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My Father The Spy: An Investigative Memoir
As his father nears death in his retirement home in Mexico, author John H. Richardson begins to unravel a life filled with drama and secrecy. In the first years of World War II, his father, then an idealistic student of literature and sociology, was recruited into military intelligence and thrown into action in Europe, getting his education on the fly as he roamed the battlefields of Italy and Austria, hunting spies and saboteurs. One of the founding members of the CIA, he quickly emerged as a seasoned "chief of station" in some of the hottest assignments of the cold war, from the back alleys of occupied Vienna to the ballrooms of Athens to the jungles of the Philippines -- and especially Saigon, where he became a pivotal player in the event most historians see as the turning point of the Vietnam War, the overthrow of South Vietnamese president Ngo Dinh Diem.
He had also become a family man, with a wife and two children. As John Jr. and his sister came of age in exotic postings across the world, they struggled to accommodate themselves to their father, by now a rigid and distant cold warrior, and their conflict opens a window on the tumult of the sixties and Vietnam. Only years after the CIA called John Sr. back to the States to teach other spies did father and son repair their relationship, developing a profound emotional and intellectual connection.
Through the daily happenings at home, and his father's actions, reconstructed from declassified documents and extensive interviews with former spies and government officials, Richardson reveals both the innermost workings of a family that played an important role in the clandestine wrangling of the cold war and the deeper war thatturns the world of the fathers into the world of the sons.
336 pages, Hardcover
First published August 1, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
October 24, 2021
2.75 stars
John H. Richardson's father was a spy, a high-ranking member of the CIA, one of those idealistic men who came out of the Second World War determined to save the world from tyranny. His silence and bitterness was the mystery of his son's childhood. Eventually, John H. Richardson, Jr. became a reporter and started putting the story of his father together. However, whenever he pulled out his tape recorder for a formal interview, John H. Richardson, Sr. reminded him he had taken an oath of silence, so John H. Richardson, Jr. turned to interviewing his father's old friends and colleagues. While some were helpful and pleasant, most resisted, not approving of his trying to dig into his father's murky past, and that, unfortunately, shows.
What I mean is that this book, which its author called "an investigative memoir," is, in fact, fifty percent a coming-of-age story and fifty percent speculations based on the scanty information John H. Richardson, Sr., who rarely spoke of his youth or his family and almost never spoke of his CIA career, provided in his letters to his son. Despite his father's grave reservations about his talent, John H, Richardson, Jr. can write. His writing style, witty, richly descriptive, and touchingly nostalgic, enamored me, and I devoured the first half of his compelling... novel. For a novel it is. It is definitely not an insightful account of a high-ranking CIA agent's eventful life.
Furthermore, the author's efforts to justify his father are plain annoying. Somewhere in some secret office with an unlisted phone, a military officer who was probably not wearing a military uniform sat his father down and asked him a fateful question: “How would you like to roam battlefields at night picking documents off of dead bodies?” And John Richardson apparently replied: "I'd love it." Because he joined the Counter Intelligence Corps, one of the most secret of America’s secret agencies. There had been a long and bitter fight in Washington over whether it should even exist. After hunting saboteurs and Nazis during the War, after sending hundreds of men to death or prison camps during six years behind Soviet lines in occupied Vienna, after manipulating the governments of Greece and the Philippines, and after helping depose the leader of South Vietnam, John H, Richardson, Sr. "stored up the raw material for a lifetime of regrets" and retired to Mexico. That's it. That sums up the book if we exclude John Richardson, Jr.'s attempts to clear his father's reputation and unnecessary details about his own childhood.
It seems to be that his son must have been John Richardson, Sr.'s punishment for all his work-related sins, for John Richardson, Jr. was a juvenile delinquent. The second half of the "investigative memoir" tells us nothing substantial about his father, but more than compensates with pages and pages about his hippie romp. He smoked dope, tripped on acid, and was a known LSD user. A child of privilege, he did bad at school, stole, and was nothing but a headache for his parents, who for their part were more interested in their work and social life respectively than in their two kids. Just as many pages are devoted to John's older sister, Jennifer, who was no less difficult. John retaliated by showing genuine disinterest in his father's history-making, which explains why he has so little to say about him that he has chosen to tell the story through the perspective of an angry, rebellious, drug-fueled teen.
