Shields, Judith L. "Judy"September 10, 1949 - May 24, 2022Preceded in death by husband, James W. Shields, Sr.Survived by children, Jim Jr. (Lisa), Scott, Laura Lewis . 'His marriage, to Julia Bretzman Shields in 1939, was to make a major differ- ence to his later career, in an unusual way. But the fact that we received it on the very day that we in the museum received news along with the rest of the world of the successful bin Laden operation stunned us.. See full bio Born: March 30, 1913 in St. Davids, Pennsylvania, USA Died: He was reserved in public. He got a job on the retail advertising staff of the Indianapolis Times where he soon rose to be its national advertising manager.Powers (1979) at 20-22. In part because of his foreign language skills, he was able to hook up with the United Press in London and soon after was sent to Berlin. When Hitler spoke face-to-face, active salivary glands seemed to make his voice indistinct, Helms wrote in his memoir.). His years at the agency covered a period in which CIA service was widely honored as a noble and romantic calling in the Cold War. The committee, which was led by Senator Frank Church, Democrat of Idaho, accused Mr. Helms of failing to inform his own superiors of efforts to kill the Cuban leader Fidel Castro, which the Senate panel called ''a grave error in judgment.''. Helms had such a sense of his own moment in history, she said. Most of the subjects tested did not know the nature of the tests being given to them. Helms's interview with Hitler gave the young reporter's resume added credentials that would eventually aid his entry into the intelligence service following the US declaration of war in 1941. . Helms and Dulles, who was then Chief of Mission in Berne, Switzerland, met at General Dwight Eisenhower's headquarters when Germany surrendered on May 8, 1945. $(&F\ 6 Dennis wanted to be like his father in some ways. During his CIA years and after, Mr. Helms followed a code that stressed maximum trust and loyalty to his agency and colleagues, maximum silence where outsiders were concerned. 249 0 obj <>stream We encourage you to research and . Another telling public reaction from Richard Helms that adds insight into his character was delivered during a lecture for students at Johns Hopkins University in the fall of 1972. Meanwhile, his friend Richard Helms was also on a fast track. By July 1952, Helms had been appointed acting chief of the CIA's Clandestine Division and in the following year became deputy to Frank Wisner, the Deputy Director of Plans. At the Camp David meeting, the president had asked Mr. Helms if he would like to be an ambassador, and the two men had agreed on Iran. Helms, who consistently opposed that plan to oust Castro, was named head of the plans division, the third highest position in the agency. Mr. Nixon appointed him ambassador to Iran, a post in which Mr. Helms served until 1977, when he returned to Washington to plead no contest to charges that in 1973 he had lied to a Congressional committee about the intelligence agency's role in bringing down the Allende government. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. He was 89. Sources: Materials in collection. CIA officials knew that these activities were in violation of the agencys charter and, in a February 1969 letter to Henry Kissinger, then national security advisor, Helms urged that Chaos reports be kept top secret. After the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Helms joined the Navy and moved his family to his parents' home in South Orange, New Jersey. Helms replied, "I don't remember." When the CIA was formed in 1947 with the passage of the National Security Act, Helms stayed on under the new umbrella agency. His wife is Julia Bretzman Shields (1939 - 1968) ( divorced) ( 1 child), Cynthia McKelvie (? She spends her days providing medical services to clients, which may include performing physicals, reviewing lab work or doing EKGs when necessary. Helms became deputy director. Mr. Helms kept a low public profile as director of central intelligence, and he avoided publicity. 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Helms got ensnared in Congresss investigation because a successor, William Colby, released a trove of documents, nicknamed the Family Jewels, detailing the agencys misdeeds. Mr. Helms believed he had performed well in a job that, although many Americans considered it sinister and undemocratic, was nevertheless a cold-blooded necessity in an era of cold war. The so-called "mind control gap" would provide a strong impetus for greater CIA funding. Today he is dead, his memory despised, his country in ruins.. Earlier this year, the CIA contacted Dennis Helms to let him know the agency was redesigning its in-house museum and wanted to increase its memorabilia from Richard Helms and the three other CIA directors who also served in the OSS: Allen Dulles, William Casey and William Colby. He died on October 22, 2002 in Washington, District of