARED STATINTL
ON PAGE L T117 ~.rAsT_Tr~ rC'l TL? 3
22 June 1982
Obituaries
Adm. Roscoe Hillenkoetter,
first CIA director, dies.
Retired Navy Vice Adm. Roscoe H.
Hillenkoetter, 85, a former battleship
commander who became the first
director of the Central Intelligence
Agency, died Friday in Mount Sinai Hos-
pital in New York. He lived in Weehaw-
ken, N.J.
In 1947, Adm. Hillenkoetter was
serving as the third director of the Cen-
tral Intelligence Group, succeeding
Rear Adm. Sidney W. Sours and Lt. Gen.
Hoyt S. Vandenberg, when the National
Security Act of 1947 created the CIA.
He automatically became the first
director of the CIA and was succeeded
in that position in 1950 by Gen. Walter
Bedell Smith.
Adm. Hillenkoetter left the CIA after
requesting to be returned to sea duty
following the North Korean invasion
of South Korea. During the Korean War
he was commander of Cruiser Group
2.
He later became commandant of the
3rd Naval District in New York and
was inspector general of the Navy when
he retired in 1957. He was promoted to
vice admiral in 1956.
After his retirement, Adm. Hillen-
koetter lived in Weehawken and was
for a number of years vice chairman,
vice president and treasurer of the
Hegeman-Harris Co. Inc.
Adm. Hillenkoetter, a native of St.
Louis, was a 1920 graduate of the U.S.
Naval Academy. In the summer of 1918
he served on the battleship Minnesota
on duty with the Atlantic Fleet during
World War I. He was commissioned in
1919.
In 1940 and early 1941 he was naval
attache to the Vichy government of
France and he worked with the French
underground to help men hunted by
the Germans flee to safety.
Later in 1941 he became executive
officer of the battleship West Virginia
and was wounded during the attack on
Pearl Harbor. He next became execu-
tive officer of the battleship Maryland
and was an intelligence officer for the
commander in chief of the Pacific
Ocean area.
1Later, during World War II, Adm.
Hillenkoetter commanded the destroyer
Dixie and was awarded the Bronze Star
for commanding that vessel during
campaigns in the Solomon and New
Hebrides islands.
Adm. Hillenkoetter was award the
Legion of Merit while serving as assis-
tant director of planning and control
in the Bureau of Naval Personnel here.
After the Japanese surrender in 1945,
Adm. Hillenkoetter was named com-
mander of the battleship Missouri, on
which he returned to the United States
in 1946. He returned to Paris later that
year as naval attache, his third duty
tour there.
He was promoted to rear admiral in
1947 and was assigned special duties
in the office of the secretary of the
Navy. His next assignment was director
of the Central Intelligence Group.
He is suvived by his wife, the former
Jane Clark, and a daughter, Jane Saar.
Services will be held at 11 a.m.
Thursday in the Fort Myer Chapel, with
burial in Arlington National Cemetery.
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 STATINTL
.FiF`rt C;L,@Ap'pffjUb&r Release 2003/12/03 : CIA-RDP91-00901 R 00500180006-1
ON PI,GE THE WASHINGTON POST
22 June 1982
Roscoe Hillenkoetter
First .Director
Of CIA, Retiree
From Navy, Dies
From News Services
.Roscoe H. Hillenkoetter, 85, a re-
tired Navy vice admiral and the first
director of the CIA, died Friday
night at Mount Sinai Hospital. The
cause of death was not reported. He
had lived in- Weehawken, N.J., since
195&
'Iri a career that spanned-more
than 40 years, Adm. Hillenkoetter
served in World War II and com-
manded a Navy task force in the
Korean War. Adm. Hillenkoetter,
while a Naval attache to the French
Vichy government in 1940 and 1941,
had -worked with the French under-
ground and helped hunted persons
flee to safety.
Adm. Hillenkoetter was wounded
in-the attack on Pearl Harbor, while
serving as executive officer of the
battleship West Virginia. Later in
the war, he organized intelligence.
operations for Pacific Fleet. com-
mander, Fleet Adm. Chester W.
Nimitz, and commanded a destroyer
in the Pacific.
He later served as the .Navy's di-
rector of planning and control in
Washington and was awarded the
1952 AP photo
ROSCOE U-IILLENKOETTER .
Legion of Merit. After the war, his
posts included those of commanding
officer of the battleship Missouri,
and head of the Brooklyn Navy
Yard and the Third Naval District.
The CIA was established by Con-
gress in. 1947. Adm. Hillenkoetter
served as director from that time
until October 1950. After North Ko.
rean forces invaded South Korea in
June 1950, the admiral asked to be
returned . to sea duty, and comb
manded the heavy cruiser St. Paul
and a naval task force. He retired
from active duty in 1958.