If a fan of spy novels happens on this book, it will leave a lasting impression on him, for it will disabuse him of the notion that spies are dashing, romantic figures. There was nothing dashing and romantic about John H. Richardson, Sr. In college, he was an anti-social "greasy grind," who haunted the library and withdrew from friendships and college activities. When catching fascist spies in Italy, he was not some brave hero, who threw himself into the core of the action. On the contrary, while Allied troops were starving and dying by the thousands on the battlefield, he and other CIC agents lived in the villas of counts and ate gourmet meals.
Having read extensively about the Central Intelligence Agency, I found this memoir a major disappointment. John H. Richardson, Jr. does not cast any light on the significance of his father's position as CIA Station Chief in Saigon. He does not discuss the CIA counterinsurgency operations in the South Vietnamese countryside, for instance. He does, however, chronicle the bickering among American officials of various departments and agencies for some reason. Well, everyone who knows something about the Vietnam War is aware of the fact that one of the main reasons why everything went downhill in 1963 and culminated in Diem's and Nhu's assassinations was that the Americans could not decide on a single course of action, but rather bickered and sabotaged each other's undertakings. I do not need to read about John H. Richardson, Sr.'s arguments with American ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge to learn about that.
MY FATHER THE SPY had so much potential, but it missed the big picture completely. John H. Richardson, Jr. mired himself in petty details and failed to show the influence his father's work had. There are books about the CIA and its agents that are more worthy of the readers' time. And Edward Lansdale's IN THE MIDST OF WARS is a more revealing, although not completely honest, memoir of a CIA agent's impactful life.
John H. Richardson's father was a spy, a high-ranking member of the CIA, one of those idealistic men who came out of the Second World War determined to save the world from tyranny. His silence and bitterness was the mystery of his son's childhood. Eventually, John H. Richardson, Jr. became a reporter and started putting the story of his father together. However, whenever he pulled out his tape recorder for a formal interview, John H. Richardson, Sr. reminded him he had taken an oath of silence, so John H. Richardson, Jr. turned to interviewing his father's old friends and colleagues. While some were helpful and pleasant, most resisted, not approving of his trying to dig into his father's murky past, and that, unfortunately, shows.
What I mean is that this book, which its author called "an investigative memoir," is, in fact, fifty percent a coming-of-age story and fifty percent speculations based on the scanty information John H. Richardson, Sr., who rarely spoke of his youth or his family and almost never spoke of his CIA career, provided in his letters to his son. Despite his father's grave reservations about his talent, John H, Richardson, Jr. can write. His writing style, witty, richly descriptive, and touchingly nostalgic, enamored me, and I devoured the first half of his compelling... novel. For a novel it is. It is definitely not an insightful account of a high-ranking CIA agent's eventful life.
Furthermore, the author's efforts to justify his father are plain annoying. Somewhere in some secret office with an unlisted phone, a military officer who was probably not wearing a military uniform sat his father down and asked him a fateful question: “How would you like to roam battlefields at night picking documents off of dead bodies?” And John Richardson apparently replied: "I'd love it." Because he joined the Counter Intelligence Corps, one of the most secret of America’s secret agencies. There had been a long and bitter fight in Washington over whether it should even exist. After hunting saboteurs and Nazis during the War, after sending hundreds of men to death or prison camps during six years behind Soviet lines in occupied Vienna, after manipulating the governments of Greece and the Philippines, and after helping depose the leader of South Vietnam, John H, Richardson, Sr. "stored up the raw material for a lifetime of regrets" and retired to Mexico. That's it. That sums up the book if we exclude John Richardson, Jr.'s attempts to clear his father's reputation and unnecessary details about his own childhood.
It seems to be that his son must have been John Richardson, Sr.'s punishment for all his work-related sins, for John Richardson, Jr. was a juvenile delinquent. The second half of the "investigative memoir" tells us nothing substantial about his father, but more than compensates with pages and pages about his hippie romp. He smoked dope, tripped on acid, and was a known LSD user. A child of privilege, he did bad at school, stole, and was nothing but a headache for his parents, who for their part were more interested in their work and social life respectively than in their two kids. Just as many pages are devoted to John's older sister, Jennifer, who was no less difficult. John retaliated by showing genuine disinterest in his father's history-making, which explains why he has so little to say about him that he has chosen to tell the story through the perspective of an angry, rebellious, drug-fueled teen.
