The Irregulars: Roald Dahl and the British Spy Ring in Wartime Washington

"The Irregulars," comes to us as a thoroughly, even exhaustively researched glimpse at a critical moment in British, and American, history. It's authored by Jennet Conant, journalist who has written profiles for "Vanity Fair," "Esquire," "GQ,""Newsweek," and "The New York Times," and author of the bestselling Tuxedo Park : A Wall Street Tycoon and the Secret Palace of Science That Changed the Course of World War II; and 109 East Palace: Robert Oppenheimer and the Secret City of Los Alamos. She tackles the fraught years prior to America's entry into World War II, when the British were forced to fight the German Third Reich on their own; the intense war years that followed; and the no less intense immediate postwar years of the two countries. Conant does this by focusing on Washington, D.C. during the years when Franklin Delano Roosevelt was U.S. President, and Winston Churchill was British Prime Minister. She also noticeably focuses on celebrated British author Roald Dahl; not that he's not worthy of attention, of course, but it's not clear that he should be the centerpiece of this book. It may be that she simply had access to a cache of his previously unseen materials. During the prewar period, the British, standing alone against the Nazi war machine, desperately needed American help, and so, with FDR's tacit permission, came up with a desperate scheme, putting in place a ring of British spies in America. Under the leadership of that famed millionaire newspaper publisher Canadian, Sir William Stephenson, AKA Intrepid, they were charged with mounting a secret campaign of propaganda and political subversion to weaken America's isolationists, bring the country into the war against Germany, and influence U.S. policy in favor of the U.K. They were officially the British Security Coordination (BSC) although the troops preferred to call themselves the Baker Street Irregulars, after Sherlock Holmes amateur helpers, and they were amateurs, with no spying experience, picked for their looks, their charm, their cleverness and their wit. They planted British propaganda in American newspapers and radio programs, in aid of which they secretly influenced leading journalists, including Drew Pearson, Walter Winchell, and Walter Lipmann. They harassed prominent isolationist America Firsters and anti-New Dealers, and American corporations that did business with Nazi Germany. They continued their work during the war, helping to found and construct/instruct their American counterpart, the Office of Secret Services (OSS), under the leadership of another famed master spy, (Wild) Bill Donovan, an amiable Irishman who himself employed a significant number of Brits. And, as the war came to a close, they occupied themselves with the postwar world, particularly the allocation of air routes, fighting for their country's economic well-being against the shrewd and greedy Juan Trippe, of Pan American Airlines. Many well-born young Britishers were involved in this e

"Don't you think that you or some other regular officer should be doing this job?" "We've all got our hands full," the Captain said. Roald Dahl had it all; a wounded RAF pilot who had the intellect, grace and charm to open doors that would typically be shut to even the biggest political insiders. And as author Jennet Conant writes in this biography of Dahl, the friends he had in high places ultimately shaped the policies of the United States in World War II and in the opening salvos of the Cold War, but with a gentle push or - oftentimes - a hard shove into a specific direction by British agents. Dahl was a key player in a British spy ring in Washington, D.C., which found him striding confidently into the White House halls of the Franklin Delano Roosevelt administration and counting on such key players as FDR, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, Henry Wallace and Henry Morgentheau, Jr., as vital colleagues. Starting in 1942, Dahl became entwined in a wide web of intrigue designed by Sir William "Intrepid" Stevenson to destroy brick-by-brick the isolationist movement in the U.S. and shape the political relations between the two nations in the war against Nazi Germany. Some of Dahl's work was done with the approval of FDR. Important areas of this campaign included the use of influential journalists - Walter Winchell, Drew Pearson - and other media members to tell the story of cooperation and a plot against U.S. corporations that retained cozy relations with the Nazis. The canvas of the post-war landscape included Dahl's 1946 proposal of an American-English Secret Service, writes Conant. But as a new type of war with the Soviet Union turned frigid, there was personal turmoil for spies like Dahl who came in from the cold. But old friendships ultimately did not fade away after the covert warriors slowly disappeared from the scene. "I have endeavored to pull the curtain back on one small part of this shadowy episode in order to tell the story of young Dahl's incredible experience as one of Stepenson's 'agents of influence' in America," writes Conant. Mission accomplished.

