Donald Nichols arrived in South Korea as a 23-year-old NCO fresh out of counterintelligence school. Despite a lack of education, he turned out to be an incredibly gifted intelligence officer, eventually rising to the rank of Major. Against all odds, he soon developed a personal relationship with Syngman Rhee, the US-backed President of South Korea.
In the late 1940s, Korea was a low priority for the US, and Nichols was soon arguably the most powerful and influential American serviceman in country due to his connection with Rhee. He also wrote hundreds of reports on the coming war with North Korea; reports which were ignored by his superiors. Undeterred, Nichols infiltrated agents into North Korea, interviewed defectors, and did everything possible to brace for the coming conflict which practically no one else foresaw. Meanwhile, he also passively observed and reported on South Korean government brutality during the civil war which preceded open hostilities with North Korea and China.
When the war finally began in June 1950, Nichols became the linchpin that allowed UN forces to hang on to the peninsula. Through his network and through missions he ran himself, Nichols provided valuable targeting data to USAF bombers which relentlessly pounded enemy units. He led missions to gather priceless intelligence from a disabled T-34 on the front lines, and later a crashed MiG-15. These intelligence coups allowed analysts to pinpoint weaknesses in the designs, and update US F-86 Sabre fighters to give them an advantage over the formidable MiG-15s.
Despite his incredible talents, Nichols was also a deeply troubled man, troubles which were ignored due to his value to the war effort. But they would eventually come back to destroy him in the end.
For episode 25 of the Spycraft 101 podcast, I spoke with Blaine Harden, author of King of Spies: The Dark Reign of an American Spymaster. Harden sheds light on one of the most polarizing figures in US military intelligence history.
