Wild bill donovan the founding father of american espionage jumps off the page in douglas wallers superb biography of one of the nations most important and least understood leaders of the 20th century waller marvelously evokes an era when a matinee idol character like donovan could turn washington into his own secret playground even as he ended americas naivete about the necessity of stealing the secrets of other gentlemen waller takes us back to a time long before bureaucratic . William joseph wild bill donovan january 1 1883 february 8 1959 was an american soldier lawyer intelligence officer and diplomat best known for serving as the head of the office of strategic services oss the precursor to the central intelligence agency during world war ii. Wild bill donovan the founding father of american espionage jumps off the page in douglas wallers superb biography of one of the nations most important and least understood leaders of the 20th century waller marvelously evokes an era when a matinee idol character like donovan could turn washington into his own secret playground even as he ended americas naivete about the necessity of . Wild bill donovan the founding father of american espionage jumps off the page in douglas wallers superb biography of one of the nations most important and least understood leaders of the 20th century waller marvelously evokes an era when a matinee idol character like donovan could turn washington into his own secret playground even as he ended americas naivete about the necessity of stealing the secrets of other gentlemen waller takes us back to a time long before . A mythic figure whose legacy is still intensely debated wild bill donovan was director of the office of strategic services the countrys first national intelligence agency and the father of todays cia donovan introduced the nation to the dark arts of covert warfare on a scale it had never seen before