Great! I look forward to seeing it. It should be an interesting event.
Yes, there are so many questions about JFK and Inga.
I wish he’d write an in-depth book focusing on that. There seems to be plenty of source material: His letters to her, her letters to him, the wiretapped phone, bugged apartment and hotel rooms, diaries, interviews, etc. It’s before she comes to the U.S. that’s the biggest mystery.
Have you seen the excerpt from “Jacqueline Kennedy: Historic Conversations on Life with John F. Kennedy?” Jackie says JFK “was anxious to dump FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover after the 1964 election.”
Unfortunately, I doubt she’ll have anything to say, or maybe know anything, about JFK’s Inga file.
Yes, I read that too, that JFK was going to let Hoover retire, which at the time would have been mandatory. When LBJ took over as President, one of his first official acts was to make Hoover, who was a close friend, the Director of the FBI for life.
I too have many questions about Inga’s early life. Was she really Danish at all, or was she an American? Specifically, did she know Joseph P. Kennedy in Europe when he was an ambassador? Might he have been using her to negotiate on his own with Hitler? When JFK was gallivanting around the south of France and England with a beautiful woman he referred to as “Honey Child Wilder, the cotton queen of New Orleans” was that Inga Arvad? Wasn’t that their private little joke in the FBI tapes? She also claimed to have traveled with Axel Wenner-Gren aboard his yacht The Southern Cross. Was she aboard when it responded to the Athenia’s distress call, after it was torpedoed by a U-boat or when young JFK came to visit the Athenia survivors? Was she aboard his yacht, when it was turned away by the State Dept? How exactly did she come to America? How did she manage to get accepted into the Columbia School of Journalism? When did she ever have time to go to college in Europe?
I didn’t see your Sept. 10 comment until just now.
I agree wholeheartedly that there is a wealth of material for an in-depth book about Jack and Inga. I’ve been trying to wrap my head around this story for a long time now, and I’d love to tackle it myself, but I’m somewhat disabled and living on a very tight income, and don’t think I’d be able to travel to any of the various archives, particularly to peruse Clay Blair’s papers, David O’Selznick’s papers, and of course the National Archives for the FBI surveillance tapes and the transcripts from all the wiretaps and bugs. I have a gut feeling that the columns that Inga and Kathleen K. wrote for the Times-Herald are important too, judging from the other things that Inga has written. In practically everything she wrote, she revealed a little bit of herself.
Assuming that what we have read about JFK and Inga is true.
According to several writers, British Intelligence was going to great lengths to assure America’s entry into the war on their side, and to discredit and embarrass the powerful isolationists in America, including Cissy Patterson and Joseph P. Kennedy. In particular they used Walter Winchell, Drew Pearson and other popular columnists of the day, to insert propaganda and misinformation into the national debate. Lest we forget it was in a Winchell column that the story of Inga and JFK first was made public. In her book The Irregulars: Roald Dahl and the British Spyring in Washington, Jennet Conant talks of this and specifically recounts a heated verbal confrontation between Dahl and Frank Waldrop at a Washington DC party. In another book titled Room 3603 by H. Montgomery Hyde, the author mentions a woman agent code-named Cynthia, who performed some remarkable deeds like breaking into the Vichy French embassy in Washington, and much of her “unofficial” bio reads exactly like that of Inga Arvad, including the story of how Franklin Roosevelt enjoyed reading all of the reports of her exploits, as Hamilton and others have recorded he said about Inga. There are also some similarities with the story of Olga Chekhova, the niece of the wife of writer Anton Chekhov, who starred in many German motion pictures, had affairs with many Nazi leaders and allegedly was a Soviet spy. And then there’s that elusive picture of Inga and Adolf, and those equally elusive articles that she wrote about Hitler for the Danish newspaper Berlingske Tidende.
I would also like to further explore Inga’s marriages to Paul Fejos, Nils Blok and Timothy John Fitzgerald McCoy, and her alleged affair with Bernard Baruch – her old goat – as well as her affiliation with the North American Newspaper Alliance for which she wrote, which was later bought by Ernest Cuneo. During WWII Cuneo worked closely with William Stephenson, Roald Dahl, Ian Fleming and other members of British Intelligence to form the OSS.
I don’t know if she was a spy or not- I don’t think she was- I’ve just been curious about an interesting life.
A quick note.
Well I’ve found this info if it helps you.
She came to American
Aboard: S.S. Conte di Savoia
Port of Departure: Genoa, February 20, 1940
Port of Arrival: New York, NY, February 29, 1940
Listed as Inga Fejos
Age: 27
Occupation: housewife
Country of Citizen: Denmark
Nationality: Danish
Place of Birth: Copenhagen, Denmark
Naturalization paper.
Address: 1156 Hacienda Pl., L.A. Cal.
Age: 31
Date of Admission: April 27, 1945
I wondered the same thing about “Honey Child”, I think you’re right it became a kind of inside joke.
It seems she was a real person though.
Here is a telegram (I hope this link works) from Torb MacDonald dated Nov. 18, 1941 where he tells JFK that Honey Child is in Boston at the Wilbur.
You didn’t list Inga’s first husband Kamal Abdel Nabi.
