Joseph Caldwell King (October 5, 1900 – January 27, 1977) was the Chief of the

Western Hemisphere The Western Hemisphere is the half of the planet Earth that lies west of the Prime Meridian (which crosses Greenwich, London, United Kingdom) and east of the 180th meridian.- The other half is called the Eastern Hemisphere. Geopolitically, ...

Division of the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

in the 1950s and 1960s. He was also known by his CIA code name of Oliver G. Galbond and as Colonel J.C. King.

Early life and marriage

On October 5, 1900, Joseph Caldwell King was born to Warren Charles King (December 8, 1876 – September 5, 1931) and Jessie Calhoun Caldwell in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

. His father was a businessman and unsuccessful candidate for the New Jersey Republican gubernatorial nomination in 1919. King graduated from the

Lawrenceville School The Lawrenceville School is a Private school, private, coeducational College-preparatory school, preparatory school for boarding and day students located in the Local government in New Jersey, unincorporated community of Lawrenceville, New Jers ...

in June 1918 and then enrolled at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

in September. He left Princeton to enter the

U.S. Military Academy The United States Military Academy (USMA), commonly known as West Point, is a United States service academy in West Point, New York that educates cadets for service as commissioned officers in the United States Army. The academy was founded ...

at West Point in November 1918. King graduated as part of the Class of 1923 and was assigned the Cullum Register Number 6992. Joseph Caldwell King married three times: first to Cristina Patricia Pernas in 1927, then to Ana Vilma Gaspar in 1942 and finally to Frances Anne Smith in 1954.

Career

Second Lieutenant King served with the 16th Infantry in

New York state New York, also called New York State, is a state in the northeastern United States. Bordered by New England to the east, Canada to the north, and Pennsylvania and New Jersey to the south, its territory extends into both the Atlantic Ocean and ...

before resigning his commission in May 1924. He enrolled at l'

École Libre des Sciences Politiques Sciences Po () or Sciences Po Paris, also known as the Paris Institute of Political Studies (), is a public research university located in Paris, France, that holds the status of ''grande école'' and the legal status of . The university's unde ...

in Paris, graduating from the diplomatic course in June 1925. King then went to work for his father's mining businesses in Mexico. After leaving a job as vice president of his father's chemical business in New Jersey, King became a vice-president at

Johnson and Johnson Johnson & Johnson (J&J) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Pharmaceutical industry, pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and Medical device, medical technologies corporation headquartered in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and publi ...

in charge of

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

and

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

. Then, he joined

Nelson Rockefeller Nelson Aldrich "Rocky" Rockefeller (July 8, 1908 – January 26, 1979) was the 41st vice president of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977 under President Gerald Ford. He was also the 49th governor of New York, serving from 1959 to 197 ...

Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs The Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs, later known as the Office for Inter-American Affairs, was a United States agency promoting inter-American cooperation (Pan-Americanism) during the 1940s, especially in commercial and econ ...

(OCIAA). He was stationed in Argentina from 1941 to 1945, where he was engaged in feeding deceptive information to Japanese agents (see Thaddeus Holt, ''The Deceivers''). For his service from July 1943 to November 1945 as an assistant military attaché in Argentina, Major King was awarded the

Legion of Merit The Legion of Merit (LOM) is a Awards and decorations of the United States military, military award of the United States Armed Forces that is given for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievemen ...

. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel in December 1945 and released from military intelligence duty in 1946. King was later promoted to colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve. On December 11, 1959, King advocated that "thorough consideration" be given to the "elimination" of

Fidel Castro Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban politician and revolutionary who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and President of Cuba, president ...

, by which he may have meant

assassination Assassination is the willful killing, by a sudden, secret, or planned attack, of a personespecially if prominent or important. It may be prompted by political, ideological, religious, financial, or military motives. Assassinations are orde ...

. King officially retired from the CIA in 1967 but soon came back as a CIA consultant. He was

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

of the Amazon Natural Drug Company, known as a front for the CIA.

Later life

King's health began deteriorating because of age and

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a neurodegenerative disease primarily of the central nervous system, affecting both motor system, motor and non-motor systems. Symptoms typically develop gradually and non-motor issues become ...

, and he died on January 27, 1977, in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

King and his third wife were buried at the

United States Military Academy Post Cemetery West Point Cemetery is a historic cemetery on the grounds of the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York. It overlooks the Hudson River, and served as a burial ground for Continental Army soldiers during the American Revolutionar ...

West Point, New York West Point is the oldest continuously occupied military post in the United States. Located on the Hudson River in New York (state), New York, General George Washington stationed his headquarters in West Point in the summer and fall of 1779 durin ...

References

External links

Robert Van Dine "Brazil" article

{{DEFAULTSORT:King, J. C. 1900 births 1977 deaths Lawrenceville School alumni Princeton University alumni United States Military Academy alumni Military personnel from New York City United States Army personnel of World War II United States military attachés Recipients of the Legion of Merit United States Army reservists United States Army colonels People of the Central Intelligence Agency American anti-communists American spies Central Intelligence Agency operations Opposition to Fidel Castro Burials at West Point Cemetery

Early life and marriage

Career

Later life

See also

References

Further reading

External links