The Secret History of MI6 - Keith Jeffery [265]
A caustic signal from William Stephenson in New York about the anti-British Irish-American Joseph Kennedy (father of President John F. Kennedy).
With Menzies’s encouragement, Stephenson took on responsibilities throughout the western hemisphere which involved both liaising with the Americans and developing intelligence work on his own behalf. Noting that the Admiralty needed information about enemy activities in Mexico, in September 1940 Menzies suggested to Stephenson that if American sources could not provide the information required he should build up a separate SIS organisation there (which he did). Stephenson also worked with the FBI, which from June 1940 to 1946 ran its own Special Intelligence Service throughout Central and South America.10 In November 1940 one of Stephenson’s men in Mexico City passed information to the FBI for the American authorities that four German ships intended to run the British blockade in the Gulf of Mexico, with the result that the ships were stopped by the United States Navy. The FBI was also concerned about the possibility of Axis sabotage throughout the Americas, and when Hoover learned in October 1940 that the Italians were withdrawing $3,850,000 (equivalent to $59 million today) from United States bank accounts for transmission by diplomatic courier to Rio de Janeiro, it was assumed that the money might be used to fund this. The State Department, now well aware of the SIS-FBI liaison, favoured some sort of ‘joint effort’ between Stephenson and Hoover to intercept the funds. Menzies suggested that Stephenson put ‘most imperative pressure’ on a Pan American airline executive to ‘purloin Bags’ en route, and he also endeavoured to ensure that the British authorities in Trinidad and elsewhere in the Caribbean would try to intercept the bags if they came through British territory. Menzies recognised, however, ‘probability is route via Central America’, and although he could alert local British representatives to the passage of couriers through the region, ‘obviously unable to instigate action these countries’. In fact, although two-thirds of the money got through to Brazil, Stephenson was able to help as one Italian courier travelled via Mexico City with $1,400,000. Stephenson’s local representative tipped off the Mexican police, the courier’s bag was opened, ostensibly (as diplomatic bags were supposed to be sacrosanct) by ‘a new and inexperienced clerk’, and the money discovered, confiscated and placed in a blocked account.
During the autumn of 1940 liaison with the Americans increased across the board, though this coincided with an American Presidential election during which Roosevelt had to defend himself against accusations of being too pro-British and recklessly abandoning American neutrality. Stephenson and Menzies meanwhile played a central role in oiling the wheels of the expanding Anglo-American relationship. In November (after Roosevelt had been returned for a third term as President) Stephenson advised Menzies that Donovan, ‘presently the strongest friend whom we have here’, was at Roosevelt’s request planning another trip across the Atlantic, visiting the Mediterranean as well as Britain, before returning to the USA, ‘to repeat his good work of last occasion and also to combat forces of appeasement here which are gaining ground again’. As with Donovan’s previous visit, Menzies oversaw all the arrangements. Writing to Desmond Morton in December, he noted the high importance of Donovan’s friendship for the United Kingdom and argued that, ‘commended by Mr. Churchill for what he has already done for us and directed as to his future course of action in the mutual interests, much can be achieved here more quickly than by any other means’. This was a clear attempt to secure a Prime Ministerial audience, though