Bernard Marcus was born on 14 May 1922. He was born in the Bronx in New York City. He lived there for 20 years before joining the army. His family moved three times during that time. With the Depression ongoing, Marcus’ father liked the idea of obtaining free rent for a month when he signed a year lease on a property. Young Marcus grew up in an apartment overlooking a park. His neighborhood was mainly comprised of Jewish and Italian inhabitants. The children would walk together to school to prevent the Irish youngsters from attacking them. There were verbal assaults where the Jews were referred to as kikes and the Italians were referred to as wops [Annotator’s Note: both terms are highly derisive.]. Though yelling would occur, no one attacked the gang of boys going to school. When the Italians could not accompany Marcus to school, his mother went along with him for his protection. Those were the early years. He graduated from high school in January 1948. He was admitted to City College, but his father thought he was too young to go to college. His start was delayed to September. He worked on a farm until then. His father had done that type of work and wanted his son to experience that, too. It would help him grow up. He worked at a dairy farm in the Catskill Mountains. He began working for a farmer named Praeger [Annotator’s Note: no given name provided] in May. The farm was in a town called Accord, New York. Marcus was instructed to get up before dawn and milk the cows and then let them out to pasture. He had to do that quickly so the cows did not create more excrement clean-up work for him in the barn. He had never milked a cow so that technique had to be learned. Marcus also collected chicken eggs on the farm. After those chores, he could have breakfast. He would work the fields afterward. He had to fix fences and harvest and load hay. The hay had to be transported by wagon to the barn and then unloaded. It was very hot and hard work. He had not yet made 16 years of age at the time. When he finished in August, Mr. Praeger said that he would see him the next year. Marcus knew he would not be back. In retrospect, Marcus knows that the Irish youngsters in his neighborhood expressed anti-Semitism toward him. The Italians did not have the same feelings toward him. On Easter Sunday, his mother would lock the doors and pull down the shades for fear of Irish kids coming out of church and searching out the Jewish kids who had killed their God. The Jewish and Italians youngster hated their Irish counterparts and the feelings were returned by the Irish. All those groups hated the Polish kids [Annotator’s Note: Marcus laughs at the irony of the recollection.]. Marcus had an uncle with a radio store. Every Saturday, a policeman would accept an envelope with ten dollars in it. A barbershop had its windows broken because the barber refused to pay off the cops. Part of those pay offs might have been directed to the Mafia. It seemed to keep peace in the neighborhood. Marcus had a friend named Salvatore. He called him Sal [Annotator’s Note: no surname provided]. Sal’s father never seemed to leave the porch of his home and yet many people came and went. Marcus asked Sal what his father did. His response was that they belonged to the family. Later Marcus found out what that term meant. Marcus’ father was an optician. He had trained in that trade after returning from World War One. The training was offered as part of his military benefits at the time. He loved being an optician. He was in the infantry in France and Belgium during the war. He talked very little about it except that in the winter the men would run out of the trenches and jump into an icy pool of water just to clean up a bit. He had been affected by a German mustard gas attack. He was wounded during that same time and suffered with that until he died. He was treated in a veteran’s hospital for his injuries. His father thought treatment in the hospital was great benefit. He belonged to the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Purple Heart Veterans and marched with veterans down 5th Avenue on holidays. He was proud of his service as was Marcus while he was in ROTC during that time. They would both frequently be in the same parade. Marcus was in charge of the ROTC brigade marching down 5th Avenue past St. Patrick’s Cathedral when his mother and two sisters observed him. His young sister Elaine ran out of the grandstands and onto the street yelling that she had seen her brother, Bernie. That was very memorable as he saluted the generals with his sister after him. His father encouraged his son to join the ROTC. Marcus was proud of his father for his service and participation in the parades. It was exciting.

