E. Howard Hunt left a legacy of more than forty five popular thrillers. Many were written under pseudonyms because his day job.
Hunt’s day job? — Spook Extraordinaire.
E. Howard Hunt is forgotten as a prolific award-winning novelist, recipient of the prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship (beating out Truman Capote and Gore Vidal for the honor) or his serving in both the USN and USAF, reporting from battlefronts or manning far flung CIA posts. What Hunt is most remembered for is his role in plotting the Bay of Pigs invasion and serving 33 months in jail time for his part in the Watergate break-in.
Amongst the all the turmoil. E. Howard Hunt kept on writing; heroic war stories, Cold War intrigue, political thrillers and even noir detective stories that were very popular with the public. Welcome to one of the most infamous and complex characters in all of American History. Meet the proligic author and spook extraordinaire – E. Howard Hunt.
Born October 9, 1918 in Hamburg New York into a staunch Republican family, Hunt graduated high school and then enrolled in Brown University. Graduating from Brown in 1940 with a Bachelors in English and having aspirations of being a journalist, Hunt was restless and the beginning of the Second World War called him to adventure. His writing career would be put on hold for now.
Hunt enlisted into the US NAVY and secured an Ensign assignment on the USS Destroyer Mayo, scouting German U-boats that were harassing the Atlantic shipping lanes. Unfortunately, Hunt was injured on the icy deck and was offered either a supply job onshore or a medical discharge. With regrets he accepted the discharge to recuperate at his family’s home and mull his future. While at home Hunt channeled his repressed energies into writing his first novel, East of Farewell, a fictionalized story of convoy duty in the Atlantic.
To Hunt’s surprise his book was quickly published and the sold well. Still Hunt yearned for action in the war theater and when completely from his injuries, Hunt landed a wartime correspondent position with Look Magazine that took him to the Pacific theater. Again this assignment ended before Hunt would have liked and he soon found himself back in New York where he wrote his second novel. Not happy in New York, Hunt felt a strong need to serve his country and enlisted in the Army Air force as a private, a considerable step down from his Ensign position in the Navy. His assignment was far from war time action in “boring” Orlando. In Orlando, Hunt heard rumors of a new organization; The Office of Strategic Services being headed by the famed General Billy Donovan, Through his father’s political connections, Hunt soon came onboard the new organization and accepted a posting in China. E. Howard Hunt’s new life as a “spook” had now begun.
Stationed in Shanghai, Hunt met an intelligent and beautiful CIA Employee, Dorothy Wetzel, who he married. Dorothy would die