BOOK DISPATCH

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80B01676R002500060002-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 14
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 8, 2002
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: March 30, 1959
• Content Type: DISP

Approved For Release 2002/07/29 : CIA-RDP80BO1676R002500060002
BOOK DISPATCH STJ
TO: Staff, Division and Branch Chiefs in Headquarters
Station and Base Chiefs in the Field
Domestic Representatives
The man more responsible than any other for the existence
of the Central Intelligence Agency has passed away. Major General
William J. Donovan died at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington on
Sunday afternoon, February 8th. His last trial was undoubtedly the
severest of his life, for he had been desperately ill for nearly three
years and the enforced quiet was hard on this amazing man of action.
But even in his declining days Bill Donovan knew that his work
was being carried on. The President awarded him the National
Security Medal in recognition of his creation of the central intelligence
concept. A striking oil portrait of him was completed and he was able
to come see it in the reception room of our present administration
building. It will be hung in a place of honor in the new building when
it is completed. And many of Bill's old friends from OSS days visited
him in the hospital and talked about the continuation of his work.
It is appropriate in this moment of tribute to the passing of a
great man that we take note of the significance of his accomplishment.
In General Donovan's own words, the Office of Strategic Services was
the "first comprehensive organization for intelligence and unorthodox
warfare in the history of the United States. " He noted, "The impor-
tance of OSS lies not only in its role in hastening military victory, but
also in the development of the concept of unorthodox warfare. Of even
farther reaching importance are the lessons learned and the contribu-
tions made to the future of American defense and foreign policy. "
General Donovan said, "The experience of OSS showed above
all how essential it is for winning the war and keeping the peace to
base national policy upon accurate and complete intelligence. Unortho-
dox warfare is now recognized as a vital part of our defense system. "
Approved For Release 2002/07/29 : CIA-RDP80B01676R00250006Q 0,~ 0 / 9 g
 Approved For Release 2002/07/29 : CIA-RDP80BO1676R002500060002-9
Even at the height of the war General Donovan was looking
forward to the peace and pressing for the establishment of a central
intelligence organization. In October 1944 he produced a paper
entitled "The Basis for a Permanent World-Wide Intelligence Service. "
This document was used in the preparation of both the Executive
Directive which created the Central Intelligence Group in 1946 and
the National Security Act of 1947 which established the Central Intelli-
gence Agency.
Many words of tribute have been written and spoken by
General Donovan's friends and admirers. I was deeply moved by the
sermon of Monsignor John K. Cartwright at the requiem mass for
General Donovan. David Bruce, our Ambassador to Germany, was
one of the top officials of OSS and worked very closely with General
Donovan. His letter to the New York Times expresses the views of
many of us. We are enclosing these statements for you to read.
General Donovan will undoubtedly be the subject of many more
words by friends, biographers and historians. The one that will
interest all of us the most will be that now under preparation by
Whitney Shepardson, another of the General's chief lieutenants during
OSS days. Mr. Shepardson has been given full access to General
Donovan's personal files and the OSS archives in order to prepare a
history of the organization which will be a lasting tribute. This work,
which will be published by Columbia University Press, appropriately
enough, is being sponsored by several foundations.
The greatest tribute of all can be paid by us in the organization
that Bill Donovan helped create. He will know his life!s work has
been well done if the CIA can help assure the nation's security by
keeping the Government fully informed of world developments.
Kindly share this with your staff, particularly any who may
have served in the OSS under General Donovan.
Director
Approved For Release 2002/07/29 : CIA-RDP80BO1676R002500060002-9
 Approved For Release 2002/07/29 : CIA-RDP80BO1676R002500060002-9
NEW YORK TIMES
15 February 1959
Tribute to Wm. Donovan
General's Qualities of Leadership, Vivid Personality Recalled
The writer of the following letter is United States Ambassador
to West Germany.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE NEW YORK TIMES:
The news of Bill Donovan's death is a profound shock to all of
his associates, friends and acquaintances. It 'hardly seems possible
that this ageless man, this almost elemental force of nature, has been
removed from our immediate contact.
Wherever there was a stir, and especially whenever--all too
frequently- -trouble brewed, Donovan was there. He was an adventurer,
in the best sense of the word, in the modern world.
Imagination and the quality of great leadership were his domi-
nant characteristics. The word "impossible" was not in his lexicon.
What man had done was only a springboard from which to vault into the
unknown.
Career of O. S. S.
I was most closely familiar with him during more than four
years' service in his Office of Strategic Services organization. There
he was the inspirer of more than thirty thousand people. All were fish
in his net, tumbled together in what organizationally appeared to be
chaos.
His mandate was almost unlimited in the field of clandestine
activities. Nor did any chief ever as readily respond to such a challenge.
