Agents of Influence

September 1, 2019
Hemming (Agent M: The Lives and Spies of MI5's Maxwell Knight, 2017, etc.) tells the story of MI6 operative Bill Stephenson (the model for 007) and how crucial he was to America's entry into World War II. Stephenson was sent to New York in June 1940, to convince U.S. officials to support England in her desperate fight against the Germans. Later that summer, President Franklin Roosevelt sent Bill Donovan on an unofficial visit to London to discern if England could survive. Stephenson knew of the visit and had MI6 take charge, wooing Donovan with royal visits and access to high-security operations. When Donovan returned to America, Stephenson convinced him the U.S. needed a stronger spy service. Donovan's job was to get Roosevelt onboard. He was already leaning in that direction, ready to help in any way he could--everything that is, short of declaring war. Helping these interventionists was an East Coast group with strong influence called the Century Group. American isolationists, led by Charles Lindbergh, were their fiercest opponents. Lindbergh, who addressed huge crowds at anti-war rallies and justified Nazi aggression due to economic imbalance, received information from Hans Thomsen, the senior diplomat at the German Embassy in charge of keeping the U.S. out of the war. Thomsen developed the congressional "franking privilege" scheme whereby pro-German material could be mailed to sympathizers by sitting members of Congress for free. He also bribed newspapers to publish his false material. Stephenson and Donovan built the most diverse and extensive yet subtle propaganda drive ever directed by one sovereign state at another. In this page-turning spy thriller, Hemming shows how they mastered the art of starting rumors, infiltrating groups, and manipulating opinion polls. They also used forgeries, organized protests, and wiretaps and hacked into private communications. Their only rule: No rules. Fluid, sharp writing, deep research, and a spy network with unparalleled ingenuity provide a snappy read and lots of shockers.

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October 21, 2019
Hemming (Agent M) delivers a lucid, fast-paced account of England’s secret scheme to draw America into WWII. Shortly after the June 1940 Dunkirk evacuation, Canadian-born MI6 agent Bill Stephenson launched the “largest state-sponsored influence campaign ever run on American soil.” Drawing on newly declassified British records, Hemming reveals how Stephenson’s staff infiltrated interventionist groups such as the Anti-Nazi League; spread “distorted” news stories; and manipulated public opinion polls. The MI6 agents were clandestinely helped by notable Americans, including Time magazine publisher Henry Luce and lawyer William “Wild Bill” Donovan, who, with Stephenson’s guidance, set up the Office of the Coordinator of Information, America’s “first centralized intelligence agency.” In addition to recounting Stephenson’s covert operations, Hemming documents the activities of prominent isolationists including Charles Lindbergh, and the efforts of senior German diplomat Hans Thomsen to keep America out of the war. The broad outlines of Hemming’s story are familiar, but his crisp narrative is enlivened by his family connection to the story: his grandparents were friends with, and may have worked for, Stephenson. This entertaining espionage history illuminates an important chapter in the history of foreign influence on American public opinion.