I don’t think she ever married Nils Blok. From what I can see they lived together.
I thought it was FBI that gave Winchell the scoop. If I remember correctly it was an FBI agent undercover at the Times-Herald that showed Page Huidekoper the 1936 Olympic photo.
A few thoughts with no real research behind it:
‘Cynthia’ and Olga Chekhova were spies against the Axis Powers.
Do you think if they really thought Inga was a spy for Germany, especially with her connection to ‘the old goat’, they would have left her out there?
I believe Hoover tracked Inga and Roosevelt was so involved to have a listen to what Kennedy was saying. JFK may talk about what his father was up-to or call his father from her apartment.
I look forward to hearing what Hamilton had to say.
No, he was a very nice man, very scholarly but reserved, not at all what I had expected. I talked to him after the lecture, and asked if he learned any more about Inga Arvad since he wrote JFK:Reckless Youth. He replied, “Yes, yes I have…” and then he caught himself. “Ask Ron McCoy,” he said.
So then I told him how I had gone to AZ and found the McCoy ranch house near Nogales, and how I was able to tour inside, and that it had seemed a little austere, like a monastery. He seemed very interested, and I sensed that he was dying to tell me what he knew. But he signed my book, and handed it back to me and said, “You need to talk to Ron McCoy.”
“Yes, yes I have…” and then he caught himself. “Ask Ron McCoy.”
Ooooh… he’s a big tease.
I’m dying to know what he found out!
Do have Ron McCoy’s email? When do you think you’ll contact him?
That is interesting about the ranch house. Did you post photos of the interior? I may have missed that. I’ll look back.
If you know where online to search archived German papers- I haven’t found a good site yet- I’ve read the infamous Inga at the Olympics photo was published March 16, 1936. So it was the Winter Olympic.
You must post what Ron tells you. Don’t pull a Nigel Hamilton on me!
I found an email address for him at Oklahoma State University, and just sent a note. I’ll let you know if I receive any reply.
The Winter Olympics were held at Garmisch-Partenkirchen that year, and ran from February 6 through the 16th. There’s a 400+ page program on line, and photos of Hitler at several venues but none with Inga.
I hope CSPAN covers this.
I’m going to take my camera along just in case, and hope that he’ll answer some questions about JFK and Inga. But there’s so many…
Great! I look forward to seeing it. It should be an interesting event.
Yes, there are so many questions about JFK and Inga.
I wish he’d write an in-depth book focusing on that. There seems to be plenty of source material: His letters to her, her letters to him, the wiretapped phone, bugged apartment and hotel rooms, diaries, interviews, etc. It’s before she comes to the U.S. that’s the biggest mystery.
Have you seen the excerpt from “Jacqueline Kennedy: Historic Conversations on Life with John F. Kennedy?” Jackie says JFK “was anxious to dump FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover after the 1964 election.”
Unfortunately, I doubt she’ll have anything to say, or maybe know anything, about JFK’s Inga file.
Yes, I read that too, that JFK was going to let Hoover retire, which at the time would have been mandatory. When LBJ took over as President, one of his first official acts was to make Hoover, who was a close friend, the Director of the FBI for life.
I too have many questions about Inga’s early life. Was she really Danish at all, or was she an American? Specifically, did she know Joseph P. Kennedy in Europe when he was an ambassador? Might he have been using her to negotiate on his own with Hitler? When JFK was gallivanting around the south of France and England with a beautiful woman he referred to as “Honey Child Wilder, the cotton queen of New Orleans” was that Inga Arvad? Wasn’t that their private little joke in the FBI tapes? She also claimed to have traveled with Axel Wenner-Gren aboard his yacht The Southern Cross. Was she aboard when it responded to the Athenia’s distress call, after it was torpedoed by a U-boat or when young JFK came to visit the Athenia survivors? Was she aboard his yacht, when it was turned away by the State Dept? How exactly did she come to America? How did she manage to get accepted into the Columbia School of Journalism? When did she ever have time to go to college in Europe?
So many unanswered questions.
Scratch that Jackie stuff… it looks like she said some nonsense in those tapes. I should have know.
I didn’t see your Sept. 10 comment until just now.
I agree wholeheartedly that there is a wealth of material for an in-depth book about Jack and Inga. I’ve been trying to wrap my head around this story for a long time now, and I’d love to tackle it myself, but I’m somewhat disabled and living on a very tight income, and don’t think I’d be able to travel to any of the various archives, particularly to peruse Clay Blair’s papers, David O’Selznick’s papers, and of course the National Archives for the FBI surveillance tapes and the transcripts from all the wiretaps and bugs. I have a gut feeling that the columns that Inga and Kathleen K. wrote for the Times-Herald are important too, judging from the other things that Inga has written. In practically everything she wrote, she revealed a little bit of herself.
Assuming that what we have read about JFK and Inga is true.
