Franklin D. Roosevelt, Ernst 'Putzi' Hanfstaengl and the 'S-Project', June1942-June 1944

Between June 1942 and September 1944, Ernst 'Putzi' Hanfstaengl was employe d by the Roosevelt administration as an intelligence analysts and psycholog ical warfare adviser. This article not only explores the President's exact motivations for bringing a former confidant of Hitler to Washington in the midst of war, but also uses this curious episode to highlight some broader, and frequently neglected, themes of American wartime diplomacy, including: Roosevelt's unconventional and idiosyncratic attitude towards intelligence material, the President's belief in the efficacy of psychological warfare, and the often strained relations between the administration and the Britis h embassy in Washington on matters relating to the German problem.