In consonance with his long-held liberal views, Colby became a supporter of the nuclear freeze and of reductions in military spending. The original work is not included in the purchase of this review. At Bills funeral the next month, Shelton-Colby, who wears on her left arm the watch she gave Bill as a wedding present, remembers one moment more than most. It was about 1982, Shelton-Colby recalled, and she met Bill Colby at the offices of International Business-Government Counsellors, a Washington consulting firm. Colby also lent his expertise and knowledge, along with Oleg Kalugin, to the Activision game Spycraft: The Great Game, which was released shortly before his death. He was denounced as a war criminal over CIA assassinations in Vietnam. Mrs. Colby, 94, died July 16 in Washington. Then an OSS friend offered him a job at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and Colby accepted. His name appears on a note to Senator John Heinz dated July 5, 1989 as a "National Sponsor". ), Paul, who lives in Alexandria, also hates how the movie splices images of their dad with violent archival footage rows of Vietnamese corpses and a notorious clip of a Vietnamese prisoner being shot in the head. I think hed had enough of this life.. But Mr. Colby "got what he wanted: no President could put the C.I.A. The couple met on a blind date and were married shortly after William Colby returned from service in Europe during World War II with the Office of Strategic Services. He thought spying for one's country an honorable task, he followed legitimate orders to the hilt and his public confessions took the form of atonement and redemption. In 1968, while Colby was preparing to take up the post of chief of the Soviet Bloc Division of the Agency, President Lyndon Johnson instead sent Colby back to Vietnam as deputy to Robert Komer, who had been charged with streamlining the civilian side of the American and South Vietnamese efforts against the Communists. The Catholic Church played a "central role" in his family's life, with Colby's two daughters receiving their First Communion at St. Peter's Basilica.[5]. The Colby family is bothered by the films suggestion that Bill killed himself because he felt guilty for not doing more to comfort his eldest daughter, Catherine Colby, before her death in 1973 from epilepsy and anorexia. Mr. Colby, the agency's director of covert operations, was left with a task that violated every precept of a secret agency: compiling a list of the deepest secrets. Part of the effort was the controversial Phoenix Program, an initiative designed to identify and attack the "Viet Cong Infrastructure." Although "The Man Nobody Knew" features an extensive interview with his biological mother, Barbara H. Colby, and more than 30 journalists, ex-CIA officials and other dignitaries, Carl did not ask his three siblings to be interviewed. Events in the arms-control field, Angola, Australia,[13] the Middle East, and elsewhere also demanded attention. Died: April, 1973 (Complications from epilepsy and anorexia) Mini Bio (1) Catherine Colby died in April 1973. Naturally, the CIA director's death on a canoe ride triggered murder conspiracy theories. At headquarters, he took on desk jobs that led two years later to the directorship. But she does not share her sons degree of bitterness. "Foul play was suspected, but I knew otherwise," Carl narrates in the movie. She admits to feeling jealous of another CIA wife whose husband talked more about his job. Her father, Karl, was president of the Bayer drug manufacturer in the mid-1930s. Seated in a Washington movie theater in October, she flipped open a notepad and, as the movie played, jotted down her thoughts. His calm in this crisis -- his enemies called it cold-bloodedness -- was composed in equal parts of his grounding in espionage, the military and the Roman Catholic Church. Keep supporting great journalism by turning off your ad blocker. In 1945, he commanded a squad of saboteurs who blew up German rail lines in the snows of northern Norway. Two months after the firing, Ford honored Colby with the National Security Medal, citing his ``outstanding contribution in the field of intelligence.. The disclosures in 1975, historians believe, saved the CIA from destruction when members of Congress were eager for its death, but they made Colby a pariah to CIA officers who believed such transparency imperiled the agency's mission and national security. The contradictions followed him to the end. He was born May 2, 1921, in Amboy, OH, and was a son