LETTER TO DR. JOSEPH F. THORNING FROM R. H. HILLENKOETTER

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80R01731R003100200079-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 27, 2003
• Sequence Number: 79
• Publication Date: June 16, 1948
• Content Type: LETTER

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ase 2003/07/03: CIA-RDP80R017311* 3100200079-4
ER 9916
16 June 1948
Dr. doserh F. Thorniniz
AT
Dear Father Thorning:
This is merely to inform you that
left our employ yesterday, 15'June 1948.
Very sincerely yours,
Signed & dispatched 6/16/48.
R. H. Rillenkoetter
Rear Admiral, BSI
Director of Central
Intelligence
D
Distribution:
-115irector
ADSO
Personnel Branch, A&M
Central Records
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5`Ic. Thor wn
STAT
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AT
12 May 19.48
r Joseph F Thorning
My dear Dr. Thorning:
I am extremely grateful for the complimentary
remarks contained in your letter of 28 April 1948.
The entire matter of the acquisition of the car
STAT b is undergoing a thorough investigation, and
I assure you appropriate action will be taken.
'With best wishes,
Cordially yours,
s /a~E RHH
R. H. Hillenkoetter
Rear Admiral, USN
Director of Central.
Intelligence
so
Distribution:
L Direct?r
4errtal Records
Personnel Branch
,.Approved For Release 2003/07/03 : CIA-RDP80R01731 R003100200079-4
STAT
Note for record: In reply letter re
Basic eorrespon en a retained
by So. t /.6 7IL+~
ST
> 8.11
 WASHINGTON SCENE By GEORGE D N
GEN A~~l.QY/ F !~Qi~gv2Q~ u5~~~~1 iQi~e.3 'W!~"a ~ Q t11Y iar.
A about Latin America as any Norte mnri no ( a?ord ac ion "
of State Marshall the other day. He told our ( FATHER THQRNING said we've got to find
boss diplomat flatly that an undeclared war J some way, and find it fast, to demolish their
against the United States is raging down there.
The gentleman is neither a professional war-
rior nor a professional diplomat, but he is a
trained observer of political and economic
trends.
He is the Rev. Joseph F. Thorning, professor
of sociology at Catholic University in Santiago
de Chile, and advisory editor of "The Ameri-
cas," a publication widely circulated through
Central and South America.
He has also taught in the University of San
Marcos, in Lima, Peru, and the Central Univer-
sity of Ecuador, in Quito. In addition he has
delivered lectures in practically every Latin
American center large enough to boast a lecture
hall.
T HE FIRST time I ever met Father Thorning
he was having lunch in the House Res-
taurant with Clare Boothe Luce. He tries to
change the subject whenever it comes up but it
was not long after his conversations with Mrs.
Luce that she announced her decision to em-
brace Catholicism.
I was brought up a hard-shell Baptist, and
have every intention of remaining same, but I
go for Father Thorning hook, line and sinker.
He is one of the most forthright men of the
cloth I have ever known.
General Marshall found him the same way
because he pulled no punches in telling the Sec-
retary of State that this country is going to
lose out completely in Latin America unless it
wakes up.
"The Red Fascists have launched an unde-
clared war," he said. "They are out to give us
th b * 11
propaganda. We've got to fight their lies with
forceful truth.
"One of their great weapons," he said, "is
unspoken deception. For instance, there was a
celebration of book week in Havana recently.
The biggest display of books was by the Soviet
Union.
"The author most touted was Maxim Gorky.
The Reds had huge photographs of Gorky along-
sidc Stalin and Molotoff, implying that they
were ideological and cultural pals.
"The truth, of course, is that Gorky did his
work under the Czar. He was never a Nazi-
minded follower of Karl Marx."
FATHER THORNING said the truth, if it could
be gotten over, would wreck communism in
Latin America.
"Communism," he said, "has never bettered
the lot of the people anywhere in the world.
if we could only make people understand that!"
INCIDENTALLY, Congress has invited Father
Thorning to deliver the invocation at the of-
ficial celebration of Pan-American Day on Capi-
tol Hill April 14 We'll probably be hearing
squawks from a lot of the Communist fronts.
A MAIDEN lady from Peru, Ind., named
Miss India Shearer, was at the Shoreham
the other evening listening to the classical offer-
ings of Barnee, the old maestro, and his
symphonic hirelings.
She requested a rendition o" ' "Doing What
Comes Naturally" in which Mr. Paul Dawson
gets off verses not in the original lyrics. Barnee
took a very heroic stance and announced:
"We dedicate the next number to India!"
Well, do you know a group of Britishers
seated at a ringside table grabbed the old maestE99
later and accused him of deliberately trying to
stir up trouble within the Empire!
INCIDENTALLY. Miss India is a sister-in-law
of football's famous Dutch Bergman. But she
is very respectable nevertheless.
EPRESENTATIVE JOHN DAVIS LODGE, of
Connecticut, was at a dinner party in the
elegant 1925 F Street club and excited the curi-
osity of the lady on his right. She said she had
heard so much about him, his career in the
movies, etc., and was just dying to know more.
The handsome Mr. Lodge told her to fire away
with questions and he would answer any within
reason.
"Well," said the lady, "I want to know where
you are, from?"
"That's easy," grinned Mr. Lodge. "I am from
Connecticut, but before that I was from Boston.
But actually I am frorr right here."
He looked around, his brow -ir,~,nly fur-
rowing.
"As a matter of fact," he blurted finally, "I
think I was born in this very house."
e usness. !mss QTR 1 11 is
Father I~pi1mmda~dot'hBe{ s6bu'Z9Q3/47/U3 c1~ 1~C ~lbth~ ~y f~i ft Cr,
mining us everywhere in Latin America. Senator Henry Cabot Lodge!"
"In cultural affairs," he declared, "they have (Copyright, 1947, by King Features syndicate, Inc.)
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4dmiral,
This is an cia clipping (Feb 117)
re Lr ':horning, 'which you may want to
take time to read.
qfe
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