To Emilio, however, ideology was nothing compared to a damsel in distress. I still believed in fascism, however, thinking it was the men who were failing and not the system.”
As he later said, “I had idealized fascism while I was abroad, and was confronted now with corruption, lack of responsibility, and incompetence. In desperation, she turned to Emilio.Įmilio’s youthful admiration for Mussolini had been shattered by the war. In July 1943, after the Allied invasion of Sicily, he turned against Mussolini and was soon imprisoned by Il Duce and his Nazi overlords on charges of treason.Įdda now found herself in a surreal situation-her father had essentially ordered the death of her husband. Over time, however, Ciano grew disillusioned. In the ’30s, Ciano had been Mussolini’s right-hand man, serving as chief propagandist and foreign minister. Cordelia retired in 1980 to the coast of Maine, where she lived unobtrusively until her death at the age of 98.Įdda was married to one of her father’s most influential henchmen, Galeazzo Ciano. Hood, and their secret duties took them to various locations in Central and Western Europe. She married fellow OSS operative William J. Her assignments involved dangerous air missions and top-secret encryption. At Cordelia’s suggestion, therefore, Dulles asked the Italians to let Emilio return without fear of imprisonment.Ĭordelia’s career with the OSS, told in brief in the book Sisterhood of Spies: The Women of the OSS, reads like an adventure novel. From that meeting, Cordelia produced a memo that included Emilio’s account of his role with the Cianos and got him to agree to look for the missing Ciano papers in Italy.
Dulles, anxious to track down the missing diaries, arranged for Cordelia to rendezvous with Emilio at Zermatt, an Alpine ski resort in the shadow of the Matterhorn.
Cordelia Dodson ’36, MA ’41 worked in intelligence and counterintelligence in World War II.Ĭonverging on that moment in time was Cordelia Dodson ’36, MA ’41, who worked in intelligence and counterintelligence at the Office of Strategic Services in Bern under Allen Dulles, the future director of Central Intelligence.įluent in French and German, Cordelia spotted Emilio’s name in cable traffic and volunteered her assistance.
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