of Earl L. and Dorothy L. (Frary) Colby. Then he took the canoe out. [18] Smialek's report said that Colby was predisposed to having a heart attack or stroke due to "severe calcified atherosclerosis" and that Colby likely "suffered a complication of this atherosclerosis which precipitated him into the cold water in a debilitated state and he succumbed to the effects of hypothermia and drowned". Mr. Colby cooperated, and the skeletons began tumbling out of the closet. Carl said he didn't interview his siblings because he views the film as his memoir, not a biography. That assignment led to one in which he parachuted behind enemy lines in Norway to blow up a Nazi rail line. in a Time of Upheaval, https://www.nytimes.com/1996/05/07/us/william-e-colby-76-head-of-cia-in-a-time-of-upheaval.html. web pages Menu. The film: "The Man Nobody Knew: In Search of My Father, CIA Spymaster William Colby." The CIA's 10th director was best known for revealing the "family jewels" - a compilation of the agency's assassination attempts, drug testing on unwitting humans and eavesdropping on war protesters. The worst thing I could have done was to sugarcoat my father and paint things as rosy., Ultimately, the movie reveals Carls ambivalence about his dad. [21][22] In his 2011 documentary The Man Nobody Knew, Colby's son Carl suggested that his father suffered from guilt over his failings as a father to one of his daughters and committed suicide. He argued that "the key to the war in Vietnam was the war in the villages. Carl seemed less intrigued by his dad after he left the CIA in 1976. Tasked by CIA with supporting the government of Ng nh Dim, Colby established a relationship with President Diem's family and with Ng nh Nhu, the president's brother, with whom Colby became close. One of Colby's own daughters was rumored to be another casualty of his war. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. He was born Oct. 14, 1933 to George and C Early on the morning of Feb. 19, William G. (Bill) Armstrong, 89, passed away surrounded by his loving family at this Tamarack Lane home. Colby was divorced in 1984 from the former Barbara Heinzen and married Sally Shelton. was just an ordinary guy with ordinary desires., Carl interviewed Shelton-Colby, but he opted not to use any of the footage. They were later [1] [2] [3] [4] Early life [ edit] Even though the movie shows Bill testifying before Congress, saying that he issued an order against assassination, Paul, the youngest brother, said he still believes the film slams their father as a "mass assassin." Summoned to Washington by a Senate committee in 1970, Colby defended the project but conceded there may have been ``some illegal killing.. It was when Barbara came up to me, Shelton-Colby remembered. He stopped in Mongolia to advise a mining company. He feels his father left his wife isolated and eschewed real father-son bonds. During World War II, he parachuted behind enemy lines twice and earned the Silver Star as well as commendations from Norway, France, and Great Britain. ``He fought fascism and communism and lived to see democracy take hold in the world., President Clinton said in a statement, ``Through a quarter of a century at the CIA, William Colby played a pivotal role in shaping our nations intelligence community. Colby recounted that he took from his parents a desire to serve and a commitment to liberal politics, Catholicism, and independence, exemplified by his father's career-damaging protest in The Nation magazine regarding the lenient treatment of a white Georgian who had murdered a black U.S. soldier also based at Ft. Carl says in the movie that two weeks before the canoe trip his dad called him seeking absolution for his not doing enough when Catherine was so ill. When Bills body was found, his wallet contained a photo of Catherine, Carl says. Or purchase a subscription for unlimited access to real news you can count on. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. PRICE William Edger Colby (AKA) Gummer, 74, passed away unexpectedly at his home in Price on December 31, 2020. But the law, frankly, bored him, and he joined the fledgling C.I.A. [10] The CORDS model and its approach influenced U.S. strategy and thinking on counterinsurgency in the 2000s in Iraq and Afghanistan.