Bernard Marcus’ parents immigrated to the United States from Europe. His mother came from Poland when it was a part of the Austria-Hungarian Empire. Her parents had three children at the time. Marcus’ grandfather left their staycale [Annotator’s Note: foreign word is not certain] and came to New York where there were relatives. It was about 1907. The remainder of the family that followed later departed their location north of Vienna for Hamburg, Germany. They voyaged from Hamburg America. They arrived in 1908. Marcus’ father came from a little town in Romania that was adjacent to the Ukraine in Russia. He arrived in the States in about 1914 following the previous arrival of his sister and brother. He left his parents in Romania due to the Cossacks raids on his Romanian village. The raiders sought Jewish women to rape and young men to kill. Marcus’ father had been a baker in Romania. When word came that the Cossacks were on the way, he escaped via a secret passage hidden by a trap door in the bakery. Relatives remained in Europe during the 1930s when persecution erupted for the Jews. Most of those that stayed behind were exterminated by the Nazis. A cousin was able to escape Vienna through Portugal to the United States due to the aid of the family and HIAS—the Hebrew Immigrant [Annotator’s Note: Aid] Society. The family was happy for that individual’s salvation.

Bernard Marcus and his family hardly discussed the world events in the 1930s. They always hated Hitler [Annotator’s Note: Adolf Hitler and the German Nazi Party were vehemently anti-Semitic. The Marcus family is Jewish.]. When Marcus entered the army, his father was happy that his son was going to do his duty. Marcus was in the ROTC [Annotator’s Note: ROTC—Reserve Officer Training Corps] at City College in New York. The school had a reputation as being a communist leaning institution. There was a time early in the war when Hitler and the Russians had a pact of non-aggression. The communist students were all for the Russians, but the ROTC members did not agree. The students did not get along. When the Germans invaded Russian territory, many of the communists wanted to join the ROTC. They were told that there was no room for them. They were not admitted to the ROTC. After the farm [Annotator’s Note: immediately following high school graduation, Marcus worked for about four months on a farm in the Catskill Mountains of New York. This had been due to his father’s desire for his son to grow up more before college entry.], Marcus entered college with the goal of becoming an optometrist. In order to achieve that goal, he would have to study psychics and German. German was required to study psychics because the Germans were preeminent in the field and their books had to be read. Marcus graduated in 1942. With his ROTC background he was ready to be sworn into the army as a 2nd lieutenant. Marcus heard about the attack on Pearl Harbor while listening to the radio as he studied. Music was on and then there was an interruption to announce the bombing of Pearl Harbor. No one knew where Pearl Harbor was located. That information was discovered shortly. The event happened on a Sunday [Annotator’s Note: 7 December 1941]. His commanding officer told him to show up on Monday at school in his uniform. The whole ROTC group turned out in uniform. The bombing made the remainder of the ROTC program more intense. The young men were ready to graduate. Marcus knew his life would change with his graduation in six months. He anticipated being sent off to some place yet unforeseen. That would not be the case.

Bernard Marcus did not anticipate that his color blindness would affect his entry into the service and receipt of his commission. During his mid-May 1942 graduation, he learned that he was the recipient of a medal from the Daughters of the Confederacy. He had entered a contest they had opened for college students across the United States. It involved writing something positive about the South. Entrants’ names and their schools were not disclosed during the judging process. Marcus thought that the representative of the Daughters of the Confederacy had a fit when she had to pin the medal on a Jewish kid from a communist college [Annotator’s Note: Marcus chuckles at the irony. He attended City College of New York which was viewed as being influenced by communist ideology.]. Marcus has kept the medal in a drawer in his home. After graduation, he went to a camp in Mississippi and assigned to the Army Air Corps. As a physicist, he would be an officer taking care of planes as opposed to being a pilot. During the physical examination, he flunked the color vision test. He was told that he could not be an officer in the army and was given a ticket to return home. He would have to register for the draft. He was subsequently drafted into the army infantry in September 1943. He was not comfortable with that situation. He was sent to Camp Upton in upstate New York. It was the same camp that his father went to following his enlistment. His father advised his son to never volunteer. Marcus agreed. The first day there, the sergeant asked anyone who had gone to college to step forward. Just a few men, including Marcus, stepped forward. They were given dirty duty by the non-commissioned officer. When Marcus told his dad about the assignment, he was reminded that he was told to never volunteer. Marcus responded that he had only reacted to the question posed to the group. After finishing at Camp Upton, Marcus was transported by train to Camp Wheeler in Georgia. They arrived late at night and were marched into camp. Lights went on and a colonel introduced himself in a very Southern accent. The men were told they were going to be given guns and bayonets and taught to kill Germans. They were going to train using live fire. They should never anticipate being able to get out of the infantry. On weekends, the men were allowed to use the telephone and make outside calls. Marcus told his father that he was in the infantry. His father acknowledged that was his same assignment in the service. Marcus said that he had too much training to be stuck in the infantry instead of doing technical things for the army. His father suggested that his son write to their congressman in New York. The congressman and his dad were both members of Tammy Hall [Annotator’s Note: a highly powerful political organization in New York City.]. Marcus wrote the letter. Basic training was to be three months, but by the second month, a platoon corporal came into the barracks and told Marcus to pick up his gear and get in the jeep. They were to go to the captain’s office. The captain told Marcus that he was out of the infantry and was assigned to an anti-aircraft brigade. The letter must have worked. Within two months after arriving in the brigade as a private and working for a major who was an intelligence officer, Marcus was told that a review by a group from Washington was about to happen. They would be involved in a two week mock battle against the Germans. Their performance would determine if they were ready to go overseas. At the end of the period, Marcus was commended on his actions by high ranking officers. One colonel even gave him a card and told him that if he completed Officer Candidate School to contact him. He said that he would have a special assignment for Marcus. The major said he would be promoted to lieutenant colonel and in turn Marcus was promoted from private to staff sergeant. That was a good move. Marcus then found out the transfer of the unit overseas was delayed. It was also disclosed that the Officer Candidate School at Fort Knox was looking for select individuals recommended by their generals to be in a special class for the armored force. Marcus was selected by his general.

