Title: The Road to Safety
Author: Sir Arthur Willert
Willert, Arthur (1953). The Road to Safety: A Study in Anglo-American Relations. New York: Praeger
LCCN: 53006821
E183.8.G7 W6 1953
Subjects
- Wiseman, William George Eden, Sir, bart., 1885-
- World War, 1914-1918.
- United States–Foreign relations–Great Britain.
- Great Britain–Foreign relations–United States.
Date Updated: May 4, 2015
Reviewed by George C. Constantinides[1]
The author was a correspondent for the London Times in Washington before, during, and after World War I During that conflict he was secretary of the British War Mission and representative of the Ministry of Information in Washington. He also served at one time as head of the news department of the Foreign Office. He was thus in a good position to set forth the story of the extraordinary services of Sir William Wiseman. Wiseman was chief of British intelligence in Washington (Mackenzie in Greek Memories[2] identifies him as the SIS representative in the United States). Hyde in Room 3603[3] refers to him as the World War I predecessor of Sir William Stephenson and the man on whose experiences the latter was able to draw. The book deals with Wiseman’s role in high-level diplomacy in the United States, but the second chapter provides information on his work as intelligence chief prior to his being introduced to the Americans as such. Willert based this on some of Wiseman’s papers as well as on his own recollections. Here we see something of the British tie-in with Emmanuel Voska and his organization to penetrate German and Austro-Hungarian installations and operations in the United States and of political maneuvering within British intelligence organizations for primacy in dealing with the United States once that country had become a belligerent; we learn of the dispatch of Somerset Maugham to Russia to run the British-US. intelligence and propaganda organization in that country (and of Wiseman’s lecturing Maugham on the advantages of clarity of expression). Willert wrote this book (whose title is ill chosen) to throw fresh light on Wiseman’s role, which was a key one. It is far from an adequate treatment of Wiseman’s intelligence role in the United States which has yet to be written. Wiseman is truly a neglected figure in intelligence history—Seth’s Encyclopedia of Espionage[4], for all its attention to World War I, does not list him. For more on Voska and his side of the story, see Voska and Irwin’s Spy and Counterspy[5].
[1] Constantinides, George C. (1983). Intelligence and Espionage: An Analytical Bibliography. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, pp. 488-489
[2] Mackenzie, Compton, Sir (1987). Greek Memories. Frederick, MD: University Publications of America
[3] Hyde, H. Montgomery (1962, 2002). Room 3603: The Incredible True Story of Secret Intelligence Operations During World War II. Guilford, DE: The Lyons Press
[4] Seth, Ronald (1972). Encyclopedia of Espionage. London, New English Library
[5] Voska, Emmanuel Victor (1940) and William Henry Irwin. Spy And Counter-Spy. New York: Doubleday, Doran. [London: Harrap, 1941].