According to several writers, British Intelligence was going to great lengths to assure America’s entry into the war on their side, and to discredit and embarrass the powerful isolationists in America, including Cissy Patterson and Joseph P. Kennedy. In particular they used Walter Winchell, Drew Pearson and other popular columnists of the day, to insert propaganda and misinformation into the national debate. Lest we forget it was in a Winchell column that the story of Inga and JFK first was made public. In her book The Irregulars: Roald Dahl and the British Spyring in Washington, Jennet Conant talks of this and specifically recounts a heated verbal confrontation between Dahl and Frank Waldrop at a Washington DC party. In another book titled Room 3603 by H. Montgomery Hyde, the author mentions a woman agent code-named Cynthia, who performed some remarkable deeds like breaking into the Vichy French embassy in Washington, and much of her “unofficial” bio reads exactly like that of Inga Arvad, including the story of how Franklin Roosevelt enjoyed reading all of the reports of her exploits, as Hamilton and others have recorded he said about Inga. There are also some similarities with the story of Olga Chekhova, the niece of the wife of writer Anton Chekhov, who starred in many German motion pictures, had affairs with many Nazi leaders and allegedly was a Soviet spy. And then there’s that elusive picture of Inga and Adolf, and those equally elusive articles that she wrote about Hitler for the Danish newspaper Berlingske Tidende.
I would also like to further explore Inga’s marriages to Paul Fejos, Nils Blok and Timothy John Fitzgerald McCoy, and her alleged affair with Bernard Baruch – her old goat – as well as her affiliation with the North American Newspaper Alliance for which she wrote, which was later bought by Ernest Cuneo. During WWII Cuneo worked closely with William Stephenson, Roald Dahl, Ian Fleming and other members of British Intelligence to form the OSS.
I don’t know if she was a spy or not- I don’t think she was- I’ve just been curious about an interesting life.
A quick note.
Well I’ve found this info if it helps you.
She came to American
Aboard: S.S. Conte di Savoia
Port of Departure: Genoa, February 20, 1940
Port of Arrival: New York, NY, February 29, 1940
Listed as Inga Fejos
Age: 27
Occupation: housewife
Country of Citizen: Denmark
Nationality: Danish
Place of Birth: Copenhagen, Denmark
Naturalization paper.
Address: 1156 Hacienda Pl., L.A. Cal.
Age: 31
Date of Admission: April 27, 1945
I wondered the same thing about “Honey Child”, I think you’re right it became a kind of inside joke.
It seems she was a real person though.
Here is a telegram (I hope this link works) from Torb MacDonald dated Nov. 18, 1941 where he tells JFK that Honey Child is in Boston at the Wilbur.
You didn’t list Inga’s first husband Kamal Abdel Nabi.
I don’t think she ever married Nils Blok. From what I can see they lived together.
I thought it was FBI that gave Winchell the scoop. If I remember correctly it was an FBI agent undercover at the Times-Herald that showed Page Huidekoper the 1936 Olympic photo.
A few thoughts with no real research behind it:
‘Cynthia’ and Olga Chekhova were spies against the Axis Powers.
Do you think if they really thought Inga was a spy for Germany, especially with her connection to ‘the old goat’, they would have left her out there?
I believe Hoover tracked Inga and Roosevelt was so involved to have a listen to what Kennedy was saying. JFK may talk about what his father was up-to or call his father from her apartment.
I look forward to hearing what Hamilton had to say.
Did you get the opportunity to ask Nigel Hamilton any questions? I’m dying of curiosity!
Yes, I did. And now I know the secret, ha.
Just kidding…
No, he was a very nice man, very scholarly but reserved, not at all what I had expected. I talked to him after the lecture, and asked if he learned any more about Inga Arvad since he wrote JFK:Reckless Youth. He replied, “Yes, yes I have…” and then he caught himself. “Ask Ron McCoy,” he said.
So then I told him how I had gone to AZ and found the McCoy ranch house near Nogales, and how I was able to tour inside, and that it had seemed a little austere, like a monastery. He seemed very interested, and I sensed that he was dying to tell me what he knew. But he signed my book, and handed it back to me and said, “You need to talk to Ron McCoy.”
“Yes, yes I have…” and then he caught himself. “Ask Ron McCoy.”
Ooooh… he’s a big tease.
I’m dying to know what he found out!
Do have Ron McCoy’s email? When do you think you’ll contact him?
That is interesting about the ranch house. Did you post photos of the interior? I may have missed that. I’ll look back.
If you know where online to search archived German papers- I haven’t found a good site yet- I’ve read the infamous Inga at the Olympics photo was published March 16, 1936. So it was the Winter Olympic.
You must post what Ron tells you. Don’t pull a Nigel Hamilton on me!
I found an email address for him at Oklahoma State University, and just sent a note. I’ll let you know if I receive any reply.
The Winter Olympics were held at Garmisch-Partenkirchen that year, and ran from February 6 through the 16th. There’s a 400+ page program on line, and photos of Hitler at several venues but none with Inga.
Can you read Danish?
http://books.google.com/books?id=TJpxTW1yWFQC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Inga+Arvad:+den+skandaløse+skandinav&hl=en#v=onepage&q&f=false
it’s not fully there, but you may be able to find interesting information.
Oh, I was wrong. It was the Summer Olympics. It looks like she was in Berlin with Paul Fejos.
Did you get a response from Ron McCoy?
Nope.