ichard Helms From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search Richard Helms United States Ambassador to Iran In office April 5, 1973 – January 1, 1977 President Richard Nixon Gerald Ford Preceded by Joseph S. Farland Succeeded by William H. Sullivan 8th Director of Central Intelligence In office June 30, 1966 – February 2, 1973 President Lyndon B. Johnson Richard Nixon Deputy Rufus Taylor Robert E. Cushman, Jr. Vernon A. Walters Preceded by William Raborn Succeeded by James R. Schlesinger Deputy Director of Central Intelligence In office April 28, 1965 – June 30, 1966 President Lyndon Johnson Director William Raborn Preceded by Marshall Carter Succeeded by Rufus Taylor Personal details Born March 30, 1913 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Died October 22, 2002 (aged 89) Richard McGarrah Helms (March 30, 1913 – October 22, 2002) was the Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) from 1966 to 1973. He was the only director to have been convicted of lying to the United States Congress over Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) undercover activities. In 1977, he was sentenced to the maximum fine and received a suspended two-year prison sentence. Professionally he was described as a "good soldier", one who may protest a policy under discussion, but once made would support a decision loyally. Throughout his career he favored intelligence gathering and secrecy, but was often a critic of covert operations.[1] Contents 1 Life up to World War II 2 Early career in intelligence 3 Eisenhower presidency 3.1 Iran and Guatemala 3.2 The U-2 and Bissell 4 Kennedy presidency 4.1 Cuba 4.2 Vietnam 5 Johnson presidency 6 Domestic intelligence 7 Nixon presidency 7.1 Chile 7.2 Watergate 7.3 Ambassador to Iran 8 Later years and death 9 Personal 10 In the media 11 Reference notes 12 Further reading 13 See also 14 External links Life up to World War II Helms was born in Philadelphia in 1913 to Marion Helms and Herman Helms, an executive for Alcoa. He grew up in South Orange, New Jersey and began high school there. He then spent two of his high school years at the prestigious Institut Le Rosey in Switzerland where he learned to speak French and later Realgymnasium in Freiburg, where he became fluent in German. In 1935, after he graduated from Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, he got a job at the United Press (UP) in London. The depression in London, however forced Helms to find work in Germany, where he covered the Berlin Olympic Games. Following an annual NSDAP Parteitag, Helms with a small group of news reporters heard Adolf Hitler speak in the Nuremberg Castle. In 1937 he left the UP and returned home for a job on the business side of the Indianapolis Times. He had risen to be its national advertising manager by December, 1941, when America entered World War II.[2] Early career in intelligence During World War II Helms served in the United States Navy. In 1943, he was posted to the Secret Intelligence Branch of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) because of his ability to speak German. From his wartime experiences, Helms formed the conviction that "secret intelligence matters, and that paramilitary dering-do doesn't."[3] In the aftermath of the war, he was transferred to the newly formed Office of Special Operations (OSO), where at the age of 33 he was put in charge of intelligence and counter-intelligence operations in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland. The OSO became a division of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) when that organization was created by the National Security Act of 1947.[4] Eisenhower presidency Iran and Guatemala Generally Helms disliked the CIA's involvement in covert operations, thinking them ineffective in the long run. "But the 1950s were the CIA's great age of clandestine operations." Although failing at efforts to "roll-back" the Soviets from Eastern Europe, the CIA considered itself successful elsewhere. Mossadegh of Iran in August, 1953, and Arbenz of Guatemala in June, 1954, were both removed from office by CIA operations. Yet Helms thought the price had been too high, that "the CIA was more notorious than ever."[5] The U-2 and Bissell A great triumph of the CIA in the late 1950s became the high-altitude U-2 photo-reconnaissance planes, which overflew the Soviet Union from May 1956 to May 1960, when the Russians shot one down. Thereafter, photo-reconnaissance was done by satellite. Richard Bissell of the CIA had taken the lead in developing both these technical systems. Allen Dulles, Director of Central Intelligence 1953-1961, appointed Bissell the new Deputy Director of Plans (DDP) in 1958. The position many thought should have gone to Richard Helms, who was a proven, accomplished administrator. Bissell and Helms did not get along. Yet Bissell turned out to be an "anarchic administrator" and his leading role in the Bay of Pigs fiasco led to his resignation in 1962.[6] That then opened the way for Helms. Kennedy presidency Cuba The Kennedys strongly and persistently favored regime change for Fidel Castro in Cuba. Already under Eisenhower the CIA was given a prominent role in what became a plan to invade the island nation, with a landing force of exiled anti-Castro Cubans. It had the support of the CIA Director Allen Dulles. The project, however, became an "open secret". Helms, who highly valued secrecy and who was generally against covert actions, quickly distanced himself from the plan, remaining extremely sceptical of its chances, an opinion widely shared among CIA professionals not working on the project. Yet such internal CIA opposition was not made public. Just before the invasion, Castro detained in makeshift camps 100,000 suspects. In the event, the 1961 CIA-assisted invasion turned into a bitter failure.[7] In 1962 Helms became Deputy Director of Plans (Operations). Helms then served under John McCone, the new Director of Central Intelligence (1961–1965). Vietnam The Vietnam War had begun to draw increased participation by American forces. In August 1963 a proposed State Department cable advocated a coup to overthrow the Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem; by circumstance Helms, DDP at the CIA, was asked to approve the cable; he responded, "It's about time we bit this bullet." Yet quickly the CIA Director McCone strongly voiced his long opposition to such action. Later the controversial November coup resulted in the killing of President Diem.[8] Johnson presidency Richard Helms, in the White House Cabinet Room, March 27, 1968. In 1966 Helms was appointed Director of Central Intelligence. He continued to hold this post until 1973, thus well into the Nixon administration. He followed the relatively short DCI tenure of Admiral Raborn (1965–1966), under whom Helms had served as Deputy Director. Regarding Vietnam, in 1965 Johnson decided to send in large number of American troops and to bomb the North; yet the military put stiff pressure on him to escalate further. In the "paper wars" that followed, Helms at the CIA was regularly asked to report on the effectiveness of the military, e.g., the bombing of Hanoi, which the military resented. Under Helms, such CIA reports were usually moderate, but often questioned whether the tactics used would result in compelling Hanoi to negotiate. Helms himself was evidently sceptical, yet Johnson never asked for his personal opinion. The CIA also organized an armed force of minority Meo in Laos, and minority Montagnards in the Vietnam highlands, as well as rural counterinsurgency forces. Further, the CIA became very involved in South Vietnamese politics. "One of the CIA's jobs was to coax a genuine South Vietnamese government into being."[9] According to one source, CIA Director Richard Helms "used his influence with Lyndon Johnson to warn about the growing dangers of U.S. involvement in Vietnam."[10] On the other hand, Stansfield Turner (DCI 1977-1981) describes Helms's relationship with Johnson as being overly loyal to the office of president, resulting in the CIA staff's honest opinions on Vietnam not reaching Johnson.[11][12] When The Wise Men confronted Johnson about the difficulty of winning in Vietnam, he was unprepared to accept their negative findings, yet their advice contributed to his decision to withdraw from the 1968 presidential election. However there were successes during this era, such as the CIA analysis of the Six-Day War, which predicted that "the Israelis would win a war within a week to ten days."[13] Helms believed it had kept the U.S. (for the most part[14]) out of the conflict.[11] Domestic intelligence