The Anxiety of [Covert] Influence: Frank Wisner and The [Secret] Bond Between English Literature and American Espionage

This thesis examines the role Frank Wisner, a ranking member of the CIA and the man who ran covert action operations for the United States from 1948-1958, in covertly promoting culture useful to the American side in the Cold War, including print, theater, film, music and art. The thesis examines Wisner's plans for re-making the University of Virginia and his relationship with a Scottish-American Spy Novelist named Helen MacInnes.