My Online On Crime Column: My Q&A With Thomas Maier, The Author Of 'The Invisible Spy: Churchill’s Rockefeller Center Spy Ring And America’s First Secret Agent of WWII'

Below is my Q&A with Thomas Maier, the author of The Invisible Spy: Churchill’s Rockefeller Center Spy Ring and America’s First Secret Agent of WWII:

Davis: Who was Ernest Cuneo and why did you write a book about him?

Maier: I wrote a book about Ernest Cuneo because I realized that he had deliberately remained anonymous for many years while he became America’s first spy of World War II, and that his life was absolutely fascinating. Cuneo grew up as an Italian American kid from the New York area who attended Columbia university, played football as a lineman in the NFL, and became a Democratic Party lawyer working for President Roosevelt. He also worked as the attorney for media megastar Walter Winchell, who had a nationwide Sunday radio broadcast and a column that appeared in hundreds of newspapers. I realized that there was a fascinating book to be written about Cuneo as a window into the origins of American espionage, as well as the use of the media during war time. Cuneo personally is interesting because he became enamored with one of Churchill spies at Rockefeller Center, Margaret Watson, whom he married. He also became very good friends with British spy Ian Fleming, helping him to write the James Bond novels and movies. Cuneo is one of the most remarkable Italian American lives of the 20th century, and I wanted to make sure my book captured every minute of this drama.

Davis: What was Ernest Cuneo’s association with William Stephenson and the British spy set up at Rockefeller Center in New York City during WWII?

Maier: Ernest Cuneo was central to the creation of the Churchill spy operation at Rockefeller Center in New York City. In the summer of 1940, with Hitler’s troops storming through Europe, the new British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill decided it was essential to get America into the war, or else all would be lost. At that time, President Roosevelt was campaigning for reelection with the promise that America would not enter the war in Europe. However, Churchill secretively sent William Stephenson, a Canadian war hero from World War I, to New York and he met with FBI director J, Edgar Hoover to gain the presidents permission for the secret spy operation. Hoover suggested to Stephenson that he approached the White House through a friend of his named Ernest Cuneo. And indeed, Cuneo wound up getting permission from the president for the Churchill spy operation to be set up at Rockefeller Center. It was something that virtually no Americans knew about at the time.

Davis: How would you describe William Stephenson? What was his mission in America?

Maier: William Stephenson was a very daring but subtle spy. His mission was threefold: to keep an eye on Nazi spies and German sympathizers in the New York area; make sure that the supply lines to England remained open; and most importantly, to set up a propaganda operation and election interference effort to convince America to get in the war and to undermine efforts by opposing American isolationists. 

Davis: How was Ernest Cuneo able to capture the ear of President Roosevelt and other Washington policy makers?

Maier: Cuneo attended Columbia University and was a lawyer in New York in the 1930s who worked with several key decision makers in President Roosevelt administration who shared the same background of Columbia University with him. Also, Cuneo worked as the attorney for the most powerful media voice in America, Walter Winchell, and therefore he was known at the White House for being able to get their views before the public on radio and in newspapers. Cuneo also worked as a Democratic Party lawyer and as a “advanced man" for President Roosevelt‘s election campaigns in the 1930s. So, he was familiar with many of the powerful figures in the Roosevelt administration. 

Davis: How would you describe British naval intelligence officer Commander Ian Fleming, and how did Cuneo and Fleming become friends?       

Maier: While working together at Rockefeller Center in the early days of World War II, American Ernest Cuneo became very good friends with British spy Ian Fleming. They were very different men physically and by background. But they both liked writing, laughter and having a good time at Manhattan’s nightclubs. Fleming was a very creative spy working for British naval intelligence. He came up with the idea for “Operation Mincemeat”, the famous British use of a corpse found at sea designed to confuse the Nazis by carrying phony maps and papers about a future Allied invasion. After the war, Fleming and Cuneo worked together at a newspaper syndicate and remained great friends. Cuneo helped Fleming research and write his James Bond novels. In fact, the James Bond novel Thunderball is actually dedicated to Cuneo.

Davis: How did Stephenson and Cuneo help defeat the Nazis in WWII?  

Maier: The British spy operation at Rockefeller Center, headed by Stephenson, provided a lot of help to the Americans when they entered the war.  Cuneo was often the point man between the White House and the spy operation in New York. Stephenson and his British spies helped train Americans in various ways of espionage. Most importantly, they provided the model for what became the Office of strategic Services (OSS), America’s first spy agency.

Davis: How did you research the book?

Maier: Much of my book is based upon the papers of Ernest Cuneo that are housed at the FDR presidential library. I also relied on an unpublished memoir by Cuneo, that was provided to me by his family with their permission. I also conducted research at the FDR library, the Churchill archives in the UK, and at other libraries.

Davis: What are you working on next?

Maier: I’m hoping that my book, Mafia Spies, which was a six-part series on Paramount + last summer, will now become a motion picture. Stay tuned and wish me luck!

Note: You can also read my Washington Times review of Thomas Maier’s Mafia Spies via the below link:

Paul Davis On Crime: My Washington Times Review of 'Mafia Spies: The Inside Story Of The CIA, Gangsters, JFK, And Castro'