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The Impact Of American Spies On The Nation And The World

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Looking at the impact of spies throughout history, it is easy to focus on the adversaries’ spies and the impact they have had on America. However, more important is the impact that American spies have had on shaping the country and the world. There have been many spies that have benefited America throughout our brief history; however, none may have been as impactful as Virginia Hall was in the events surrounding World War Two. Examining Virginia Hall’s background, efforts leading up to war, actions during the war, and postwar career show Hall’s vast impact on not only on American, but also World events. Virginia Hall was born in Baltimore, Maryland on 6 April 1906 to an affluent family. Hall grew up on the 110-acre Bush Horn Farm, where …show more content…

The shot hit her left foot, causing irreparable damage. Once at the hospital, the doctors fearing gangrene amputated Hall’s left leg below the knee. In January 1934, Hall transferred to the American Hospital in Istanbul, and then transferred back to the United States the following month. While recuperating back at her family’s Maryland farm Hall doctors outfitted Hall with a prosthetic leg, which she eventually nicknamed “Cuthbert”. This handicapped was a point of embarrassment for the remainder of Hall’s life. In the fall of 1934, Hall requested reinstatement within the state department. By December of the same year Hall received a reinstatement and assigned to the American Consulate in Venice. It was here that Hall performed some FSO duties while her supervisor was out of the office, which renewed her desire to become an FSO herself. While taking the oral portion of the FSO exam, Hall received the news that her amputated leg disqualified her from becoming an FSO. This news disheartened Hall, and resulted in her resignation from the State Department in May 1939 shortly after her transfer to Tallin, Estonia. In the summer of 1939, Hall moved to Paris, France and worked as a freelance journalist for American Newspapers. Unfortunately on 1 September 1939, Adolph Hitler with the National Socialist German Workers Party is also known as the Nazi Party ordered the bombing of Puck, Poland. The Nazi bombing of Poland intensively started

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