13. John Steinbeck worked for the OSS as a propagandist
Noted writer John Steinbeck was recruited by the OSS immediately after its creation. He was hired to produce propaganda, and his first contribution was the novel The Moon is Down (1942). The story featured an unnamed country and its occupation by an oppressive power, which was widely accepted to be Norway, occupied by Nazi Germany. He then worked as a war correspondent for the New York Herald Tribune, retaining his ties with Donovan’s agency. In addition to preparing propaganda for the agency, Steinbeck gathered intelligence on both sides of the line. Steinbeck also saw combat action, and was wounded during the war.
After the war, in the 1950s, Steinbeck lived in Paris for a time, writing a series of articles about life in the city for a French magazine. At the same time, he gathered information about the communist faction in France, as well as the French nuclear program, for the CIA. Much of his files in the CIA and FBI were shredded in 2005, and what survived was heavily redacted, so the extent of his spying remains highly speculative. Letters in the CIA files indicate that on a tour of the Mediterranean region prior to his residence in Paris, he was tasked with gathering information “on any political developments in the areas through which you travel”. It was signed by Walter Bedell Smith, then Director of Central Intelligence.