Bernard Marcus had to take a physical examination prior to setting off for Fort Knox. He did not know how he would accomplish that [Annotator’s Note: Marcus had previously been declined a commission after ROTC graduation because he was color blind. The opportunity at the Officer Candidate School at Fort Knox, Kentucky involved special training for armored forces which would be a promotion from his rank of staff sergeant.]. Marcus knew the individual that would be performing the color blind testing. He told that individual that he was not color blind and he received a check in the box as a result. Off Marcus went to Fort Knox. There were four months of training. A month before graduation, he sent a note to the colonel who had expressed interest in him [Annotator’s Note: this occurred after a successful war games project where Marcus’ performance was recognized by several high ranking officers from Washington.]. Two weeks before graduation, Marcus was told to report to the commanding officer’s office at Fort Knox. The officer told Marcus that there were secret orders for him. The orders were so secret that the officer could even see. The officer was ordered to immediately commission Marcus who was sent to a tailor to be fitted for a uniform. He had his 2nd lieutenant bars pinned to him and off he went to his new assignment. The orders told him to go from Louisville to Baltimore. Upon arrival at Baltimore, he was to go to a special room number and then be assigned to the military intelligence school in Camp Ritchie in Maryland. He was not to tell anyone what he was going to do. He could only say that he was destined for Camp Ritchie. When he entered the special room, there were individuals speaking all kinds of different languages. They boarded a bus and headed to Camp Ritchie in the Catoctin Mountains. The camp was at the top of the mountain. On one side could be seen President Roosevelt’s Shangri-La. That eventually would become Camp David [Annotator’s Note: a relaxing location for Presidents near Washington, D.C. Business can be conducted there as well.]. Camp Ritchie was to the opposite side. It was a beautiful spot with mountains and a lake. The officers had little private homes. Everything turned into one surprise after another. The location was heaven on earth. It was beautiful. After quarters were assigned, the newcomers went to an auditorium. An officer described what the camp was all about. As the war ended, a great number of interrogators would be needed for Germans and Japanese detainees. They also need photo interpreters. They needed counterintelligence officers as well. The job requirements were described. The need was urgent for photo interpreters. They asked for those with experience. Marcus raised his hand and was told he would go into training for studying infra-red film. If a person was color blind, they would not see the Germans camouflaging their equipment and troops. Marcus took the course. Although he was not totally color blind, the course did not work out too well. The officer in charge of the course looked back on Marcus’ college record and saw that he had taken German. It was decided that he would be trained as a German speaking, counterintelligence officer. After being interviewed, he was going to be sent to Germany after further training. Learning German in college was just something he had to do [Annotator’s Note: because many of the preeminent physicists were German, their books were required reading. Consequently, German was required study when Marcus sought a physics degree.]. There was a counterintelligence school in downtown Baltimore. It was called Fort Holabird. He was told that he would no longer have an insignia on his uniform. He was no longer to be addressed as an officer. His title was to be altered. He could still use the military postal service but he was no longer Lieutenant but Mister Marcus. Marcus informed his parents accordingly. He assured them that he was still in the army. His mother told him that the postman brought up the first letter sent to her by her son. He commented to her that he was sorry that her son had been kicked out of the army. That was his beginning with the counterintelligence part of the army. He attended school for two months learning various clandestine things. Then he was sent to Germany.

