The Franklin D. Roosevelt
Presidential Library and Museum
presents a conversation and signing
with Nicholas Reynolds author of
NEED TO KNOW: WORLD WAR II AND
THE RISE OF AMERICAN INTELLIGENCE
Wednesday, November 2, 2022
at 6:00 p.m.
In-person*: Henry A. Wallace Center
at the FDR Library and Home
[*local health metrics permitting;
Online: Streamed live
to the official FDR Library
HYDE PARK, NY -- The FDR Presidential Library and Museum will present a conversation and book signing with Nicholas Reynolds, author of NEED TO KNOW: WORLD WAR II AND THE RISE OF AMERICAN INTELLIGENCE, at 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday, November 2, 2022. The event will be held in the Henry A. Wallace Center at the FDR Presidential Library and Home and streamed live to the official FDR Library YouTube, Twitter and Facebook accounts. This is a free public event*, but registration is required for in-person attendance. CLICK HERE to register. [*local health metrics permitting]
Synopsis:
The entire vast, modern American intelligence system -- the amalgam of three-letter spy services of many stripes -- can be traced back to the dire straits the world faced at the dawn of World War II. Prior to 1940, the United States had no organization to recruit spies and steal secrets or launch covert campaigns against enemies overseas and just a few codebreakers, isolated in windowless vaults. It was only through Winston Churchill’s determination to mobilize the US in the fight against Hitler that the first American spy service was born, built from scratch against the background of the Second World War.
In NEED TO KNOW, Nicholas Reynolds explores the birth, infancy, and adolescence of modern American intelligence. In this first-ever look across the entirety of the war effort, Reynolds combines little-known history and gripping spy stories to analyze the origins of American codebreakers and spies as well as their contributions to Allied victory, revealing how they laid the foundation for the Cold War -- and beyond.
Nicholas Reynolds has worked in the fields of modern military history and intelligence off and on for forty years, with some unusual detours. Freshly minted Ph.D. from Oxford University in hand, he joined the United States Marine Corps in the 1970s, serving as an infantry officer and then as a historian. As a colonel in the reserves, he eventually became officer in charge of field history, deploying historians around the world to capture history as it was being made. When not on duty with the USMC, he served as a CIA officer at home and abroad, immersing himself in the very human business of espionage. Most recently, he was the historian for the CIA Museum, responsible for developing its strategic plan and helping to turn remarkable artifacts into compelling stories. He currently teaches as an adjunct professor for Johns Hopkins University and, with his wife, Becky, cares for rescue pugs.
