in 1973, Mr. Helms served until 1977 as the American ambassador to Iran, whose ruler, Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, was supported by the United States. He rose quickly and became national advertising director within a year. Mr. Helms kept a low public profile as director of central intelligence, and he avoided publicity. For a man who considered himself a genuine patriot, it was a bleak note on which to end his professional career. He lives with his wife in West Hartford, Connecticut. The behavior control program was initiated under the auspices of the CIA's Office of Security. His biggest scoop, he said, was an exclusive interview with Hitler. The letter astounded the CIA museums curatorial staff when it was acquired in May and not only because Helms wrote with such paternal tenderness. 1927, marble, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Julia Bretzman, 1972.171. His passing, his defeat a boon to mankind. The letter happened to arrive at Langley the day after Osama bin Laden was killed in May. Another Senate panel, the Foreign Relations Committee, found that Helms had lied when he insisted the CIA had not tried to overthrow Allende or offer financial support to the socialist leaders political opponents. Helms and his wife Julia had one child, a son named Dennis. Helms was given the post of ambassador to Iran, which he held until 1977. He later became an international consultant, specializing in trade with the Middle East. Returning to America, he graduated from Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts in 1935. Uh-oh, it looks like your Internet Explorer is out of date. Over the years, there would be more assignments with domestic political implications. According to Helms's assistant, George McManus, the main reason Helms did not tell his boss about mob involvement in assassination conspiracies was because McCone would have considered it "morally reprehensible.". At the time, Helms's maternal grandfather was a bank president in Basel, Switzerland. For Christmas, he already plans to give the replica to his son, Alexander Helms, a college senior majoring in studio art and photography. As America's top spymaster, Powers wrote in his biography, Mr. Helms "is remembered as an administrator, impatient with delay, excuses, self-seeking, the sour air of office politics. Those included Ngo Dinh Diem of South Vietnam, Rafael Trujillo of the Dominican Republic and Patrice Lumumba of the Congo. Such code words are typically meaningless except to the originator. But the fact that we received it on the very day that we in the museum received news along with the rest of the world of the successful bin Laden operation stunned us.. Enterprise reporter covering the Washington region and beyond, A letter from Richard Helms, on Hitler's stationary, to his son. The subjects chosen by the CIA included prisoners, foreigners, prostitutes, mental patients, and drug addicts. He was class president, editor of the school newspaper and the yearbook, and was president of the senior honor society. He was previously married to Julia Bretzman Shields and Cynthia McKelvie. But he eventually ran afoul of Congressional investigators who found that he had lied or withheld information about the United States' role in assassination attempts in Cuba, anti-government activities in Chile and the illegal surveillance of journalists in the United States. Espionage, he once remarked, is not played by the Marquess of Queensberry rules, and the only sin in espionage is getting caught., Lets face it, he said on another occasion, the American people want an effective, strong intelligence operation. Mr. Helms married Julia Bretzman Shields of Indianapolis in 1939. You killer! .BooklistReaders who cant get enough of speculation about the JFK and RFK assassinations should definitely give [CIA Rogues and the Killing of the Kennedys] a read . Dennis wanted to be like his father in some ways. His career at the CIA covered the Red Scare tactics of Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy (R-Wis.), who searched for communists in the U.S. government, as well as the ill-fated CIA-sponsored Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba and plots against Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. His dad never explained in full. 1968, one son) Son: Dennis Helms Wife: Cynthia Ratcliff McKelvin (m. 1968) High School: Carteret School, Orange, NJ University: Williams College (1935) US Ambassador to Iran 1973-76 CIA Director 1966-73 CIA Deputy Director 28-Apr-1965 to 30-Jun-1966 OSS Agent The Indianapolis Times But Helms wrote in his memoir that he was in France that day. At his retirement in 1973, Mr. Helms left an organization viewed with suspicion by many and about to undergo intense scrutiny from an unfriendly Congress for activities ranging from assassination plots against foreign leaders to spying on U.S. citizens. His assignments included coverage of the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. (Published 10/25/02). Helms in the directorate of plans (covert operations) and Angleton in counterintelligence guided this new mission. An urbane and dashing spymaster, Mr. Helms began his career with a reputation as a truth-teller and became a favorite of lawmakers in the late 1960's and early 70's. He made only one public speech during his years as CIA leader, telling the nation's newspaper editors that "the nation must, to a degree, take it on faith that we, too, are honorable men, devoted to her service. Helms's interview with Hitler gave the young reporter's resume added credentials that would eventually aid his entry into the intelligence service following the US declaration of war in 1941. For a short time, Helms worked closely with Allen Dulles, a World War I spymaster who would eventually become CIA director (1953 1961). For a man who considered himself a genuine patriot, it was a bleak note on which to end his professional career. Later that day he went to a reunion of former C.I.A. They asked: Got anything interesting lying around the house? Helms had such a sense of his own moment in history, she said. From the beginning, he worked in the agency's covert operations, or "plans" division, and by the early 1950's he was serving as deputy to the head of clandestine services, Frank Wisner. Through the 1970s, Helms was repeatedly called to testify before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence about CIA activities that may have violated the agencys charter. hXmo6+~"i("n?hsV"J@x<>#rF9'C#7\@+ZCLzK)+!. After consulting with various psychiatrists, Allen introduced the use of electroshock treatments to the mind control repertoire. He was 89. ''I had sworn my oath to protect certain secrets. In part because of his foreign language skills, he was