Bernard Marcus deployed from New York to Le Havre, France and then to Paris. He stayed at a delightful hotel in Paris. The first day there, he was advised by his friends that he should report to the hospital. His face was all blotchy. He had contracted the measles. He also developed pneumonia. After recovery, he was sent to counterintelligence at the IG Farben building outside of Frankfurt. He was instructed to report to the counterintelligence office in Garmisch -Partenkirchen in Bavaria. He replaced Allen Diehart, Jr. [Annotator’s Note: name spelling not confirmed] who was in charge of the office there. It was January 1946. In 1934, the Winter Olympics were held there. Marcus had on the job training in his new assignment. His office was downtown, but he was billeted in what appeared to be a mansion outside of the town. It was great accommodations. He even had his own personal automobile. The vehicle was a long BMW convertible that Adolf Hitler used when he came to Bavaria. The mansion was owned by BMW. Marcus felt Hitler must be turning over in his grave with a Jewish boy driving around in his former vehicle. The job for Marcus involved finding officers in the SS who were involved in the concentration camps. Next in priority was to find Hitler’s henchmen. None were caught and likely ended up in South America. Shortly after starting, he was called to a meeting in Frankfurt and instructed that the Germans were no longer the enemy with the exception of SS personnel. Going forward, he was to focus on finding Russian agents embedded in displaced person camps. The search for SS officers moved down from first priority being superseded by the search for Russian agents. Marcus always traveled around town in civilian clothes. That was the way he traveled except when he reported to army headquarters in Frankfurt. Then he wore a uniform without insignia. On 14 February 1946, a Polish displaced person camp nearby housed the remnants of the Polish army plus Ukrainians. Marcus went to the camp and discovered a person who was dressed as a Ukrainian priest. The Polish said that the priest seemed suspicious. He had his own tent and many visitors. There were no other individuals that seemed out of place. Marcus suggested that the camp supervisor allow the Ukrainian to leave the camp to see what happens. When the man left the camp, his tent was searched. A document was discovered that was signed by Stalin. It was instructions for the Ukrainian to travel to Canada and contact Russian spies there and in the United States. Marcus thought he had found a Russian agent. On 14 February 1946, the potential agents were picked up and brought to Frankfurt. Two days later, Marcus received a call indicating that he needed to go to Frankfurt. He had a meeting with American and British counterintelligence personnel. The suspicious priest was in the meeting. Marcus learned that the man he had selected was actually a double agent for the British. Marcus ruined years’ worth of preliminary work in preparation for the supposed Ukrainian priest to travel to Canada to identify Soviet agents who were there. From then on, the British were to inform the Americans when they had double agents in their zone. That was Marcus’ big adventure with spies.

Bernard Marcus was instructed to report to the commanding general of the counterintelligence Corps in Frankfurt. The trip was about 250 miles from Munich. Upon arrival, he was informed that there was to be a meeting with the American commander over Europe who had replaced Eisenhower. His name was General McNarney. [Annotator’s Note: General Dwight D. Eisenhower was replaced by General Joseph T. McNarney.]. McNarney met with Marcus and several others. Marcus was told that there was to be an important meeting with the British. McNarney said that he recognized that Marcus was Jewish. Since he was dressed as a civilian, the General referred to Marcus as Mister. He told him to agree with everything that the officer stated in the upcoming meeting. The meeting began with introductions and tea with crumpets. After the table was cleaned, the British general addressed his American counterparts. He stated that many Jews were exiting the concentration camps destined for Palestine. He requested that the Americans halt trains that were transporting them toward that destination. The British officer also asked that MPs at displaced person and concentration camps prevent them from leaving. General McNarney refused to comply but said he would contact Washington about the request. The American general agreed to assure that the Jews would not leave Germany. He then turned to Marcus who was in charge of the borders. He told him to make sure that the trains stop and no Jews leave Germany. Marcus agreed. The Jews could be identified by the numbers printed on their arms in concentration camps. When the Americans returned to General McNarney’s office, the officer said to Marcus that he could not see as far as Garmisch which was 200 odd miles away [Annotator’s Note: Marcus was commanding officer of the counterintelligence office in Garmisch –Partenkirchen.]. Marcus acknowledged and the Jews continued to leave Germany. It was a great feeling. Marcus left Germany in October 1946.

