A reticent but still revealing memoir by the man who was in overall
charge not only of the development of the U-2 and SR-71 spy planes
and the spy satellite program, but also of the Bay of Pigs. Bissell
was one of the best of that remarkable group of public servants
that emerged during and immediately after the Second World War. In
1954, shortly after joining the CIA, he was given responsibility
for the U-2, and only 20 months elapsed before its first overflight
of the Soviet Union. Eisenhower insisted on approving each and
every flight, and though Bissell blames himself for recommending
the mission of Francis Gary Powers, who was shot down just before
the summit with Khrushchev, it is clear that the program gave the
US invaluable insight into Soviet capabilities, which were
considerably less than the public feared. That knowledge, Bissell
contends, enabled Eisenhower to be calm in periods of great
international tension and also to resist efforts to build more
expensive weapons systems. It later completely discredited the
notion of the "missile gap." By contrast, even Bissell is not sure
that the Cuban Brigade could have succeeded in overthrowing Castro,
but he is certain that the effect of Kennedy's decision to change
its objective away from an area where defections were possible and
guerrilla operations more feasible, and then to reduce the air
strikes by 80 percent (so that Castro's air force of four or five
aircraft survived) doomed the enterprise. Again Bissell blames
himself for not recommending cancellation of the invasion when it
should have become clear that it could not succeed. This is not a
book of moral anguish or the telling personal detail. But as the
record of an honorable and effective public servant in dangerous
times, it is wise and worthwhile. (Kirkus Reviews)
Richard M. Bissell, Jr., the most important CIA spymaster in
history, singlehandedly led America's intelligence service from the
age of Mata Hari into the space age. Under his guidance the U-2
spy-plane, the SR-71 "Blackbird," and the Corona spy satellite were
developed, and the agency rose to the pinnacle of its power.
Bissell was also, however, the architect of the infamous Bay of
Pigs operation that failed to overthrow Castro in 1961 and led to
the decline of the CIA. In this compelling memoir, Bissell gives us
an insider's view of the personalities, policies, and historical
forces surrounding these and other covert operations and the
lessons learned during those times of conflict. Bissell begins by
describing his early years as a member of America's unofficial
aristocracy. Born in a house that his father bought from Samuel
Clemens, he was educated at Groton and Yale and befriended by
Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh, among others. Bissell recounts
how he became acting head of the Economic Cooperation
Administration, the agency in charge of the Marshall Plan after
World War II, and helped to create the European Payments Union.
Bissell was brought into the CIA in 1954, where he initiated a
revolution in intelligence-gathering techniques. He reveals the
details of these developments, as well as of the unique
CIA-Lockheed partnership he pioneered, his participation in the
CIA-sponsored coup to overthrow Arbenz in Guatemala, and his
involvement in crises in Laos and the Congo. Bissell's memoir sheds
light not only on pivotal points of American foreign policy but
also on America's evolution from isolationist to interventionist
superpower.
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