The Man Nobody Knew: In Search of My Father, CIA Spymaster William Colby is a 2011 documentary by his son Carl exploring his life and career at the CIA.
What is rather revealing are not insights from his wife Barbara. Rather, interviews with America’s most powerful voices from that era is a “Who’s Who” of America’s entire war in Southeast Asia is key.
Willam left law school to fight in World War II and joined the OSS (CIA) taking a leading role in Norway receiving a Silver Star. William first moved his family to Rome in order to thwart the rise of Italian communism. The CIA’s early role in Vietnam led by William is presented front and center, revealing a deeper understanding of America’s early entry into the French war.
William’s move to Vietnam in 1959 occurred less than five years after Dien Bien Phu. He brought his family to Saigon from Rome. In fact, the Colby children attended a special school for American families in Vietnam with their oldest daughter attending with the niece of Ngo Dinh Diem. Very interesting backstory to Barbara’s life in Italy. Yet, after settling into Saigon, she noted “It’s strange to think the threat from North Vietnam wasn’t easily seen.”
The 1963 advisor build up
Along with CIA officer Rufus Phillips, we see the birth of Diem’s rule under Eisenhower. However, CIA efforts mimicked counter insurgency success from Europe, yet failing in Vietnam in the early 1960s. There are indeed many lessons found in forcing a square peg into a round hole. There are very similar lessons on America’s counterinsurgency via Max Boot’s excellent book regarding Edward Lansdale in The Road Not Taken. Lansdale certainly brought his counterinsurgency success from The Philippines, yet Kennedy ignored his proven strategies in Vietnam.
Barbara shares how their family began making inroads with the Diem family as Willam spent a lot of time building a relationship with Deim’s brother Nhu. Ironically, Nhu would try to take credit for the strategic hamlet program.
The advisor build up through 1963
General H.R. McMaster comments how Kennedy and Colby moved to place advisors into Vietnam, not American ground troops. American Advisors grew from 800 in 1961 to 16,500 by 1963. This was Kennedy’s unconventional approach. Cole describes how he watched his father work with South Vietnamese Generals yet also heard shelling 30 miles outside of Saigon. The entire Colby family, moving from Saigon in 1962 met with Diem prior to their departure.
The failure of Henry Cabot Lodge
Tim Weiner reveals how terrible Kennedy’s choice of Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. as Ambassador would cripple America. Lodge alone decided that a coup was necessary. However, audio recordings by Kennedy, Colby, RFK, Robert McNamara, Dean Rusk, Averell Harriman others reveal Cabot Lodge knows almost nothing about Vietnam. However, as the coup begins, Cabot Lodge feels that only he himself is actually running the coup on behalf of Kennedy’s US Government.
CIA secret programs
Colby’s CIA initially took a European approach to counterinsurgency. Upon his returned in 1968, William is realizing the war was completely different than the one he left in 1962. The Phoenix Program was born under Colby. This assassination and torture programs are displayed in small segments on the video. This mades a very powerful impact upon the South Vietnamese. In turn, this made William a target of the American peace movement. This documentary certainly brings into focus his testimony to House committees regarding Phoenix as part of his 1973 nomination to be Director of CIA. However, Nixon tried to push Watergate as a CIA program and William would not allow the CIA to be dragged into Nixon’s crisis. Under Ford, William acknowledged the “Family Jewels” of CIA activities during the cold war and was replaced by George Bush Sr. Ford saw Bush as more of a loyalist than William.
A who’s who of American politics
The archival footage and interviews are certainly astounding: Zbigniew Brzezinski, Brent Scowcroft, James Schlesinger, Donald Rumsfeld, Bob Woodward, Seymour Hersh, William Webster, Daniel Schorr, Robert McFarlane, Bob Kerry, Walter Mondale, George Tenet, Michael Hayden, and Robert Gates.
Training for bias?
In conclusion, this is a worthy documentary and brings to light William’s leading counterinsurgency efforts in Vietnam beginning in 1959. This is certainly fascinating as William was most comfortable in the background.