Richard Helms, Class of 1935

Described by The New York Times as “one of the most respected men in Washington,” you helped fashion this country’s intelligence operations over thirty years-first with the Office of Strategic Services in World War II and then, from its beginning, the Central Intelligence Agency, through whose ranks you rose to become its first professional director. In this sometimes ruthless vocation, you became known for playing by the rules. And you made surbordination and responsiveness to presidential authority true hallmarks of the Agency’s work. Intelligence officers expect challenges in the field; you faced them also at home, where the Agency became caught between the need for secrecy and a Democracy’s demand for openness. The resulting series of testimonies you gave before Congress were called by Attorney General Griffin Bell “one of the most honorable things I’ve seen since I’ve been in Washington.” You have earned the Distinguished Intelligence Medal, the William J. Donovan Medal, and the National Security Medal, the citation for which described your career as “typified by brilliance, exceptional motivation, and keen administrative ability.” You have not only witnessed but participated in countless historical events of the second half of the Twentieth Century. In the worlds of defense and intelligence, success might best be measured by what does not happen. As the distance of time gives us new perspective on the Cold War, our appreciation grows for all the things that did not happen. With it grows our thanks for your central role in that global drama.