Something had to knit together beings so disparate, recruited for tasks
so indefinite. The polarization came from one individual- -Donovan.
In the midst of the gravest preoccupations, with a task so com-
prehensive as, at times, to appall his subordinates, the General
remained unruffled, calm to deal with the exigencies of world-wide
Approved For Release 2002/07/29 : CIA-RDP80BO1676R002500060002-9
 Approved For Release 2002/07/29 : CIA-RDP80B01676R002500060002-9
covert operations, but able to turn what seemed an equal concentration
on the marital, or extramarital, problems, the health or illness, the
financial tribulations or any other concerns of those who worked for him..
He contracted enmities, but never as readily as he made friends.
Giving complete loyalty himself, he commanded it from others.
He taxed his brain and body without mercy. In his sixties, he
was still a threatening opponent on a squash court. Sleep he scarcely
considered a necessity but an imposition by nature on man's obligation
for self-improvement. For him no moment was an occasion for idle-
ness. On uncomfortable and dangerous airplane flights he was usually
discovered amusing himself with a German, French, Spanish, Italian
or other grammar, unless he was concocting a complicated scheme to
harass the enemy.
Excitement Over Ideas
His personal charm was disarming. His sympathies were
almost universal. He could not abide cowardice, being so constituted
that this weakness was incomprehensible to him.
His imagination was unlimited. Ideas were his plaything.
Excitement made him snort like a race horse. Woe to the officer who
turned down a project because, on its face, it seemed ridiculous, or
at least unusual. For painful weeks under his command I tested the
possibility of using bats--taken from concentrations in Western caves---
to destroy Tokyo. The General, backed by the intrigued President
Roosevelt, was only dissuaded from further experiments in this field
when it appeared probable that the cave bats would not survive a trans-
Pacific flight at high altitudes.
He was a torchbearer of much that was most luminous during
American participation in wars. In civil life he was adamant in the
protection of our liberties and traditions.
I feel I can speak for thousands of others who served him during
his great period in saying that I wish we had adequately conveyed to him
during his lifetime the deep affection and admiration we always enter -
tained for him.
Berlin, Feb. 9, 1959
Approved For Release 2002/07/29 : CIA-RDP80B01676R002500060002-9
 Approved For Release 2002/07/29 : CIA-RDP80BO1676R002500060002-9
Excerpts from a sermon delivered by the Right Rev. John K. Cartwright
at the Mass of Requiem for the repose of the soul of General William J.
Donovan, St. Matthew's Cathedral, February 11, 1959.
As our years go on it becomes a more frequent duty for each of
us to say farewell to those who will no longer occupy a part of our lives
except in grateful and loving memory. The citizen and soldier of whom
we are taking leave today filled an exceptional role in the lives of multi-
tudes of people. This gathering testifies both by number and character
how great a role that was. General Donovan bore an illustrious part in
the two great wars that have filled so much of our century. No less
illustrious were the services he rendered in our years of anxious and
troubled peace. His record of achievement and honor has been much
reviewed since the day of his death and will always be remembered in
the pages of our history. But this life of combat and of leadership, of
service and example is ended now. He has gone from the scene of his
success to meet his final judgment, his final reward, his final destiny.
He saw his life in terms of his religious faith and in accordance
with that faith we have brought his remains for our last farewell before
God's holy altar. Here we pay then our personal respect and ask the
Church to send him forth from this world with her prayers and blessings,
with the thoughts which the sacred liturgy places in our minds in the
presence of death.
The saints who are today proposed by the Church, for our admira-
tion and example were once conducted to the grave by these rites, as
was the lowly parishioner of last week or month, as was the Holy Father
who ruled over God's Church for so many years until God called him.
And this great patriot and soldier is sent from us with the same insistent
thoughts: life is short, death is certain, our human nature is faulty
and imperfect, this world is not our destiny, our earthly achievements
are not what is important since their reward cannot satisfy immortal
souls, our greatest success is trivial in comparison with the success of
God's approval, even our greatest loves and greatest friendships are at
their true goal when they are blessed with God's love and friendship,
our death which humanly seems so final is in God's purpose no end but a
passageway leading to another life of which the scope and splendor fulfill
the potentialities of an immortal soul.
