John Franklin Carter

John Franklin Carter (born April 27, 1897 in Fall River , Massachusetts , † November 28, 1967 in Washington, DC ) was an American journalist and writer , the Democratic Party with his publications, some under the pseudonym "Jay Franklin" supported. During World War II , he led a secret working group that provided President Franklin D. Roosevelt with information from the milieu of journalists, politicians and diplomats. He also made a name for himself as a writer of crime and science fiction novels.

Life

Until World War II

Carter was one of seven children of an Episcopalian pastor family . He studied political science at Yale University . Thornton Wilder was one of his fellow students . Before graduating, Carter accepted the offer to go to Italy for the Williamstown Institute of Politics. In Rome he started to work as a freelance correspondent for British newspapers and the New York Times .

In 1928 he returned to the USA. After a brief period as an economics expert in the State Department , he began working as a correspondent for Liberty and Vanity Fair magazines in Washington, DC . In 1932 he conducted an interview with Hermann Göring for the New York Times ; the meeting in Berlin was arranged by the NSDAP's foreign press chief , Ernst Hanfstaengl .

From 1934 to 1936, Carter held the post of Undersecretary of State for Agriculture. In this position he was also speechwriter for Secretary of Agriculture Henry A. Wallace . Under the pseudonym "Diplomat" he wrote detective novels that are located in the political milieu; later he also used the pseudonym "Unofficial Observer".

From 1936 on he devoted himself to journalism again: Under the pseudonym "Jay Franklin" he wrote columns regularly about the White House , he was also a commentator for the radio station NBC . He had direct access to President Roosevelt and was soon considered one of his confidants. He reported to the President on events and moods among journalists, politicians and diplomats and soon got the funding from the White House to set up "a small and informal intelligence unit" , the Roosevelt beyond official channels the government apparatus should inform about political events.

In World War II

At the beginning of World War II, Carter was given the funds to further expand his formally private spy group. In 1942 he was the first to report to the White House about the Belzec extermination camp ; his staff had interviewed refugees from Eastern Europe. When Carter learned that the former Hitler confidante Ernst Hanfstaengl , who had fled from Germany to Great Britain in 1937, had been taken by the British to an internment camp for Germans in Canada at the beginning of the war , he received Roosevelt's approval, Hanfstaengl psychological profile of the NS -To have guides created; this was handed over to the American authorities by the British. Carter's employees and Hanfstaengl himself interviewed Hanfstaengl regularly, whose reports Roosevelt received.

In April 1943 Carter submitted to the President Hanfstaengl's analysis of the German reports on the Katyn massacre , in which the Soviets were accused of perpetration. But Roosevelt rejected this analysis. Carter, who also questioned the diplomats of the Polish government-in-exile who were accredited in Washington, tried in vain to convince Roosevelt of the Soviet perpetrators in the Katyn forest .

The Carters group was viewed with great suspicion and competition by the State Department as well as the OSS and FBI intelligence services , but always got Roosevelt's backing.

After the Second World War

In 1945, Carter Roosevelt's successor, Harry S. Truman , suggested continuing his work. The latter rejected the proposal, but took Carter into his circle of speechwriters. In 1948 Carter retired from the White House. In 1950 he became head of the New York State Public Relations Department .

1952 Carter was the Madden-Commission , the investigative committee of the US Congress to the Katyn massacre , interviewed. He stated that there was no interest in the version of Soviet perpetration in the Roosevelt White House.

literature

• Matthieu Durand: L '"observateur" officieux: John Franklin Carter et son réseau de renseignement au service du président Roosevelt from 1941 to 1945. Québec 2010.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The New York Times Book Review , 1937 vol. 2 , p. XXXIX.
2. ↑ Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature , vol. I. A Checklist 1700-1974, p. 195.
3. ↑ Biographical information, unless otherwise stated, according to: Inventory of the John Franklin Carter papers, 1902–1979 University of Wyoming. American Heritage Center, 2011
4. ↑ Joseph E. Persico: Roosevelt's Secret War. FDR and World War II Espionage. New York 2002, p. 56.
5. ↑ David Pietrusza: 1932: The Rise of Hitler and FDR. Two Tales of Politics, Betrayal, and Unlikely Destiny. Lanham, MD 2016, p. 290
6. ↑ Current Biography New York 1941, p. 308.
7. ↑ Joseph E. Persico: Roosevelt's Secret War. FDR and World War II Espionage. New York 2002, p. 57.
8. ↑ Joseph E. Persico: Roosevelt's Secret War. FDR and World War II Espionage. New York 2002, p. 219.
9. ↑ Matthieu Durand: The "observateur" officieux: John Franklin Carter et son réseau de renseignement au service du président Roosevelt de 1941 à 1945. Québec 2010, pp. 163-164.
10. ^ John N. Crocker: Roosevelt's Road to Russia. Chicago 1959, p. 247.
11. ↑ Matthieu Durand: The "observateur" officieux: John Franklin Carter et son réseau de renseignement au service du président Roosevelt de 1941 à 1945. Québec 2010, pp. 172-173.
12. ↑ The Katyn Forest Massacre. US Government Printing Office. Washington 1952, vol. VII, p. 2248.
13. ↑ Joseph E. Persico: Roosevelt's Secret War. FDR and World War II Espionage. New York 2002, p. 444.
14. ↑ Joseph E. Persico: Roosevelt's Secret War. FDR and World War II Espionage. New York 2002, p. 444.
15. ↑ The Katyn Forest Massacre. US Government Printing Office. Washington 1952, vol. VII, pp. 2246-2251.

Web links

• John Franklin Carter papers , University of Wyoming
• John Franklin Carter correspondence US National Archives NARA
• "The Rat Race"