Edward Lansdale Edward Geary Lansdale ( February 6 , 1908 – February 23 , 1987 ) was a United States Air Force officer who served in the Office of Strategic Services and the Central Intelligence Agency . He rose to the rank of Major General and was awarded the Air Force Distinguished Service Medal in 1963 . He was an early proponent of more aggressive US actions in the Cold War . Lansdale was born in Detroit , Michigan and died in McLean , Virginia . He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery . He was twice married and had two sons from his first marriage . Early life . Edward Geary Lansdale was born in Detroit , Michigan , in 1908 , the second of the four sons of Sarah Frances Philips of California and Henry Lansdale of Virginia . He attended school in Michigan , New York and California before attending UCLA where he earned his way largely by writing for newspapers and magazines . He moved on to better paying work in advertising in Los Angeles and San Francisco . World War II . In World War II , he served with the Office of Strategic Services and in 1943 he was commissioned as a lieutenant in the U . S . Army , working various military intelligence assignments throughout the war . In 1945 after several wartime promotions , he was transferred to Headquarters Air Forces Western Pacific as a major , where he became chief of the Intelligence Division . Philippines . He extended his tour to remain in the Philippines until 1948 helping the Philippine Army rebuild its intelligence services and resolve the cases of large numbers of prisoners of war . These activities were also used to camouflage his involvement in the discovery and the disbursement of the immense hidden gold hoard amassed by the Japanese during their occupation . these funds were disbursed to numerous banks worldwide , and later used to finance CIA covert activities . He was commissioned as a captain in the United States Air Force in 1947 , with the temporary rank of major . After leaving the Philippines in 1948 , he served as an instructor at the Strategic Intelligence School , Lowry Air Force Base , Colorado , where he received a temporary promotion to lieutenant colonel in 1949 . In 1950 President Elpidio Quirino personally requested that he be transferred to Joint United States Military Assistance Group , Philippines , to assist the intelligence services of the Armed Forces of the Philippines combat the Communist Hukbalahap . Ramon Magsaysay had just been appointed secretary of national defense and Lansdale was made liaison officer to him . The two men became close friends , frequently visiting the combat areas together and with Lansdale ' s help Magsaysay eventually became President of the Philippines in 30 December 1953 . Lansdale helped the Philippine Armed Forces develop psychological operations , civic actions , and the rehabilitation of Hukbalahap prisoners in projects such as EDCOR . He was temporarily promoted to colonel in 1951 . Vietnam . Lansdale was a member of General John W . O ' Daniel ' s mission to Indo - China in 1953 , acting as an advisor on special counter - guerrilla operations to French forces against the Viet Minh . From 1954 - 57 he was stationed in Saigon as the head of the Saigon Military Mission ( SMM ) . During this period he was active in the training of the Vietnamese National Army ( VNA ) , organizing the Caodaist militias under Trình Minh Thế in an attempt to bolster the VNA , a propaganda campaign encouraging Vietnam ' s Catholics to move to the south as part of Operation Passage to Freedom , and spreading claims that North Vietnam ese agents were making attacks in South Vietnam . Before the widely discredited 1955 referendum that saw Prime Minister Ngô Đình Diệm depose head of state Bảo Đại and proclaim himself President of the newly formed Republic of Vietnam , Lansdale advised Diệm , with whom had a close friendship , to not rig the poll and be content with a realistic 60 - 70 % result , advice Diệm did not take . Diệm was credited with 98 . 2 % of the vote overall and 133 % in Saigon . Lansdale mentored and trained Phạm Xuân Ẩn , a reporter for " Time magazine " who was actually a highly placed North Vietnamese spy . In 1961 , he helped to publicize the story of Father Nguyen Lac Hoa , the " fighting priest " who had organized a crack militia called the Sea Swallows from his village of anti - communist Chinese Catholic exiles . In 1961 , Lansdale recruited John M . Deutch to his first job in government , working as one of Robert McNamara ' s ' Whiz Kids ' . Deutch would go on to be the 17th Director of Central Intelligence . Anti - Castro Campaign . From 1957 to 1963 Lansdale worked for the Department of Defense in Washington , serving as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Special Operations , Staff Member of the President ' s Committee on Military Assistance , and Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations . During the early 1960s he was chiefly involved in clandestine efforts to topple the government of Cuba , including proposals to assassinate Fidel Castro . Much of this work was under the aegis of " Operation Mongoose " which was the operational name for the CIA plan to topple Castro ' s government . According to Daniel Ellsberg , who was at one time a subordinate to Lansdale , Lansdale claimed that he was fired by President Kennedy ' s Defense Secretary Robert McNamara after he declined Kennedy ' s offer to play a role in the overthrow of the Diem regime . Late in his career . From 1965 to 1968 he returned to Vietnam to work in the United States Embassy , Saigon . He retired on November 1 , 1963 . His memoir , published in 1972 , was " In the Midst of Wars " . His biography , " The Unquiet American " , was written by Cecil Currey and published in 1988 ; the title refers to the common , but incorrect belief , that the eponymous character in Graham Greene ' s novel " The Quiet American " was based on Lansdale . According to Norman Sherry ' s authorized biography of Greene " The Life of Graham Greene " ( Penguin , 2004 ) , Lansdale did not officially enter the Vietnam arena until 1954 , while Greene wrote his book in 1952 after departing Vietnam . More likely is that he was the inspiration for the character Colonel Hillandale in Eugene Burdick ' s and William Lederer ' s joint novel The Ugly American published in 1958 . Many of Lansdale ' s private papers and effects were destroyed in a fire at his McLean home in 1972 . In 1981 , Lansdale donated most of his remaining papers to Stanford University ' s Hoover Institution . Lansdale died of a heart ailment on February 23 , 1987 . Portrayal in Oliver Stone ' s " JFK " . L . Fletcher Prouty alleged that Lansdale can be seen in one of the " three tramps " photographs that were taken near the Texas School Book Depository shortly after the assassination of United States President John F . Kennedy . Based on Prouty ' s account of Lansdale , Dale Dye portrayed the character named " General Y " in the 1991 Oliver Stone film " JFK " . According to Stone , the development of the character was inspired by Prouty . He said that it was not meant to be Lansdale , but rather someone " " like " a Lansdale " that represented alleged misdeeds on the part of the CIA in a cover - up of the assassination .