In February 1946, Bernard Marcus was responsible for a part of Bavaria when the zones of occupation by the Allies were being modified. The Americans were turning over the town of Jena, Germany where the manufacturing of Zeiss photographic equipment took place. There was a phenomenal amount of lens, cameras, and manufacturing equipment there. The Americans wanted to move it to a place that would remain under their zone. The Americans had been interviewing German scientists who were felt not to be Nazis. They were going to be transferred to work in government laboratories in the United States. Marcus was ordered to interrogate the scientists in Jena. Nazi records were used to determine which interviewees belonged to the Party. He used the list as the basis for acceptance of the scientists. While the interviews went on, the Zeiss equipment was being loaded up for movement. He completed his assignment and returned to Garmisch [Annotator’s Note: Marcus was commanding officer of the American counterintelligence office in Garmisch –Partenkirchen, Germany.]. About the same time, an aide to General Eisenhower met with Marcus and told him that the General wanted to provide a break for the judges presiding over the Nuremburg Trials [Annotator’s Note: the trials were being held to bring Nazi war criminals to justice in the town of Nuremburg, Germany.]. Garmisch had been an R and R [Annotator’s Note: R and R—rest and recuperation] site for the German SS. The aide wanted Marcus to arrange for a banquet in a nice hotel in Garmisch with food, drink and 20 women who could dance. The event would end about midnight. The women would have to be in their 20s, speak English, be attractive, well fed, not Nazis, and not have venereal disease. Marcus agreed to comply. He called in the German in charge of the Garmisch police force. The German agreed to support the request but could not guarantee that they were not Nazis since the SS had been there and they had to be Nazis at that time. They would be told to say they were not Nazis, if asked. They would be paid the equivalent of 100 American dollars for the night. They were rounded up and dressed and put in jail for Marcus to pick up and later return to jail with the aid of MPs. The banquet occurred with General Eisenhower in attendance. The aide pointed Marcus out to the General and the two men acknowledged each other. About a year later in February 1947, Marcus was married to his wife, Molly, and living in their apartment in Brooklyn. His wife was out at the time when his father-in-law brought the daily news to Marcus’ attention. There was an article about the counterintelligence officer in charge of Garmisch –Partenkirchen in February 1946 providing girls of the night to Eisenhower and the Nuremburg judges. Marcus’ father-in-law asked his son-in-law if that was him. Marcus confirmed that it was. Upon hearing that, Marcus’ father-in-law agreed to tear up the paper and forget the incident. He said he would never tell his daughter about what had happened. The event only came to be disclosed when Marcus wrote his book [Annotator’s Note: Marcus authored Only in America. From the South Bronx to Silicon Valley: My Journey Through Life and Service to this Nation and Beyond.]. The Garmisch incident with the women was his only meeting with Eisenhower.

