Murphy related the information to Washington, where eventually it S reached C. Holds worth Martin, Jr. Martin knew de Verbey, and suggested to Donovan that the old man be brought to the United States.
It might be useful to have a lever available if de Gaulle-who already showed signs of being very difficult-became impossible.
Donovan was aware that since Roosevelt looked fondly upon de Gaulle, he was safe in his self-appointed role as head of the French government in exile. Further, even if they were to have a de Gaulle replacement waiting in the wings, he felt they could find someone better than a long-retired admiral with a serious heart condition. He had not then rejected Martin’s recommendation, however. But he believed that he would ultimately decide that getting the admiral out of Morocco would be more trouble than it would be worth, But later there came the necessity of bringing out of Morocco the French mining engineer who knew about the stock of uranitite in the Belgian Congo. That operation had a very high priority and was top secret. Which meant they would need good cover for it. Donovan’s deputy, Captain Peter Doug lass, USN, had suggested, and Donovan had agreed, that should something go wrong with the snatch the-mining-engineer operation, the Germans would begin to suspect an American interest in atomic fission. If, however, the operation had the escape of the admiral as its cover and the operation blew up, there was at least a reasonable chance the Germans would not suspect what was really up. Thus C. Holds worth Martin, Jr.” had been told that Donovan had decided to bring the admiral to the United States. He had not been told M’77″M”77777″ about the mining engineer. The operation had been a success. The admiral and the engineer had arrived at the Brooklyn Navy Yard aboard a submarine, which had picked them up fifteen miles at sea off the Moroccan coast.
The admiral and the engineer were then taken to a seaside mansion in Deal, New Jersey, where they could be kept on ice until a decision was made as to what to do with them, Afterward, Martin told his wife that the admiral was safe in America, and where he was being kept. Madame Martin, who had known the admiral all her life, then drove the fifty miles to Deal, loaded the admiral in her Packard, and took him to the Martin dulex on Fifth Avenue. p When the formidable Madame Martin arrived, the naval officer charged with the security of the mansion incorrectly decided there was nothing he could do to keep the admiral in Deal. Madame Martin, after all, was the wife of a Disciple. So he had helpfully loaded the admiral’s one suitcase into the Martin Packard, and then saluted crisply as it drove off. As a result of this failure of judgment, he would spend the balance of World War 11 as a supply officer in the South Pacific, but the damage was done. The admiral was in New York City, prepared to tell anyone who would listen that Brigadier General Charles de Gaulle not only was a megalomaniac but had no legal authority whatever for declaring himself the head of the French government. “This will never do,” Donovan told Martin.
“Maybe we’ll need to let the admiral have his say. But for the time being he has to be kept on ice at Summer Place. If you have to take him back to the mansion by force, then do that. But we absolutely have to keep him away from the press. I have had a word with The New York Times, and they are not going to run the interview they did with him.
But it’s only a question of time until the story gets out. God help us if Colonel McCormick gets wind of what we’ve done. Who’s Colonel McCormick?” Martin asked, confused. “He publishes the Chicago Tribune,” Donovan said. “He volunteered for active duty on December eighth. Since Franklin hates his guts-the feeling is mutual-Roosevelt turned him down, ostensibly because of his age. As a consequence, the colonel would be very sympathetic to another Old warrior denied active service by that socialist in the White House.”