Donovan, William Joseph

Donovan, William Joseph (dŏn`əvən), 1883–1959, American lawyer, director of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), b. Buffalo, N.Y. Distinguished service in World War I won him medals and the nickname Wild Bill Donovan. He was prominent in Republican politics and served (1925–29) in the office of the Attorney General. President Franklin D. Roosevelt sent him on foreign missions, and in 1942 he was made head of the newly created OSS, which he made into a formidable and successful intelligence agency. Donovan, given the rank of major general, served until 1945, and later returned to public service as ambassador to Thailand (1953–54). His enthusiasm for covert operations and paramilitary interventions helped shape the psychology of the Central Intelligence Agency, which replaced the OSS as the premier U.S. intelligence agency in 1947.

Bibliography

See biographies by C. Ford (1970) and R. Dunlop (1982); R. H. Smith, OSS (1977).