General William “Wild Bill” Donovan was a Medal of Honor recipient, decorated World War I veteran, Wall Street figure, and founder of the wartime Office of Strategic Services (OSS) — the CIA’s institutional predecessor. John Kiriakou discussed him during his tour of Arlington National Cemetery.[1]
Per Kiriakou, when President Truman pushed the National Security Act of 1947 to create the CIA, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover opposed it — arguing that if a separate agency were created, he should head both the CIA and the FBI. Truman called Hoover into the Oval Office and told him the bill would make the CIA a division of the FBI. That was a lie. Hoover believed it and withdrew his objections. The CIA was created independently, and Donovan became its natural first director.[2][3][4]