Only when the fresh battalion was in place-five hours after he had been hit-did Donovan consent to his removal from the battlefield. In the end, I did not have as good a grasp on Donovan as I expected.ĭonovan’s battle in WWI that resulted in the MoH being awarded: Also, once we get to WWII, the book is mainly about the Office of Coordination of Information (COI) and the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). Brown goes on at great length at how much information he was able to acquire but he didn’t need to put everything in. The first is relief because it is 800+ pages and I felt like it was a chore more than a treat. Finishing The Last Hero: Wild Bill Donovan brings mixed feelings. Edgar Hoover tried like hell, unsuccessfully, to build a file to use against him. He spent vast amounts of his personal fortune in service to his country and died almost penniless. He was a poor law student but a masterful lawyer with success in arguing cases in front of the Supreme Court. He rose to great success and power as a poor Irish Catholic when that was two strikes against any success. A Medal of Honor won on the battlefield in WWI. He spent vast amounts of his p Wild Bill Donovan was asked by Hoover to be his Vice President, asked by Roosevelt to be Secretary of War in 1940 and was considered by Eisenhower for nomination as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Wild Bill Donovan was asked by Hoover to be his Vice President, asked by Roosevelt to be Secretary of War in 1940 and was considered by Eisenhower for nomination as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Here, revealed at last, are the inside, background details of the most expraordinary military and spy operations of World War II.more He also made a decisive contribution in diverting the Nazi armies into the Balkans, fatally delaying the German invasion of Russia.Īmerica's counterpart to the tale of Britain's "Intrepid" (Sir William Stephenson), Donovan's story will be relished by espionage and war buffs. Cavalry chasing Pancho Villa won half a dozen of the highest medals of World War I in action on the western front, including the supreme award, the Medal of Honor becoming acting attorney general of the United States personally won a number of landmark cases before the Supreme Court ran as Republican candidate for governor of New York and was often spoken of for the presidency created the great law firm of Donovan Leisure Newton & Irvine was founding head of the OSS and the creator of the CIA, and ambassador to Thailand.Īmong Donovan's greatest accomplishments was his role in the grand strategic plan for Germany's defeat in World War II, the Arcadia plan, in which Donovan's contribution was to ignite the national uprisings coincident with the invasion of France. The scope of Donovan's career is astonishing. Brown has laid out for the first time the remarkable and definitive life story of this most legendary figure of our time. With exclusive access to all of Donovan's personal and secret papers and his wife's diaries, Mr. ("Wild Bill") Donovan, the founding father of America's first secret intelligence and special operations organization-a hero on the battlefield and a behind-the-scenes power. Brown has laid ou From the best-selling author Anthony Cave-Brown, the extraordinary life of William J. From the best-selling author Anthony Cave-Brown, the extraordinary life of William J.