"Wild Bill" Donovan

Paper Summary:

The paper analyzes William J. "Wild Bill" Donovan's life experiences which include his family background, education, character and personality and career path that led Donovan to become a strategic and visionary leader. The paper discusses Donovan's creation of the Office of Strategic Services and explores how it worked during World War II and concludes that Donovan was certainly the right man for the job at this turning point in world history.

Outline:
Introduction
Review and Discussion
Conclusion

From the Paper:

"William J. Donovan was born on New Year's Day in 1883, and died seventy-six years later on February 8, 1959 (Troy 23). According to this biographer, Donovan's grandparents, both were Irish Catholics who had immigrated to the United States and settled in Buffalo, New York, in a predominantly Irish neighborhood of the First Ward near the waterfront (Troy 23). "His parents," a relative of the family wrote, "also Irish and Catholic, lived in the grandparents' big, high-stooped brick house at 74 Michigan Street" (William's brother, Rev. Vincent Donovan, quoted by Troy at 23). William was the couple's first child who added the name Joseph at his Confirmation (Troy 23)."

Sample of Sources Used:

• About Us. (2007). Central Intelligence Agency. [Online]. Available: https://www.cia.gov/about- cia/index.html.
• Donovan, William J. Preface to The Ultimate Weapon, Oleg Anisimov, Chicago: Regnery Publishing, Inc., 1953.
• Ford, Corey. Donovan of OSS. Boston: Little, Brown, 1970.
• Heidekinq, Jurgen, Christof Mauch and Marc Frey. American Intelligence and the German Resistance to Hitler: A Documentary History. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1996.
• Lankford, Nelson Douglas and David K. E. Bruce (Eds.). OSS against the Reich: The World War II Diaries of Colonel David K. E. Bruce. Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 1991.

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