If a fan of spy novels happens on this book, it will leave a lasting impression on him, for it will disabuse him of the notion that spies are dashing, romantic figures. There was nothing dashing and romantic about John H. Richardson, Sr. In college, he was an anti-social "greasy grind," who haunted the library and withdrew from friendships and college activities. When catching fascist spies in Italy, he was not some brave hero, who threw himself into the core of the action. On the contrary, while Allied troops were starving and dying by the thousands on the battlefield, he and other CIC agents lived in the villas of counts and ate gourmet meals.
Having read extensively about the Central Intelligence Agency, I found this memoir a major disappointment. John H. Richardson, Jr. does not cast any light on the significance of his father's position as CIA Station Chief in Saigon. He does not discuss the CIA counterinsurgency operations in the South Vietnamese countryside, for instance. He does, however, chronicle the bickering among American officials of various departments and agencies for some reason. Well, everyone who knows something about the Vietnam War is aware of the fact that one of the main reasons why everything went downhill in 1963 and culminated in Diem's and Nhu's assassinations was that the Americans could not decide on a single course of action, but rather bickered and sabotaged each other's undertakings. I do not need to read about John H. Richardson, Sr.'s arguments with American ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge to learn about that.
MY FATHER THE SPY had so much potential, but it missed the big picture completely. John H. Richardson, Jr. mired himself in petty details and failed to show the influence his father's work had. There are books about the CIA and its agents that are more worthy of the readers' time. And Edward Lansdale's IN THE MIDST OF WARS is a more revealing, although not completely honest, memoir of a CIA agent's impactful life.
March 4, 2012
I've long been fascinated by the CIA, and I go through bouts of reading books about the agency. For the most part such books are similar - though in general interesting. This book took me down some new paths as the author delved into the life of his father (a career CIA man who served as station chief in Saigon in the early 1960s just before the assassination of Diem). This book impressed me in that while the author clearly loves his father (despite the serious rough patches they went through), he is not trying to turn him into some kind of hero. He is seeking understanding, and in his search, the reader is privy to the kind of insights that can only be explored by someone who has first-hand experience. Naturally, the sections on Saigon were of the greatest interest to me. I also felt that the author was giving me both sides of a story that for the most part, I've only heard one side of -- the early stumblings into Vietnam and the Diem assassination. Because most accounts come from journalists who were so opposed to the war, not to mention the CIA, the blame has always fallen heavily on the government (not to say that it shouldn't take its lion's share of the blame). The author does not seek to argue otherwise. He simply makes the situation human, and shows the emotional side of situations that are generally viewed through a political lens. This book also does a fine job of showing the great generational shifts from the 1930s to the 1970s - this is where his own personal experiences come into play, as the rebellious child of a high-ranking government official. While not the strongest aspect of the book in and of themselves, the personal asides are helpful in showing the polarization of attitudes that developed over the course of the 20th century.
February 27, 2009
Finally done! Whew - that took forever. Overall a good book but VERY detailed. Lots of names and dates and I sometimes found myself not knowing who the writer was talking about when it was clear that I should.
Even though it was sometimes a tough read, I'm glad that I finished it.
Even though it was sometimes a tough read, I'm glad that I finished it.
June 22, 2017
This was a tough one to get through for a few reasons. First, I'll say the story of Richardson's father is fascinating - plain and simple. I have a great deal of respect for how the senior Richardson handled himself during his many years in the CIA and the incredible work he did for the sake of his country. How the story is delivered is a different matter. Lots and lots of names thrown around here which makes it hard to keep track of who's who. While told chronologically, I found the story to be very choppy with very little flow between paragraphs. I do tip my hat to the author and his family for putting themselves - and all their flaws - out there for all to read.