God has made us to be a part of the lives of our fellow men. He
has made us necessary to each other. He has His answer to the sneer of
the ancient sinner when He says to us: "Thou art thy brother's keeper. "
Approved For Release 2002/07/29 : CIA-RDP80BO1676R002500060002-9
 Approved For Release 2002/07/29 : CIA-RDP80BO1676R002500060002-9
Each of as has his purpose, fulfilled on earth but planned by God for
us, to carry out a human ministry. he who does this well serves God
and can look for God's reward. Thus the deeds and accomplishments
of this man, as brave soldier, as distinguished captain, as wise
counsellor, as ambassador of his country in days of anxiety and peril--
these deeds are part, not only of man's records but of God's. He sees
in them not as we do the splendor and the glory, but the spirit of fulfill-
ment of a task assigned by His holy will, the faithfulness, the loyalty,
the humility of faith. Seen in this light, those who are illustrious in
man's history, like those who are lowly and unsung, both have the
merit of doing what God wants them to do in the rank where God has
placed them. Perhaps this is the reason why the Holy Scripture so
often compares the life of the Christian with that of the soldier. This is
the reason why in our human way we express the confidence that this
soldier, after a life full of valor and helpfulness, has gone to hear the
word of his commander: "Well done, good and faithful servant. "
May his soul rest in God's peace. And may those whom he has
loved and the many whom he has served be worthy to know him again
in tide communion of saints.
Approved For Release 2002/07/29 : CIA-RDP80BO1676R002500060002-9
 Approved For Release 2002/07/29 : CIA-RDP80B01676R002500060 . 2r.9 ,.?
A?R 19957
Approved For Release 2002/07/29 : CIA-RDP80B01676R002O00- 4 9 /
0AcI=rOPnj 26 Arc
fir )
Re it1 : (0c i' (29
Wit: i i raw -a
Orig - A&Ixesme
-
DCI
.8. Idol Grq9an
 1807 H STREET, N.w. Approved For Release 2002/07/29 : CIA-RDP80B01676R002500060002m9RRAY HILL 2-4679
WASHINGTON 8, D. C. CABLE ADDRESS, INTERESCUE
=.A
INTERNATIONAL RESCUE COMMITTEE
INCORPORATED
62 WEST 45TH STREET
NEW YORK 36. N. Y.
ADMIRAL RICHARD E. BYRD
HONORARY CHAIRMAN
LEO CHERNE
CHAIRMAN
JOSEPH BUTTINGER
VICE-CHAIRMAN
HON. ANGIER BIDDLE DUKE
PRESIDENT
RICHARD R. SALZMANN
VICE-PRESIDENT
ERIC M. WARBURG
TREASURER
MRS. KERMIT ROOSEVELT
SECRETARY
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
JOSEPH D. ARDLEIGH
ABRAM G. BECKER
ADMIRAL JOHN J. BERGEN
HARRY A. BULLIS
HENRY SEIDEL CANBY
GENERAL WILLIAM J. DONOVAN
CHRISTOPHER EMMET
H. WILLIAM FITELSON
SAMUEL GOLDWYN
SHEBA STRUNSKY GOODMAN
ALLEN GROVER
WILLIAM J. VANDEN HEUVEL
A. E. JOLIS
JOSEPH U. MANKIEWICZ
ELLEN LEHMAN MCCLUSKEY
CLAIBORNE PELL
DAVID F. SEIFERHELD
DAVID SHER
GEORGE P. SKOURAS
GENERAL CARL SPAATZ
STERLING D. SPERO
MILTON STARR
HERMAN W. STEINKRAUS
MRS. A. RONALD TREE
MSGR. BELA VARGA
ADMIRAL ELLIS M. ZACHARIAS
CHARLES S. ZIMMERMAN
BERLIN
BONN
BREMEN
BRUSSELS
GENEVA
MUNICH
PARIS
RIO DE JANEIRO
SAIGON
STOCKHOLM
VIENNA
VIENTIANE
December 5, 1956
Hon. Allan W. Dulles
Central Intelligence Agency
Washington, D. C.
Dear Mr. Dulles:
During the last five weeks the International Rescue
Committee launched and is now carrying out a signifi-
cant program of assistance to the Hungarian Freedom
Fighters who were forced to escape to Austria. The
generous response of many Americans to our recent ap-
peals has made it possible for our Committee already
to allocate over $400,000 in cash and $215,000 in
material aid for this emergency effort.
Our help for the Hungarian people was sparked by the
quick action of our Chairman, Mr. Leo Cherne, and our
President, Hon. Angier Biddle Duke, who personally
traveled to Vienna and Budapest within hours after
the outbreak of the revolt to survey the situation
and set up the program. This is the latest example
of the kind of work which the IRC has been carrying
on in our refugee relief program for escapees from
behind the Iron Curtain.
In order to explain to an even wider circle of friends
the kind of work we do and at the same time to honor
Mr. Cherne and Ambassador Duke for their invaluable
leadership, we plan to hold a Dinner in New York on
March 14th, 1957 at the Grand Ballroom of the Waldorf-
Astoria. We are asking a number of friends and sup-
porters of the IRC to serve on the Sponsoring Commit-
tee for this occasion. I hope you will be able to
join us as a member of this group.
We have enclosed a card which we would appreciate
your filling out and returning to us. Many thanks.