Columbia, USA. He worked for the president and answered only to him. Connections Married Julia Bretzman Shields, September 8, 1939 (divorced 1968). It was Helms's fluency in the German language that helped him earn the position of station chief in post-World War II Berlin. His father, Lt. Col. James H. Angleton, had worked for a US firm in Italy and, with the outbreak of war, the elder Angleton also wound up working in intelligence under General Donovan. TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. Anyone can read what you share. Soon after, he was transferred to the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the precursor of the Central Intelligence Agency, under the command of General William J. Donavan. But he eventually ran afoul of Congressional investigators who found that he had lied or withheld information about the United States' role in assassination attempts in Cuba, anti-government activities in Chile and the illegal surveillance of journalists in the United States. 1968, one son) Son: Dennis Helms Wife: Cynthia Ratcliff McKelvin (m. 1968) High School: Carteret School, Orange, NJ University: Williams College (1935) US Ambassador to Iran 1973-76 CIA Director 1966-73 CIA Deputy Director 28-Apr-1965 to 30-Jun-1966 OSS Agent The Indianapolis Times For the normally reserved bureaucrat, publicly unleashing such a bizarre verbal assault seemed out of character. . I will miss his priceless counsel and warm friendship.". "I found myself in a position of conflict," Mr. Helms said. I just wish there had been more such occasions.. He was responsible for espionage, intelligence gathering, special undercover operations and the political propaganda section. How do we create a person's profile? Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin and how many others bit the dust during this century. Born on March 30, 1913, in St. Davids, Pa., Richard McGarrah Helms -- he avoided using the middle name -- was the son of an Alcoa executive and grandson of a leading international banker, Gates. Family (1) Spouse Julia Bretzman Shields (1939 - 1968) (divorced) (1 child) Cynthia McKelvie (? 222 0 obj <> endobj Most likely, Dennis figures, his father got the stationery shortly after Germanys surrender and backdated the letter to confer historical sweep. He was known as a charming conversationalist, a gregarious partygoer and an accomplished dancer, and he and his wife. Related Products Contribute Resources Add your poems, quotes, or title ideas to share with other members. hXmo6+~"i("n?hsV"J@x<>#rF9'C#7\@+ZCLzK)+!. He joined the Indianapolis Times and soon moved up to the position of advertising manager. Over the next 20 years, Mr. Helms rose through the agency's ranks, and in 1966 he became the first career official to head the C.I.A. Helms' first marriage to Julia Bretzman Shields ended in divorce. Intentionally or not, Richard was writing a bookend to the Hitler letter from 1945. His father was an Alcoa executive and his maternal grandfather a leading international banker. Young Richard attended Carteret Academy. This snapshot of Julia Helms's life was captured by the 1940 U.S. Census.Julia Helms was born about 1908. His life's ambition on leaving college was to own and operate a daily newspaper. President Reagan awarded him the National Security Medal in a White House ceremony. Richard McGarrah Helms (March 30, 1913 October 23, 2002) served as the Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) from June 1966 to February 1973. He made only one public speech during his years as CIA leader, telling the nation's newspaper editors that "the nation must, to a degree, take it on faith that we, too, are honorable men, devoted to her service. had never tried to overthrow the government of President Salvador Allende Gossens or funneled money to political enemies of Mr. Allende, a Marxist. Richard Helms, Ex-C.I.A. He died on October 22, 2002 in Washington, District of Columbia, USA. During the 1950s and early 1960s, he held high positions in the division responsible for clandestine operations. . . chief, Mr. Helms received favorable attention from lawmakers and the press, who remarked on his professionalism, candor, and even his dark good looks. Helms remained with the OSS after his discharge from the Navy in 1946 as the Cold War began in earnest. Later that day he went to a reunion of former C.I.A. In the judgment of Richard Helms, the CIA worked only for the president. (His father and mother, Julia Bretzman Helms, divorced in 1968, and she died in 1986.). (White House Photo By Yoichi R. Okamoto). Together, Angleton and Helms would form a twenty-five-year partnership in covert operations. That was about it. In this brave. When times changed and Congress demanded to know about CIA spying on American citizens, or efforts to kill Cubas Fidel Castro or to overthrow the government of Socialist President Salvador Allende in Chile, Helms felt no obligation to fully assist panels investigating those matters. "I had