When I ordered this book I wasn't quite sure what I was getting in to. Let it suffice to say that I am extremely happy that I ordered this book. During the early 1940's, while Britain was getting pummeled both at home and all around the world, there were isolationists in the US who wanted nothing to do with what was going on with Great Britain or the European theater at large- they felt it had nothing to do with us. So with the 'tacit' approval of FDR, Britain was allowed to discreetly operate spy rings in the US that would allow the embedding of British non isolationist views of why the US should be in the war with Great Britain against Germany in movies, newspapers, magazines and they had so many other activities as well, even ones that would ultimately include involvement in our politics. Enter Roald Dahl, the main character of the book ,a wounded RAF pilot who could no longer serve in the capacity of being a pilot. First he was given a post at the British Embassy as an air attache where he starting becoming a man around town and then he heard about a very serious covert British group operating within the US under Intrepid, or William Stephenson. It was called the BSC and Roald started working with them as a spy (one of the Baker Street Irregulars). It is almost hilarious how Roald Dahl started becoming everywhere (seemingly all at once) and how he seemed to have no boundaries at all in Washington society. Some of the antics he pulled off with some off the other Baker Street Irregulars are indeed interesting and humorous. One of the other Baker Street Irregulars was none other than Ian Fleming of James Bond fame. On a larger scale, this book taught me a lot about history that I didn't know about- that even the friendliest of countries spy on each other to get their needs met and I would imagine it is still the same way today. I just felt gobsmacked when I read in the book that Britain was spying on us and manipulating us in WWII, however, they knew they could not win the war without us and history now shows us exactly what we all were up against- not just Europe or Great Britain, but what we were all up against. Perhaps that is why these British groups had FDR's tacit approval to try to move the US into being a less isolationist society. In conclusion, this is a lovely work of non fiction and I highly recommend it to anyone. I loved this book.

When I ordered this book, I didn't really know what to expect. To be honest, I wasn't completely sure if it was a novel or non-fiction. I had always enjoyed WW2 historical fiction such as Herman Wouk's Winds of War and War and Rememberance so I thought this book would be similar. This book is actually a historical account of the propaganda and espionage tactics used by the British to influence American public and political policy during WWII. I'm no great WWII historian so I will be showing my ignorance here... but who knew that our own allies were engaged in covert activities directed at our own government. However, this book describes the activities of Roald Dahl, Ian Fleming, and several other British "covert agents" who were in the US during WWII. The book, though non-fiction, reads like part-novel and part high-society gossip. While it is common knowledge that the US was not pulled into WW2 until the bombing of Pearl Harbor by Japan, less known is how we became involved in the European theater. The US had tried to remain "neutral" and had adopted an isolationist stance when it came to the European wars. Because the US, at the time, generally treated Great Britain with a certain level of distrust (that whole "British Imperialism" thing), it took some work from the "inside" to sway the American Public Opinion and Leadership to actively engage in the European Theater. What was particularly interesting to me (particularly in light of the current presidential campaign and the current debate associated with America's role on the world stage) was the debate between Republicans and FDR's "New Dealers" on how isolationist a stance America should adopt. In what is a reverse from present day politics, the Republicans were against a broader involvement in WW2 while the New Dealers were much more sympathetic to the European conflicts. And while I had always heard of Ian Fleming as the creator of the James Bond series, it turns out that Ian Fleming's Bond character may have been based on more reality than we would think (minus the cool gadgets). In a sense, this book documents how the whole "James Bond 007" phenomenon got its start. The reading style is an easy-to-read narrative style that strikes a balance between being readable and not overwhelming the reader with being too scholarly. Yet the author doesn't "talk down" to her readers either by being "sensationalist" or overly dramatic. All in all, this book was a great read and the fact that it is true makes it even more interesting. I highly recommend!

Conant. Jennet. "The Irregulars: Roald Dahl and the British Spy Ring in Wartime Washington', Simon and Schuster, 2008. The Unknown Dahl Amos Lassen There is something about a spy story that keeps me riveted and a true story will definitely hold my attention. Jennet Conant's "The Irregulars" is a fantastic read which I had a hard time putting down. I have always loved the literary works of Roald Dahl since having first studied him in college but I would have never thought of him being a spy. He had been assigned by the British throne as a diplomat to Washington in 1942 and he had also been given a secret mission. He was to gather evidence about the isolationist policies of the United States and he managed his infiltration and laid the seeds for the American entry into World War II. With the attention of the United States focused on what was going in the Pacific and even though we had been technically at war wit Germany (although non-officially) since December, 1941, not much attention was paid to Dahl set out to exert public opinion and change the opinions of the Washington governmental elite. We also learn that he was not alone in his covert activities and other spies working were David Oglivy and Ian Fleming who were his co-conspirators. We learn now that the alliance between Britain and America was replete with covert activity. Conant gives the whole story with a lot of detail and in doing so she allows us to gain a new understanding on the nature of the relationship between Churchill and Roosevelt. Roald Dahl seemed to be able to be everywhere. He wanted to save his country from an invasion by Nazi Germany and to protect his country he forced himself to invade almost all aspects of American government as well as the Washington society and winning over many including the First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt. He built friendships with the powerful and used what he learned. It was not Dahl who was the mastermind of the deception. Walter Stephenson (code name, Intrepid) did this. He was a confidant of Churchill and his chief spy and he managed, with the permission of Franklin Roosevelt, to set up a campaign of subversion and propaganda that caused the weakening of America's isolationism. This ultimately brought America to declare war against Germany. "The Irregulars" is non-fiction that reads like a first-class spy novel. Conant has done her research well and gives us a book that is readable, informative and thoroughly enjoyable.