Sincerely yours,
V
Richard E. Byrd, General William J. Donovan
Rear Admiral USN (ret.)
j N?fl( FILE
Approved For Release2O 2I0 ,9.Li 16 RDP8GBQ l676R00250006092'0 2 0=>0
 MEMORANDUM FOR: MR. DTLL S
In case you wish to lend your name as
Honorary sponsor on this I have filled in the
card and all that is necessary is your signature.
If you do not care to do this I will
prepare an appropriate letter of regret for you.
10-101
MAY FORM
FORM NO , (VI WHICH REPLACES
BE
I AUG 54 USED.
7 December 1956
(DATE)
Z. ,SDZOO
Approved For Release 2002/07/29 : CIA-RDP80BO1676R002500060002-9
 HONORARY DINNER CHAIRMEN,
REAR ADMIRAL RIcHARD E. Byiw, USN (RET.)
GENERAL WILLIAM J. DoNovAIV
International Rescue Committee, Inc.
62 West 45th Street
New York 17, N. Y.
HONORARY DINNER CHAIRMEN,
REAR ADMIRAL RICHARD E. BYRD, USN (RET.)
GENERAL WILLIAM J. DONOVAN
62 West 45th Street
New York 17, N. Y.
I shall be pleased to join with you as an Honorary Sponsor for the
Leo Cherne - Honorable Angier Biddle Duke Testimonial Dinner
on behalf of the International Rescue Committee to be held at
the Waldorf Astoria Thursday, March 14th,,, 1957.
Allen W.,Dulles
Name .......................................
Firm Central. Intelligence Agency
.......................
Address 2430;1E Street, N. W.
Wash'ingt'on" 25', ' D C
25X1
Approved For Release 2002/07/29 : CIA-RDP80BO1676R002500060002-9
 Approved For Release 2002/07/29 : CIA-RDP80B01676R002500060002-9
General WiI:liam J. Donovan
62 West 45th Street
New York 3 , New York
5th inviti
Sponsor for
letter of December
n in as an Honorary
ial IRC dinner to be
regret that I shall be
ipate in this fine cause.
Approved For Release 2002/07/29 : CIA-RDP80B01676R002500060002-9
Z SO Z 00
 Approved For Release 2002/07/29 : CIA-RDP80B01676R0025000602 ,! r 63 70
Reif(.c(
writt n: O / S:hc 2I Feb 6)
DistrsbutiOfl:
Orig & 1 - Addressee
1 - DICE'
f -~
1 - CWH
1 0
/ Pe-1
Z,5-0 -2-CD I
Approved For Release 2002/07/29 : CIA-RDP80B01676R002500060002-9
 ~,.. Approved For Release 2002/07/29 : CIA-RDP80B01676R002500060002-9
,2`" A 4-
November 17, 1955
With the tragic death of John Peurifoy,
his country and his many friends suffered a
grievous loss. To commemorate such a devoted
life of public service, The John E. Peurifoy
Memorial Fund has been incorporated to receive
contributions and award scholarships to the
students of the three countries where Jack
served as Ambassador. The students, selected
on a basis of merit and need, will study at
American universities. They will be asked to
signify an intention to give their careers to
public service in their own countries.
We are advised by counsel that this Fund
is one whose contributions will be considered
tax exempt. All contributions should be
addressed to: The John E. Peurifoy Memorial
Fund, 2 Wall Street, New York 5, N. Y.
Knowing of your friendship with the late
Ambassador and of your personal esteem of his
career, I thought you might want to be a part
of this undertaking.
Sincerely yours,
The Hon. Allen Dulles
Central Intelligence Agency
WWr ashington, D.C.
Z'5-0 7 01
STAT
Approved For Release 2002/07/29 : CIA-RDP80BO1676R002500060002-9
 ,.; Approved For Release 2002/07/29 : CIA-RDP80B0167
November 17, 1955
Dear Allen:
With the tragic death of John Peurifoy,
his country and his many friends suffered a
grievous loss. To commemorate such a devoted
life of public service, The John E. Peurifoy
Memorial Fund has been incorporated to receive
contributions and award scholarships to the
students of the three countries where Jack
served as Ambassador. The students, selected
on a basis of merit and need, will study at
American universities. They will be asked to
signify an intention to give their careers to
public service in their own countries.
We are advised by counsel that this Fund
is one whose contributions will be considered
tax exempt. All contributions should be
addressed to: The John E. Peurifoy Memorial
Fund, 2 Wall Street, New York 5, N. Y.
Knowing of your friendship with the late
Ambassador and of your personal esteem of his
career, I thought you might want to be a part
of this undertaking.
Sincerely yours, STAT
The Hon. Allen Dulles
Central Intelligence Agency
Washington, D.C.
Approved For Release 2002/07/29: CIA-RDP80B01676Rf 2Q620@7fi