The Washington Post has highlighted some of the pieces at a new exhibit in the CIA‘s headquarters in Langley, Virginia. The most striking one is this one: a letter written by Lieutenant Richard Helms on Hitler’s stationery.
Dear Dennis,
The man who might have written on this card once controlled Europe — three short years ago when you were born. Today he is dead, his memory despised, his country in ruins. He had a thirst for power, a low opinion of man as an individual, and a fear of intellectual honesty. He was a force for evil in the world. His passing, his defeat — a boon to mankind. But thousands died that it might be so. The price for ridding society of bad is always high.
Love, Daddy.
Helms was then an officer of the Office of Strategic Services, which was the precursor of the CIA. From 1966 to 1973 he was Director of Central Intelligence and ended being the only convicted director in the history of the United States’ intelligence agency: he was caught lying to the United States Congress about their undercover activities, sentenced to the maximum fine and two years in prison. The latter was suspended.
The stationery was found at Hitler’s quarters in Obersalzberg. [Washington Post via Letters of Note via The Daily What]