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“Frederick Vreeland, a debonair Cold War diplomat and spy who was a son of Diana Vreeland, the hortatory, theatrical and much-mythologized fashion editor, whose influence proved to be a valuable asset in his chosen profession, died on Jan. 26 at his home in Rome. He was 98…
…While still at Yale, Mr. Vreeland was recruited by the Central Intelligence Agency, which had been formed after World War II as a successor to the Office of Strategic Services, the wartime spy agency better known as the OSS.
Yale would become a go-to source for the State Department and the Foreign Service. “Male, pale and Yale” was the longtime descriptor for their members.
Mr. Vreeland’s double life began in 1952, when he was stationed in Geneva, followed by rougher, grimmer postings in Germany — in Berlin and then Bonn. It was all very John le Carré, although Mr. Vreeland in no way resembled Mr. le Carré’s rumpled hero, George Smiley. He was charming, handsome and a snappy dresser.
His cover roles were various positions connected to the U.S. Mission to the United Nations and the reconstruction of Europe after World War II. His covert activities included intelligence gathering and recruitment. (The first involved a lot of wining and dining; the second, cash payments.)
In his memoir, Mr. Vreeland noted that his tradecraft was often not quite up to par. He recalled the time he removed his license plate and screwed on one taken from another car to cover his tracks before meeting a potential recruit, only to discover after the meeting that he had put the license plate on upside down.”
— The New York Times, 17 February 2026
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