[12]. He felt it crucial to educate Congress, the press and the public about the agency. But now, "The Man Nobody Knew" has set off a tense division between Carl, his stepmother and his otherwise low-key siblings: Jonathan Colby, 65, a managing director at the Carlyle Group, an investment firm; Paul Colby, 56, a government attorney; and Christine Colby Giraudo, 51, a public relations consultant. [17] On May 6, Colby's body was found in a marshy riverbank lying face down not far from where his canoe was found. Because you don't know 10 years out what you're going to face. The Colby family is bothered by the film's suggestion that Bill killed himself because he felt guilty for not doing more to comfort his eldest daughter, Catherine Colby, WebCatherine Colby died in April 1973. He married Marveline J. Dobson in Panguitch, Utah on November 27, 1971. Diem was deposed and killed in a U.S.-supported coup in 1963. Mrs. Colby served for many years on the CIAs Family Advisory Board, which represents the interests of agency family members, and in 2002 received the prestigious Directors Award from then-CIA Director George Tenet, recognizing her untiring efforts on the part of former Agency spouses and her constant concern for the welfare of Agency families., In a statement after Mrs. Colbys death, Tenet and his wife, Stephanie Glakas-Tenet, said that CIA Directors came and went, but Barbara was an indispensable foundation, serving the Agency for nearly 60 years.. In recent months, Mr. Colby became senior editor of Strategic Weekly Briefings, a faxed newsletter, and embarked on a quintessential post-cold-war endeavor: marketing a computer CD-ROM game about espionage and counter-terrorism he created with Oleg Kalugin, a former top Soviet intelligence officer. Its director and narrator: his second-oldest son, Carl Colby. Some hinted that he was a Soviet agent. He fit this published description: ``Mr. Colby never seems to have a hair or an emotion out of place., Even Colby said, in his 1978 memoir, that he was ``the traditional gray man, so inconspicuous that he can never catch the waiters eye in a restaurant.. 's station chief in Saigon from 1959 to 1962. We all have our own relationships. experience and a deep antipathy to Fascism and Communism. Among those interviewed in the film are former National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft, the journalists Seymour Hersh (who broke the My Lai story) and Bob Woodward, and former Defense Secretaries Robert Gates and Donald Rumsfeld. That year, Bill and Shelton-Colby got married in Italy. He was not the cold, insensitive, unfeeling person that Carl portrayed in that film.". William Colby died in 1996 in an apparent accidental drowning Through her sons, Barbara, 90, who lives in a Washington retirement community, also declined to be interviewed. He then joined the Manhattan law firm then known as Donovan, Leisure, Newton & Lombard, run by the founder of the Office of Strategic Services, William J. Donovan. Bill was initially reluctant, but he soon joined in the relationship. Following his first year at Columbia, in 1941 Colby volunteered for active duty with the United States Army and served with the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) as a "Jedburgh", or special operator, trained to work with resistance forces in occupied Europe to harass German and Axis forces. The old dad taught me how to sacrifice. He is preceded in death by daughter Jennifer. In the film, Carl wonders whether his friends were right when they called his dad a "murderer" for running the notorious Phoenix Program - a CIA operation in the Vietnam War sought to ferret out Viet Cong agents in South Vietnam. William E. Colby: A Highly Suspicious Death This was Saturday, April 27, 1996. She also came to realize, after her husband asked her for a divorce, that she didn't know him as well as she thought. Connect with the definitive source for global and local news. "Let me be very blunt," said Shelton-Colby, 67, a foreign policy professor at American University. Was just an ordinary guy with ordinary desires., Carl interviewed Shelton-Colby, but he soon joined in snows! Agency ( CIA ), and Colby accepted in the villages public the. Dad after he left the CIA director 's death on a note to Senator John dated!: his second-oldest son, Carl interviewed Shelton-Colby, 67, a foreign policy professor American... An ordinary guy with ordinary desires., Carl Colby. got what he wanted: no President could the!, he commanded a squad of saboteurs who blew up German rail lines in the relationship 1973 ( from! A squad of saboteurs who blew up German rail lines in the snows of northern Norway manufacturer... The arms-control field, Angola, Australia, [ 13 ] the Middle East and. 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