RICHARD MCGARRAH HELMS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP84-00161R000400210126-8
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 23, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 21, 2014
• Sequence Number: 126
• Publication Date: April 12, 1965
• Content Type: MISC

Declassified and Approved For Release @50-Yr 2014/02/21 : CIA-RDP84-00161R000400210126-8
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BACKGROUND INFORMATION 12 APRIL 1965
RICHARD McGARRAH HELPS
Nominated by President Johnson as Deputy Director of Central Intelligence
Richard McGarrah Helms, veteran intelligence officer, will be nominated to
the United States Senate as the Deputy Director of Central Intelligence, President
Johnson announced yesterday (11.April 1965) in Texas. Mr. Helms is presently the
Deputy Director for Plans of the Central Intelligence Agency. Mr. Helms has been
an intelligence officer for over twenty years. He has been with the CIA since its
(W organization it2_L.921a. He will be the principal assistant to Admiral Raborn, scientist
and naval air-combat officer who will be nominated to succeed John A. McCone as
Director of Central Intelligence. The leadership team of Raborn-Helms will replace
the McCone-Carter team; statutory law requires that the Deputy Director must be a
civilian when the Director is a military man. Thus, General Carter will be suc-
ceeded by Mr. Helms.
? Mr. Helms is a former staff correspondent for the United Press in Berlin; he
? later was Manager of the National Advertising Department of the Indianapolis Times
? Publishing Company.
He is remembered by classmates of Williams College as Editor of the yearbook,
GULIELMENSIAN, and also as the Editor of the college newspaper, THE WILLIAMS
RECORD.
While with the United Press in Europe, Mr. Helms interviewed Hitler, and later
? his story "Hitler and Mars Incorporated" was published in the INDIANAPOLIS TIMES.
He also was a member of the Literary Club in Indianapolis, that famed organization
that included in its membership George Ade, James W. Riley, and other distinguished
literary men. Mr. Helms' son, Dennis, is now a student at the University of Virginia
Law School.
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Declassified and Approved For Release @50-Yr 2014/02/21 : CIA-RDP84-00161R000400210126-8 '
Declassified and Approved For Release @50-Yr 2014/02/21 : CIA-RDP84-00161R000400210126-8
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Mr. Helms is a prodigious reader. His athletic endeavor is confined to tennis.
He has been the Deputy Director for Plans in CIA since 1962.
Mr. Helms was born in St. Davids, Pennsylvania, in 1913. He attended Carteret
Academy, Le Rosey (Switzerland) School, and the Realgymnasium in Freiburg.i/Breisgaa
(Germany). He. was graduated from Williams College in 1935 where be was elected to
Phi Beta Kappa. He was in Berlin with the' United Press until 1937 when he became
associated with the Indianapolis Times Publishing Company.
In 1942, Mr. Helms was commissioned in the U.S. Naval Reserve and Was assigned
to the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). After his release from active duty, he
remained with the OSS and its successor intelligence organizations, serving overseas
and at headquarters in the United States in important operational and executive -
positions.
-
Mr. Helms and Julia Betzman of Indianapolis, Indiana, were married in 1939.
. 3
Their family includes one son, and a son and a daughter born to Mrs. Helms during
-\,
4 previous marriage. The Helms live in Northwest Washington.
Declassified and Approved For Release @50-Yr 2014/02/21 : CIA-RDP84-00161R000400210126-8