This is an I-Heart podcast.

And we continue with our American stories.

While Bill Donovan was one of America's most exciting and secretive generals,

the man President Franklin Delano Roosevelt made his top spy in World War II. While Bill was the

director of the Office of Strategic Services, the country's first National Intelligence Agency.

He is known as the founding father of both the CIA and the military special operations forces,

along with being credited as the father of psychological and cyber warfare.

Here to tell the story is Douglas Waller.

He's the author of the bestseller, Wild Bill Donovan, the spymaster who created the OSS and modern American espionage. Let's take a listen.

Wild Bill Donovan. He slept five hours or less a night. Speed read about three books a week. He was an excellent

ballroom dancer. He loved to sing Irish songs. In fact, you go to Broadway and buy up the latest

sheet music so he can memorize the words. He didn't smoke, rarely drank, enjoyed fine dining,

although it tended to add to the weight. He spent lavishly, had no

concept for a dollar. In fact, when he was roaming the world visiting his different OSS stations,

he was always bumming dollars and quarters off the aides who were with him because he never

kept any money with him. He was witty, but he never laughed out loud, he never told a dirty joke.

He never showed anger. Instead, he let it boil inside of him. He was also rakeishly handsome. He had

these bright blue eyes that women found absolutely captivating. His life also was filled with a lot

of personal tragedy. His daughter died in an automobile accident in college.

His daughter-in-law died of a drug overdose.

One of his granddaughters, when she was four years old,

died when she accidentally swallowed silver polish.

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