Desmond Fitzgerald

Desmond FitzGerald (June 16, 1910 – July 23, 1967) was an American intelligence officer for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), where he rose to the position of Deputy Director of Plans. He served in the CIA from 1950 until his death. Posthumously he was awarded the National Security Medal. An attorney, he had worked in New York City both before and after World War II. During the war, he was an Army officer, serving as liaison and adviser to the Chinese Army.

Early life Desmond Fitzgerald was born in New York City in 1910, to Helen Jane Fitzgerald and Harold Fitzgerald, who was in banking. He was educated at St. Mark's School in Southborough, Massachusetts.

Fitzgerald earned an undergraduate degree from Harvard University. In 1935, Fitzgerald earned a law degree from Harvard University.

Career Fitzgerald worked for six years at a New York law firm.

At the outbreak of World War II Fitzgerald was "a 31-year-old attorney with a wife and a child" yet he enlisted as a private in the Army. He soon transferred to Officer Candidate School and was commissioned as an officer. His assignment was as liaison to the Republic of China Army operating in the China-Burma-India theater, where he was promoted to the rank of major and awarded the Bronze Star.

After the war, Fitzgerald returned to New York City, where he worked at a Wall Street law firm. He enjoyed connections with the city's elite social circles.

CIA Fitzgerald was recruited to the CIA's Office of Policy Coordination by Frank Wisner in 1950.

In January 1961, Fitzgerald approved James William Lair's proposal for arming Hmong guerrillas to fight in the Laotian Civil War.

In February 1964, Fitzgerald became chief of Western Hemisphere (WH) Division responsible for clandestine operations in Central America, South America, Caribbean and Cuba.

In 1964 Fitzgerald came into conflict with Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara over McNamara's demand for quantified information from Vietnam.

In June 1965, Fitzgerald was selected as Deputy Director of Plans, responsible for worldwide collection of foreign intelligence. Fitzgerald supervised the increase in personnel assigned to South Vietnam to support military operations. In one instance he asked Edgar Applewhite to attack Ramparts magazine as part of the CIA's Cold War strategy. Applewhite claimed he used "dirty tricks" and blackmail to harm the magazine's business.

Later, Fitzgerald worked on the CIA's accurate prediction of the outbreak of the Six-Day War in the Middle East between Egypt and Israel.

After their divorce, he married actress Barbara ( Green) Lawrence (1919–1973). Barbara, the daughter of Ralph Green of London and Hayes House in Frome, was the former wife of Connor F. Lawrence Jr. Before his death, they were the parents of: who married actress Lucinda McLean Ziesing in 1991.

In July 1967, while playing tennis with his wife, the British Ambassador to the United States Patrick Dean, and the ambassador's wife in The Plains, Virginia, Fitzgerald suffered a heart attack and died. He was 57. His funeral was attended by Vice President Hubert Humphrey, Senator Robert F. Kennedy and publisher Katharine Graham among others.

Legacy and honors He was posthumously awarded the National Security Medal by then President Lyndon B. Johnson.