December 18, 2021
I had to move quite a bit as the child of an army officer, so identified with the author who I actually know personally. Memoirs are often about the heroics of men fighting wars, but what about the children of these men? John reveals the pain that constant upheaval moving has on a family in the service of our country. Told through the eyes of a child who is both mystified,repulsed and enthralled by his father; John takes us behind the curtain to tell the story of his dad, one of the first CIA agents. The stories of him walking through the battlefield collecting documents from dead enemy soldiers is fascinating. If you want to get a better understanding of how and why the US was involved with Ferdinand and Emelda Marcos, John tells us about what it was like living in the Philippines and having the CIA and his father advise and help them gain power. I loved this book and highly recommend it to anyone who has ever had to uproot themselves year after year for their patents career.
May 15, 2022
Boy, JH jr sure had a lot of guts to publish this book! I feel sorry for his children who will be reading for all the world to know how dysfunctional their family is. My other comment is how many other men in top jobs making world-destroying decisions are of the same like. It is scary! I had a very hard time reading this book trying to keep up with every Tom, Dick, and Harry his father knew. I needed a score card for when they showed back up again. I felt a sense of relief when his father finally died, as did he.
January 17, 2023
This book was published in 2005 and I could have ended up giving it 4 stars. The main narrative is about the father's career in the CIA in the 1960s and 1970s and has an American bias to it and would sometimes get bogged down in details about events that I knew nothing about here in Australia. The other narrative was his relationship with his father and his rebellion as a young man including drugs and arrests which I found fascinating. The last part of the book, dealing with his father's ill health and death was quite poignant. All up, it is worth reading.
December 29, 2016
I was very interested in the story of John Richardson, Sr. who lived a driven life in the CIA. His son's journey to discover the secret side of his father through interviews with friends and co-workers and document research was quite impressively woven through this memoir.
I understand his need to bring his personal story to the scene, but feel it was inappropriate. I sympathized with John Richardson, the father, but had little or no compassion for the son. My father was in military intelligence, and probably worked with John H. Richardson, Sr. , the head of Saigon's CIA. I would have never done anything to disgrace or threaten my father's career, unlike Richardson's son, the author of this memoir.
I understand his need to bring his personal story to the scene, but feel it was inappropriate. I sympathized with John Richardson, the father, but had little or no compassion for the son. My father was in military intelligence, and probably worked with John H. Richardson, Sr. , the head of Saigon's CIA. I would have never done anything to disgrace or threaten my father's career, unlike Richardson's son, the author of this memoir.
April 14, 2018
I liked the beginning and end of this memoir, but the middle, not so much. True story- the son dug up lots of info on his father and talked to his friends, read old letters, etc. to learn more about father's CIA days. The beginning was good as it shed light on the origins of the CIA during WWII. After marrying, the family moved around a lot: Greece, Saigon, Korea. The middle part detailing the Viet Nam debacle was less interesting because I just didn't care. The kids became royally spoiled by living in mansions with maids, cooks, drivers, and diplomatic immunity. The end details the collapse of a very dysfunctional family, but it actually ended well.
September 18, 2010
First part of the book is interesting, especially description of the secret battles for Vienna immediately after WWII and the early events in Vietnam.
The book goes off the rails when the focus shifts from the father to the author's adolescent rebellion. The story of having a dad who is a spy involved in key events of the cold war is interesting, the memories of a spoiled kid doing drugs and blowing off school, much less interesting.
The book goes off the rails when the focus shifts from the father to the author's adolescent rebellion. The story of having a dad who is a spy involved in key events of the cold war is interesting, the memories of a spoiled kid doing drugs and blowing off school, much less interesting.
March 20, 2016
Somethings are hard to know. When your father is a spy, it's hard to know him, and what the truth is about what he believed and what he has done.In this memoir of his father, who was CIA station chief in Vietnam in the early 60s, Richardson tries to understand who his father was.
This book mostly left me with an interest in reading more about specific events.
This book mostly left me with an interest in reading more about specific events.
May 5, 2007
This is one of those books that you buy after hearing the author on Fresh Air, but it turns out that you already heard the most interesting stuff on the radio. I didn't finish it.
December 13, 2007
Interesting memoir
December 25, 2007
Pretty interesting considering he never really knew what his father did for a living.
August 23, 2009
Interesting and intriguing read but it was pretty slow to get going
September 20, 2012
Kind of interesting if you like USA politics... Not my kind of book but I did finish it.
September 21, 2013
The parts about WWII and Viet Nam were interesting. The son, who was the biographer, made the book too much about himself and not his father and thus both were diminished.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews