Our Man in New York

Author(s): Henry Hemming

Location(s): New York City (NYC)

Genre(s): Nonfiction

Era(s): World War II

From the bestselling author of M, this is the fascinating and lively history of a propaganda campaign like no other: the covert operation to manipulate American public opinion and bring the USA into the Second World War. William Stephenson – ‘our man in New York’ – masterminded this campaign for MI6. The American aviator Charles Lindbergh referred to a British-led plot. Others believed the British were manipulating the American media, that the government was riddled with British stooges and that the British were using dirty tricks to smear prominent anti-war politicians. These claims were shocking, wild, even paranoid: they were also true. And they were the least of it – Stephenson set up a Canadian forgery factory; he paid astrologers to predict Hitler’s death; he was instrumental in setting up an organisation he largely controlled which became the CIA. It proves ‘fake news’ is not new, and collided here with the then embryonic worlds of advertising and PR (Along with David Ogilvy, Ian Fleming is one well-known name who features, Stephenson inspired elements of Bond – including how he took his Martini.) Henry – whose grandparents worked for Stephenson and whose father’s life was saved by him – uses hitherto private and classified documents to uncover the work of this daring maverick.

Review this Book