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Thomas Maier Reveals the Invisible Spy
Manage episode 475854577 series 2378156
Episode 73 – The Invisible Spy: Ernest Cuneo and the Secret Machinations of American Power
This episode visits the untold life of Ernest Cuneo—a professional football player turned journalist, turned presidential fixer, turned invisible architect of wartime espionage. Before the CIA existed, Cuneo was already moving between the White House, British intelligence at Rockefeller Center, and the most powerful media outlets in the country. He leaked, spun, and buried stories. He brokered quiet alliances. He coordinated sabotage, propaganda, and double agents—then slipped back into obscurity.
Thomas Maier returns to The Live Drop to talk about his riveting new biography, The Invisible Spy, and the life of the man who helped shape the American intelligence apparatus from the shadows. We follow Cuneo from gridiron glory to Roosevelt’s secret inner circle, through the propaganda wars of WWII and into the paranoia of the Cold War. Along the way, we explore the cost of silence, the lure of anonymity, and how one man’s life reflected—and manipulated—the American century.
Wall Street Journal Review, Edward Kosner
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAtLXsh4sEg
http://www.thomasmaierbooks.com/
The Invisible Spy: Churchill's Rockefeller Center Spy Ring and America’s First Secret Agent of World War II
My Substack: Propaganda Lessons from WWII, Mark Valley
Get bonus content on Patreon
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
73 episodes
Manage episode 475854577 series 2378156
Episode 73 – The Invisible Spy: Ernest Cuneo and the Secret Machinations of American Power
This episode visits the untold life of Ernest Cuneo—a professional football player turned journalist, turned presidential fixer, turned invisible architect of wartime espionage. Before the CIA existed, Cuneo was already moving between the White House, British intelligence at Rockefeller Center, and the most powerful media outlets in the country. He leaked, spun, and buried stories. He brokered quiet alliances. He coordinated sabotage, propaganda, and double agents—then slipped back into obscurity.
Thomas Maier returns to The Live Drop to talk about his riveting new biography, The Invisible Spy, and the life of the man who helped shape the American intelligence apparatus from the shadows. We follow Cuneo from gridiron glory to Roosevelt’s secret inner circle, through the propaganda wars of WWII and into the paranoia of the Cold War. Along the way, we explore the cost of silence, the lure of anonymity, and how one man’s life reflected—and manipulated—the American century.
Wall Street Journal Review, Edward Kosner
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAtLXsh4sEg
http://www.thomasmaierbooks.com/
The Invisible Spy: Churchill's Rockefeller Center Spy Ring and America’s First Secret Agent of World War II
My Substack: Propaganda Lessons from WWII, Mark Valley
Get bonus content on Patreon
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
73 episodes
All episodes
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