Spymaster
Description
Germany was the epicenter of the Cold War. Across the Iron Curtain, hundreds of thousands of soldiers faced each other, and if World War III were to break out, contemporaries feared, surely it would happen here. The country's frontline status made it an El Dorado for spies, who gathered information on military targets, penetrated political parties, and trained partisans for stay-behind operations. For the Americans, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) came to take the lead in this silent - and sometimes not so silent - contest. In the heyday of the Cold War, the agency's German station employed nearly two thousand officers - in addition to countless spies and informants. Ultimately, this covert empire reported to the CIA station chief in West Germany and his deputy. And for many years, either of those positions was held by Gordon Matthews Stewart.
Gordon Stewart was well prepared for this assignment. He studied German history and literature during the 1930s and lived in Munich and Hamburg as a visiting student. Here, he personally witnessed the Nazi takeover, even catching a glimpse of Adolf Hitler at one of his notorious rallies. When the United States entered the war in 1941, the newly established Office of Strategic Services (OSS) recruited him as a specialist on German affairs. In the summer of 1945, he arrived in Germany with an OSS detachment. Eventually, the OSS morphed into the CIA, and Gordon Stewart would run the agency's espionage organization in Germany for some twenty years.
From CIA headquarters in Heidelberg, Karlsruhe, Frankfurt, and eventually, Bonn, Mr. Stewart directed all intelligence operations in central Europe. Initially, he hunted down Nazi war criminals, but the Cold War compelled him to bend his efforts toward the Soviet bloc. During the 1950s, Mr. Stewart directed espionage operations against East Germany, organized the training of Ukrainian partisans at U.S. bases in Bavaria, and participated in a scheme to dig a tunnel into East Berlin to eavesdrop on Soviet and East German communications. He also recruited and handled sources inside the West German government, including the chief of the Bundesnachrichtendienst , Reinhard Gehlen; the highest-ranking West German military officer, General Adolf Heusinger; and top policy-makers of the Christian and social democratic parties.
Mr. Stewart's memoirs, introduced by renowned intelligence scholar Thomas Boghardt, offer not only a fascinating look inside the CIA's largest overseas station; they also tell the story of a deeply conscientious and highly accomplished intelligence officer, whose experience, intellect, and moral compass shaped American policy toward Germany and Europe during the turbulent years of the early Cold War.
Reviews / Votes
"Gordon Stewart is a hidden hero of the early CIA. Chief of its largest spy-station, he takes us on a remarkable journey from hunting Nazi fugitives to a subterranean battle beneath Berlin. Spymaster is an essential contribution to Cold War History and a must-read for all those interested in the world of espionage." - Richard J. Aldrich , author of GCHQ.
***
"The long overdue - and utterly fascinating - memoirs of one of the most important American intelligence officers of the early Cold War period, with a masterful introduction by Thomas Boghardt. This is essential reading for anyone hoping to gain an intimate view of the CIA at its inception - or who simply loves a good spy story!" - Scott Anderson , author of The Quiet Americans: Four CIA Spies at the Dawn of the Cold War: A Tragedy in Three Acts.
***
"Gordon Stewart was present at the creation and height of the U.S. intelligence effort in Cold War Europe. Superbly editedby Thomas Boghardt, Stewart's memoirs shed new light on the CIA's hidden history." - Christian F. Ostermann , author of Between Containment and Rollback: The United States and the Cold War in Germany (2021).
***
"Gordon Stewart is one of the most important and least well-known Americans who helped shape postwar Germany. In this revealing memoir, masterfully edited and introduced by Thomas Boghardt, Stewart's guidance and leadership of the CIA comes to life. This book is a critical contribution to our understanding of the Cold War and the role of intelligence in U.S. diplomacy." - Thomas A. Schwartz , author of Henry Kissinger and American Power: A Political Biography.
***
"Revealing without being sensational, this is a delightful memoir by a thoughtful, modest, principled man - an American George Smiley, you might say. The book benefits both from careful editing and from an excellent and well-written introduction by the intelligence historian Thomas Boghardt." - Adam Sisman , author of John le Carré: The Biography.
"[I]t provides an excellent account of the Agency's learning process in the field at the heart of the Cold War confrontation. It is also excellent in describing the people, cliques, culture, and sub-cultures of the CIA and its surrounding American community in early Cold War Germany. [.]
Students of the Cold War Central Intelligence Agency will certainly profit by reading this book." -
Mark Stout
(Johns Hopkins University, Washington, DC) in
Intelligence and National Security
, November, 1-4.
More details
Other editions
Additional editions
Persons
Thomas Boghardt , Center of Military History, US Army, Washington D.C., USA.