The invisible spy

The invisible spy Churchill's Rockefeller Center spy ring and America's first secret agent of World War II

Thomas Maier, 1956-

Book - 2025

As a tough but smart Italian American kid, Ernest Cuneo played Ivy League football at Columbia University and was in the old Brooklyn Dodgers NFL franchise before becoming a City Hall lawyer and "Brain Trust'' aide to President Roosevelt. He was on the payroll of national radio columnist Walter Winchell and mingled with the famous and powerful. But his status as a spy remained a secret, hiding in plain sight. During this time, Cuneo began a love affair with one of Churchill's agents at Rockefeller Center, Margaret Watson, a beautiful Canadian woman with a photographic memory ideal for spycraft. In one nighttime attack, Watson was nearly smothered to death by a Nazi assassin inside her women's dormitory near Rockfell...er Center. Cuneo's transformation from a gridiron athlete into a high-stakes intelligence go-between and political influencer is one of the great untold stories of American espionage. He has remained "invisible" in the public eye, until now, with this unveiled look into his life. Thomas Maier weaves Cuneo's remarkable personal story with the vivid and insightful portraits of many top figures in his world. Full of action and fascinating characters, this untold history shows how the British launched a far-ranging covert campaign against Nazi conspirators hidden in America, a spy war unbeknown to many.

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Location Call Number   Status
2nd Floor New Shelf 940.5486/Maier (NEW SHELF) Lost--Library Applied
Subjects
Cuneo, Ernest L., > 1905-1988.
Churchill, Winston, > 1874-1965 > Friends and associates.
Roosevelt, Franklin D. > (Franklin Delano), > 1882-1945 > Friends and associates.
Winchell, Walter, > 1897-1972 > Friends and associates.
United States. > Office of Strategic Services > History.
Great Britain. > MI6 > History.
Spies > United States > Biography.
Espionage, American > History > 20th century.
World War, 1939-1945 > Secret service > United States.
Intelligence officers > United States > Biography.
Undercover operations > United States > History > 20th century.
United States > Politics and government > 1933-1945.
Biographies.
Genres
Biographies
Published
New York, NY : Hanover Square Press [2025]
Language
English
Main Author
Thomas Maier, 1956- (author)
Physical Description
470 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 430-470) and index.
ISBN
9781335000606
  • A Note to the Reader
  • Cast of Characters
  • Part I. Never Cease to Dare
  • Chapter 1. The Spies of Rockefeller Center
  • Chapter 2. Roar of the Crowd
  • Chapter 3. The Brain Trust
  • Chapter 4. "Your Duty Lies There"
  • Chapter 5. What They Didn't Know
  • Chapter 6. The President's "Secret Legs"
  • Chapter 7. Setting Up Shop
  • Chapter 8. Double Agents
  • Chapter 9. Incognito Cuneo
  • Chapter 10. The Propaganda Wars
  • Part II. Prelude to War
  • Chapter 11. Foreign Entanglements
  • Chapter 12. The President's Fake News
  • Chapter 13. The Informants
  • Chapter 14. Dangerous Liaisons
  • Chapter 15. Indiscretions
  • Chapter 16. "Our Man"
  • Chapter 17. The Sinister Touch
  • Chapter 18. Political Headhunting
  • Part III. Wartime Underground
  • Chapter 19. Pearl Harbor
  • Chapter 20. Dirty Tricks
  • Chapter 21. The Stork Club
  • Chapter 22. Messages from the Deep
  • Chapter 23. Meeting Churchill
  • Chapter 24. On the Outside Looking In
  • Chapter 25. The Slap Heard Around the World
  • Chapter 26. Vice
  • Chapter 27. Slaughtering the Innocents
  • Chapter 28. Days of Decision
  • Chapter 29. Last Goodbye
  • Part IV. Cold Warriors
  • Chapter 30. Betrayals
  • Chapter 31. A Knock at the Door
  • Chapter 32. The Center of Everything
  • Chapter 33. A Shot in the Dark
  • Chapter 34. Trip to the Angels
  • Chapter 35. Fact into Fiction
  • Chapter 36. Presentations
  • Chapter 37. Seeking Recognition
  • Chapter 38. Keeping Secrets
  • Endnotes
  • Index
Review by Booklist Review

The core of this eye-opening nonfiction spy story is Rockefeller Center. There, in the years leading up to and during U.S. involvement in WWII, one American spy met regularly with members of a Churchill-backed British spy agency that operated in plain sight as a fake passport office on the Rock's thirty-sixth floor. President Roosevelt tapped Ernest Cuneo, a former NFL football player, attorney, and aide to Mayor La Guardia, to work undercover with the Brits. Cuneo was a liaison between the Brits and FDR, deftly using the media to win over public opinion before and during the war. This book is absolutely fascinating in the way it shines a light on how pro-interventionist propaganda helped get the U.S. into the war. Cuneo weaponized his persuasive skills to plant stories with media forces like Walter Winchell, and worked with people such as British actors Cary Grant and Charlie Chaplin, and director Alfred Hitchcock. No less fascinating are the accounts of how British intelligence worked to uncover Nazi spies in the U.S. Cuneo serves as a wonderful behind-the-scenes lens to view the information wars surrounding WWII. Another winner from Maier, the author of When Lions Roar: The Churchills and the Kennedys (2014) and Mafia Spies (2019).

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.

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