11 Jul Elizabeth MacDonald McIntosh

Tribute to Elizabeth MacDonald McIntosh. (photo from cia.gov)

This is a long overdue tribute to one of the great ladies of the OSS (Office of Strategic Services) and the CIA. Elizabeth “Betty” McIntosh died last year at the age of 100. In the research for my book, I have used two books that she wrote: Undercover Girl (1947) under her previous name of Elizabeth MacDonald and Sisterhood of Spies: The Women of the OSS (1998.)

You can read her personal story of the early days of the OSS in Undercover Girl. Used copies are available online, but you can read it for free at openlibrary.org. Undercover Girl is the best source I have found that describes what it was like during the early days of the OSS in Washington, D.C. My mother started to work there in 1942, a year before Betty arrived. Major General William Donovan, the head of the OSS, wrote the introduction and described Betty as one who “epitomized the devotion to duty of the group of women in the Office of Strategic Services.”

World War II began for Betty on December 7, 1941, when Japanese planes attacked Pearl Harbor. She was working as a reporter for the Honolulu Star-Bulletin when she heard over the radio,  “The islands are under attack. This is the real McCoy.” The story Betty wrote was deemed by her editors to be too graphic and upsetting to be published. In 2012, it was seen for the first time in a Washington Post article.

Because she was fluent in Japanese (she had been raised in Hawaii) her overseas assignments with the OSS were to Burma, China, and India where she worked for Morale Operations to spread disinformation among the Japanese.

The goal was to undermine enemy morale. One creative opportunity came when they captured a stash of about 100 postcards on their way to Japan, written by the soldiers out in the field. The soldiers had written positive messages, “We’re winning the war; don’t worry.” The verbiage was changed to things like, “We’re starving. What’s wrong with the Emperor?”

Betty’s Sisterhood of Spies, tells the stories of OSS women who served all over the world … the spies, saboteurs, experts in propaganda, and the secretaries who recorded everything. After all the books written about the men who served in the OSS, this book is an important history of the women who worked right beside them.

In 2011, Betty was living in a Washington, D.C. retirement community when she discovered that another resident had also worked for the OSS! You can watch the interview here.

Last year, on March 1, 2015, Betty turned 100 years old, and CIA Director John Brennan hosted a special celebration for her at CIA headquarters. “Her many achievements and stories life are an inspiration to all women and particularly so to those of CIA.” Betty’s recognition was just in time. She died three months later, leaving a legacy of inspiration for women who dare to step out into new adventures.

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