AARON LATHAM

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01350R000200210001-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 20, 2004
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: June 27, 1977
• Content Type: MAGAZINE

Approved For Rg"?WM"lb~ff
r? rrcr_n APPEARED 27 June 1977
The journalist-author of "Orchids for Mother" claims
that the CIA itself is one big fiction machine
Interviewing Aaron Latham should be
a breeze. Francis Xavier "Mother"
Kimball, the wily, devious protagonist
of "Orchids for Mother," Latham's lit-
erate thriller about the CIA (Little,
Brown), spells. out the techniques.
"You shouldn't come straight out and
ask what you want to know. It's too
easy for people to sidestep your ques-.
tions that way. What you should do is
get people to tell you a story. Have
them tell it from the beginning. That
way they don't know what you're after
so they don't know what to hide."
Latham in person is neither as formi-
dable nor as fastidious as Mother. PW
got the impression of miles of height,
blue-green eyes, a reddish beard just
beginning to show gray strands, and a
rather shy smile exposing miraculously
even teeth. Softspoken, diffident. La-
tham gave his visitor a quick tour of his
new New York pied-a-terre, an apart-
ment he shares (when he's in town)
with his ex-Amherst roommate Mike
Kramer, editor of More magazine.
For the reader who has enjoyed
Latham's disquietingly realistic roman
a clef, Latham has many doors to un-
lock. His protagonist and antagonist,
Mother Kimball and Ernest O'Hara,
were inspired by well-known Washing-
ton figures: James Jesus Angleton,
former head of counterintelligence and
head of the Israeli desk, and William
Colby, director of the CIA, who were
engaged in a deadly power struggle for
many years. Like the characters in the
novel, both were in the OSS, both
came to the CIA early, both served in
the Rome station. "And they always
Washington with the intention of writ- lable, is a favorite word.] And the CIA
ing an in-depth nonfiction article about went to court and blocked publica-
the Central Intelligence Agency. "I tion."
kept hearing story after story about the How did the CIA find. out about the
CIA, each of them different. Usually article? Latham says, ironically, "One
when you're reporting a story, your in- of the curious things to me is that the
formation begins to match up. With the CIA knows an incredible amount (even
CIA, since they make up so many dif- though they, you understand, `don't do.
ferent stories, I got a vast array of way- any domestic spying') about what's
out fabrications. Finally I decided that coming down the pike in terms of pub-
the CIA is one of the great fiction ma- lishing. I no sooner got this story to Es-
chines in the country. That's their busi- quire than we had a court order slapped
ness; they think up lies. It seemed to on us. The CIA already had a copy of
me that the only way to cover the sto- the story in their hands." Latham
ry, since you didn't know quite what to throws up his hands, laughs ruefully.
believe, was to do it in fiction." Information on the CIA, for the
Latham's short story-uncharacter- aborted article and for his later novel,
istic for him and for the magazine-ap- was relatively easy to acquire, Latham
peared in April 1975. The situation con- discovered. "Everybody who leaves
tinued to fascinate him, and the novel the CIA remains in the fraternity. They
eventually evolved. The names of the all stay in touch with one another; they
characters in the first version were sim- all trade news." And obviously they
ilar to their real-life counterparts. An- share it, although Latham will not re-
gleton was Saxonton, Colby was Col- veal his sources.
gate. When he wrote the novel, Latham ' Readers of "Orchids for Mother"
changed the names again. "I was so may recoil with dismay as Latham re-
subtle there that nobody will ever see vea.ls shady CIA shenanigans. Critics
where I got the two names, so I'll just who deplore this fact-letting as unpatri-
tell you. I wanted to give them names otic draw no compunctions from Aaron
that were rooted in fiction to make the Latham. "I don't feel that any journal-
point that these characters embodied ism I've done on, the CIA has harmed
the same kind of fictional gray area as the country. On the contrary, investi-
the agency itself. So I went to the great gative journalism can ultimately help
and the original spy book: Rudyard the country heal itself. We probably
Kipling's 'Kim.' Kim's full name was have to have an intelligence-gathering
Kimball O'Hara." Latham's eyes operation. But it's one thing to look in-
sparkle; a grin flashes briefly. Is he to a crystal ball and predict what might
more devious than he appears on the happen. It's another to try to make
surface? what's going on conform to what you
Latham's first brush with the CIA want to happen."
occurred when he was an editor of Es- Latham, born in "godforsaken"
disliked each other. Their feud shook quire. "I read Victor Marchetti's `The west Texas, educated at Amherst and
and divided the CIA. lppItQ1.l$tdlly Re ps1~a0k1411t00Ur;tt Adlltbft@81n01 50R~Q~9~1~ pool, wrote his
fired Angleton." a nonfiction article. After infinite hours Ph.D. dissertation on P. Scott Fitzger-
Latham first disclosed the inter- of taping, we had a terrific piece. ald. While Hollywood Fitzgerald's
___ _._L__ .~ _ -A:_ r"+Tor.; - "? nrrinnnnnpd. slnwl and stint as a, Hollywood scriptwriter, he