He was born in St..Louis and was
a 1919 graduate of the U.S. Naval
Academy at Annapolis after having
served with the Atlantic fleet in
World War I.
Survivors include his wife, the for-
mer Jane Clark, and a daughter,
Jane Saar.
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 Approved For Release 200W2 CP91-Op901R000500180006-1
ARTICLE 4LRED 21 JUNE 1982
ON Pb48r~~
Adm. Roscoe Hillenkoetter,
L_
First Director of U.S. Intelligence, Dies
By PETER KIHSS
Vice Adm.. Roscoe. H: Hillenkoetter,
STATLNTL
November 1950 until September 1951 h
commanded the heavy cruiser St. Patil
and a task force that provided cover fo{
South Korean forces advancing up the
eastern coast, for their retreat before
Chinese Communist invaders, and fof
the landing at Inchon of forces led by
General of the Army Douglas MacAr,
thur.
Admiral Hillenkoetterwas born in Sty
Louis, Mo., May 8, 1897. He graduated
from the United States Naval Academy
in 1919 after having served with the AX
lantic fleet in World War 1.
After his retirement from the Navy:
Admiral Hillenkoetter served as chief
executive officer of the American Ban=
ner Line, which operating to Belgium
and the Netherlands In 1958 and 1959.1x1
1962 he joined a New York construction
company, Hegeman-Harris, as vice[
chairman.
He is survived by his wife, the formes
Jane Clark, and a daughter, Jane Saar:
Burial will be at Arlington National
Cemetery at 21 A.M. Thursday.
ton and was awarded the Legion of
Merit.
After the war, he commanded the
battleship Missouri on a good-will
cruise to the Mediterranean, and com-
manded the Navy Yard in Brooklyn and
the Third Naval District.
The C.I.A. was established by Con-
gress in 1947 as a successor to the World
War II Office of Special Services and'
the peacetime Central Intelligence
Group.. Rear Adm. Sidney W. Sowers,
the first director of the Central Intelli-
gence Group, was succeeded by Gen.
Hoyt S.. Vandenberg of the Air Force
and then by Admiral Hillenkoetter, who
was appointed by President Truman on
May 1,1947.
After the C.I.A. was established in
?
September 1947, Admiral Hillenkoetter.
served as the director until he was suc-
ceeded by Gen. Walter Bedell Smith of
the Army in October 1950.:
Soon after Congress formed.. the
C.I.A., the National Security Council
adapted a directive on Dec. 19,1947ior-
during "covert activities" to oppose
Communist and leftist parties in Italy's
forthcoming parliamentary elections.
Despite an opinion from the counsel
for the C.I.A. that his agency had no
such power legally, Admiral Hillenkoet-
ter authorized money to be provided to
Italy's centrist political parties, which
remained inpower. -
The security council on June 10, 1948,
ordered further covert programs to
counter Soviet efforts, specifying that,
if detected, they could be disavowed by
the United States. Included were
"propaganda, economic warfare; pre.
ventive direct action, including sabo-
tage, anti-sabotage, demolition and
evacuation measures; subversion
against hostile states, including assist-
ance to underground resistance groups
and support of indigenous anti-Commu. -
nist elements in threatened countries of.
thefreeworld.11
After North Korean forces invaded
South Korea in June 1950, the admiral-
asked to be returned to sea duty. From
the first director of the Central Intelli-
gence en, died Frida night at
Mount Sinai Hospital. He was 85 years
old and had lived in Weehawken. N.J.,
since his retirement-from the Navy in
1958.
After his C.I.A. service, Admiral Hil-
lenkoetter served as commander of a
Navy task force In the Korean War.'.
Capt. Joshua L. Goldberg ~ of the
Navy, the former Third Naval District
chaplain, said yesterday that the admi-
ral was "a symbol of-what an American
should be." He said the admiral, while a
Naval attache to the Vichy Government,
of France in 1940 and 1941, had worked
with _-the French underground and
helped men hunted by the Germans -to
escape to safety.
:. "He was . modest, and people who.
served under him just loved him." Cap-
tatn Goldberg said. A former C.L.A. offs-
cial, Lyman B. Kirkpatrick,- has- re-.
i called him as "an able officer, an enjoy
able person."' . -
WoundedatPearl Harbor .
Admiral Hillenkoetter was wounded
in the attack on Pearl Harbor, when the
battleship west Virginia, of which he
was executive officer, was sunk. He or-
ganized an intelligence network for
Adm. Chester W. Nirnltz and com--
manded a destroyer ,in Pacific combat
during the war.
He later served as the Navy's direc-
tor of planning and control in Washing-
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