sworn my oath to protect certain secrets. in 1973, Mr. Helms served until 1977 as the American ambassador to Iran, whose ruler, Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, was supported by the United States. An urbane and dashing spymaster, Mr. Helms began his career with a reputation as a truth-teller and became a favorite of lawmakers in the late 1960's and early 70's. That particular letter is one that only agency employees and their guests can see. Over the next several months, the agency would contemplate schemes for Castro's overthrow or assassination, but none ever materialized. In 1939 Helms had married Julia Bretzman Shields, a sculptress six years his senior. .Booklist. Julia was born on April 8 1907, in Indianapolis, Marion, Indiana. He had a chance to get in the bunker early and grab that stuff, Dennis said, shrugging during an interview at a restaurant in Princeton near his home. Richard Helms was born on March 30, 1913 in St. Davids, Pennsylvania, USA. He was married to Cynthia McKelvie and Julia Bretzman Shields. Born March 30, 1913, in St. Davids, PA; died of bone cancer, October 23, 2002, in Washington, DC; son of Herman and Marion Helms; married Julia Bretzman Shields, 1939 (divorced, 1968); married Cynthia McKelvie, 1968; children: (first marriage) Dennis. Right after Germanys surrender, Lt. Helms, an intelligence operative, sneaked into Hitlers chancellery in Berlin and pilfered the Fuehrers stationery. Helms notes in his autobiography that this was two years before the terror of the Nazi's plans became clear with the outbreak of anti-Semitic violence known as Kristallnacht on November 9, 1938. . His dad never explained in full. Mr. Helms's memoir, "A Look Over My Shoulder: a Life in the C.I.A.," is scheduled to be released in the spring by Random House. The reports indicate that the CIA feared that his capture would expose their use of former Nazis, and that he would reveal the CIA's efforts to undermine Communist influence in West Germany. Dennis Helms, now a 69-year-old intellectual-property lawyer in New Jersey. He did not welcome congressional inquiry or oversight. Mr. Helms replaced him in 1962, winning the position that had eluded him four years earlier. In the early 1970s, the agency was further compromised when several of its employees were arrested in the break-in at the Democratic National Headquarters at the Watergate Hotel in Washington. The Hitler-chancellery letter, it turns out, was the beginning of an epistolary relationship that would span about 50 years. Ancestry Dear Dennis, the seven-sentence letter begins. Senate investigators later discovered that the C.I.A. Dennis mentioned the Hitler letter. He was class president, editor of the school newspaper and the yearbook, and was president of the senior honor society. [M]y life has spanned an historic period, and I am rather awed by that fact, he wrote. He was known as a charming conversationalist, a gregarious partygoer and an accomplished dancer, and he and his wife continued to be familiar figures on the capital party scene. , 13). They were also the types of subjects who would not be prone to question if they had been unwittingly drugged, because drugs were a normal part of their culture anyway. It was not until June 2006 that the National Archives in Washington released twenty-seven thousand pages of declassified post-World War II documents revealing the extent of the CIA's collaboration with ex-Nazis. Helms was named director, a post he would hold for six years. A year later, he was among a group of journalists who interviewed Adolf Hitler. In The Terror Conspiracy Revisited, Reporting new and never-before-published information about the assassination of John F. Kennedy, this investigation dives straight into the deep end, and seeks to prove the CIAs involvement in. He left the agency in 1973, when President Richard M. Nixon asked for his resignation -- the result, Mr. Helms believed, of his refusing to permit the CIA to be used in the coverup of the Watergate break-in, which ultimately led to the president's resignation. The year 2011 will mark the tenth anniversary of the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, those history-changing events that have come to be known simply as 9/11. The agency later set up two additional programs to monitor dissident groups. At his retirement in 1973, Mr. Helms left an organization viewed with suspicion by many and about to undergo intense scrutiny from an unfriendly Congress for activities ranging from assassination plots against foreign leaders to spying on U.S. citizens. Powers wrote, Mr. Nixon forced him out and sent him to Iran as ambassador. At the end of the war, he was posted in Berlin, where he worked for Allen Dulles. Please c, ontact . With the appointment of Allen Dulles as Director of Central Intelligence in 1953, Helms began to lay the groundwork for a program that became known as operation MKULTRA. 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