able to hook up with the United Press in London and soon after was sent to Berlin. In his personal life, Mr. Helms was known as an avid tennis player and sports fan, with a dry wit that showed when he was with friends, and, with his wife Cynthia, he was active in the Washington social scene. The reports indicate that the CIA feared that his capture would expose their use of former Nazis, and that he would reveal the CIA's efforts to undermine Communist influence in West Germany. Actually, he knew that his father worked for the Central Intelligence Agency, but he did not know what he did there. An urbane and dashing spymaster, Mr. Helms began his career with a reputation as a truth teller and became a favorite of lawmakers in the late 1960's and early 70's. Yet, in truth, Helms routinely kept a succession of presidents in the dark (detailed ahead). He was a force for evil in the world. As for the initials "MK," the words "mind control" come to mind, though the origin of this code name has never been found. During his three years in Iran, Mr. Helms would make more than a dozen trips back to Washington to testify before Senate committees investigating CIA activities during his directorship. In 1940, she was 32 years old and lived in Washington, Indiana, with her husband, Richard, son, and daughter. Another telling public reaction from Richard Helms that adds insight into his character was delivered during a lecture for students at Johns Hopkins University in the fall of 1972. The Man Who Kept the Secrets, the title of author Thomas Powers's biography of Richard Helms, is a fitting description of his subject. For more than 11 months, until the tunnel was detected by the Soviet Union, the C.I.A. So, how much is Richard Helms worth at the age of 89 years old? However, in later years, it was publicly revealed that in reality the Soviets' work in this area had been much exaggerated. Title: CIA CHIEF RICHARD HELMS Subject: CIA CHIEF RICHARD HELMS Keywords The so-called "mind control gap" would provide a strong impetus for greater CIA funding. He grew up in South Orange, N.J., and was schooled in Europe, where he became versed in languages and fluent in French and German. Through most of the 1950s, he was a leading recruiter and trainer of intelligence agents working in the Eastern Bloc. https://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/23/obituaries/richard-m-helms-dies-at-89-dashing-exchief-of-the-cia.html. As Deputy Director of Plans, Helms hid this information from President Kennedy and his CIA director John McCone. When Mr. Helms refused, Mr. Helm's successor at the agency, James R. Schlesinger. Impressum | See search results for this author. He is also survived by a son, Dennis, from his first marriage. The elected Marxist leader was eventually overthrown and died in a CIA-assisted coup in 1973. 1 son, Dennis J.; married Cynthia McKelvie, 1968. On that night, more than two hundred synagogues were set aflame, ninety-one people were killed, and twenty thousand were arrested and taken to concentration camps. The "ULTRA" is no doubt a nod to the great contribution of the operation that broke the Nazi code in World War II. But why be pessimistic?, He signed it Devotedly, The OM. (For Old Man.). See full bio Born: March 30, 1913 in St. Davids, Pennsylvania, USA Died: During the 1950s, Dulles gave him special assignments. When World War II broke out, Mr. Helms was called into service by the Naval Reserve and because of his linguistic abilities was assigned to the Office of Strategic Services, the precursor to the C.I.A. Young Richard attended Carteret Academy. The gold-embossed letterhead features a swastika and the name Adolf Hitler. On leaving the CIA, Mr. Helms served three years as ambassador to Iran, then in 1976 ended his government career. He was second-in-command of covert operations in 1958 when he was passed over for the directorship of that activity in favor of Richard M. Bissell Jr., who in 1961 would plan and direct the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion of Castro's Cuba. You Save 25%. ex-husband Private child view all Julia Bretzman Shields's Timeline Over the next 20 years, Mr. Helms rose through the agency's ranks, and in 1966 he came the first career official to head the C.I.A. Blood, Money, & Power: How L.B.J. A separate inquiry by the Rockefeller Commission also faulted Mr. Helms for poor judgment for destroying documents and tape recordings that might have assisted Watergate investigators. During the 1950s and early 1960s, he held high positions in the division responsible for clandestine operations. had run a major secret operation in Chile that gave more than $8 million to the opponents of Mr. Allende, using the International Telephone and Telegraph Corporation as a conduit. That reputation grew after 1973, when Mr. Helms clashed with President Richard M. Nixon, who sought his help in thwarting an F.B.I. support to the Watergate cover-up, although the agency had been criticized in Congress and in the press for having been too cozy with Nixon aides in their quest to silence or destroy political enemies. Mr. Helms said outside the courtroom that he wore his conviction "like a badge of honor," and added: "I don't feel disgraced at all. Richard married Julia Helms (born Bretzman Shields) on month day 1939, at age 26 at marriage place, Indiana. Later in the war, Helms worked in intelligence offices in London and Paris. . Earlier this year, the CIA contacted Dennis Helms to let him know the agency was redesigning its in-house museum and wanted to increase its memorabilia from Richard Helms and the three other CIA directors who also served in the OSS: Allen Dulles, William Casey and William Colby. But I dont have the capacity or time to do stuff like that.. With his wife he entered a new life in local society. 229 0 obj <>/Filter/FlateDecode/ID[<0FE81A3C1E7EFE44AF36D8950331A64D><1C923204F3452F4692C304A98FB5F8E8>]/Index[222 28]/Info 221 0 R/Length 55/Prev 24142/Root 223 0 R/Size 250/Type/XRef/W[1 2 1]>>stream In their Bradley Lane house in Chevy Chase, the father and son discussed family matters, school and the news. In the face of the Communist challenge, the US military sought to prepare its soldiers for survival in the event they were captured by the enemy. I think if I had done anything else I would have been disgraced.". In his biography, The Man Who Kept the Secrets, Thomas Powers wrote that Helms style was cool by choice and temperament; his instinct was to soften differences, to find a middle ground, to tone down operations that were getting out of hand, to give faltering projects one more chance rather than shut them down altogether, to settle for compromise in the interests of bureaucratic peace.. 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