Bernard Marcus left Germany at the end of September or the beginning of October 1946. He landed at Staten Island where he was met by his future wife, Molly, and his father. The couple was married three weeks later. Marcus stayed in the reserves and was ordered to go to the old State Department building in Washington, D.C. He was to report to a certain room. When he arrived there, he introduced himself and was brought to an office where he met the general formerly in charge of the counterintelligence service in Germany [Annotator’s Note: Marcus was commanding officer of the American counterintelligence office in Garmisch –Partenkirchen, Germany.]. The men traded greetings as they were familiar with each other. Marcus was offered a job back in Germany. He would be in charge of a group of spies. He was informed that Congress was soon to establish the Central Intelligence Agency and that he would be an early member of the organization. Marcus informed the officer that he was planning to get married and go back to school. He was told that he could bring his wife to Germany and that he would make a lot of money. The officer suggested that Marcus confer with his future wife. His fiancé strongly disagreed about going to Germany. Marcus told the officer that he would pass. He would instead follow his plans for marriage and school. The officer acquiesced but said they would stay in touch. Through the years, they have done so. Marcus did not return to school but took a job. He never wanted to be an optometrist as was his father desire. He was interviewed at Eaton Town for a job at the Simcore [Annotator’s Note: spelling uncertain] Laboratories at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey. With his education as a physicist, he would work in the photographic laboratory. Marcus mentioned Carl Zeiss [Annotator’s Note: Carl Zeiss was the founder of the Zeiss Company in Jena, Germany which manufactured technically superior photographic equipment and lens.] while being interviewed by the head of the lab. The interviewer responded that two Zeiss scientists were working on lens picked up in Jena for evaluation for use by the army. The Germans spoke little English and so Marcus would work with them because he spoke their language. One scientist had been interviewed by Marcus and cleared for entry into the United States [Annotator’s Note: when occupation zones were rearranged in Germany, the Zeiss Company in Jena was going to be in the Soviet zone. The company’s scientists were interviewed by Marcus and his counterintelligence organization to confirm they were not Nazis so that they could be transferred to the United States to aid in the technology transfer.]. The second German scientist was not familiar to Marcus. Less than a year after joining the lab, Marcus and his wife were settled in New Jersey. He was told that the former president of Zeiss was going to visit the lab. One of the two German scientists called in sick on that day. The man that Marcus had cleared embraced the former president of Zeiss. The former company president was Jewish and had been forced out of control when Hitler took power. He had to leave Germany. He started an optic company in Palestine. The man who had called in sick eventually left the laboratory and the United States. He went to back to East Germany to take control of the Zeiss Company. Marcus concluded that the individual had actually been a Nazi.

Bernard Marcus was in the army reserves during the Korean War. He was not called up for active duty. The Defense Department had set up the Army Air Corps as the US Air Force. The army only had single engine L-19 small planes for observation. With the war going on, the army needed a photographic reconnaissance capability. The Air Force was against that. The army would only use hand held cameras for their work while the Air Force would use highflying planes with big cameras mounted in the bottom of the plane. Marcus was in the Signal Corps photographic laboratory. He was put in charge of finding the right camera for the army. There was a simultaneous concern that the Russians would be moving into Czechoslovakia during the Korean War. It was decided to find a camera that could observe the Russians. Marcus had met Dr. Land [Annotator’s Note: Dr. Edwin H. Land] of the Polaroid Company. Their cameras had film that would process in the camera immediately. Marcuse went to meet Dr. Land at Cambridge for his project. Marcus learned that Dr. Land was working with Washington on long range Polaroid cameras. That would be useful to the army. Dr. Land agreed to build ten of his cameras for the army. Marcus and his team used those cameras plus a 100 inch focal length camera that was developed for use at high places near ground level overlooking the enemy.

Bernard Marcus received a call from the commander of Fort Monmouth [Annotator’s Note: in New Jersey]. Marcus was told to assume command of a platoon that would observe enemy activities along the German-Czechoslovakia border. He was to take photographs of the activities and report to offices in Washington, D.C. His participation with this platoon was requested by officials in the nation’s capital. When he reported to Washington, he saw his former boss who had promised to keep in touch with Marcus [Annotator’s Note: the former boss had been in command of the American intelligence operations in Germany while Marcus was based there. Upon Marcus return to the States, the boss had offered him a lucrative job in Germany with what would become the CIA—Central Intelligence Agency. Marcus conferred with his wife and refused the position. The boss insisted at that time that their paths would cross again.]. The assignment was for Marcus to take ground level pictures for greater clarity that those photos taken at higher altitude by the Air Force. In March 1952, the platoon flew to Germany. The project was completed in July or August. The concern had been that the Russians might move into the border territory to distract the Americans from other moves in Korea [Annotator’s Note: the Korean War was ongoing during this time.]. There were no coordinated moves between the Russians in Europe and the communists in Korea. Consequently, Marcus’ assignment on the German-Czech border was terminated. The assignment disrupted Marcus’ education program. He was to take advantage of the G.I. Bill of Rights to attain his PhD. He returned to college in 1947. The call to active duty in 1952 occurred while he was working on his thesis for his PhD. While he was away, his experiment was dismantled at Brooklyn Poly because they thought he was not returning. In 1952, he did return to work at the laboratory after being away for five or six months. He left the laboratory in 1955 when he did not have enough time to finish his PhD work while attending night classes. He settled for a Masters degree in Physics.

In 1953, Bernard Marcus was called into the office of General Lawton [Annotator’s Note: General Kirke B. Lawton] who was commanding general of Fort Monmouth [Annotator’s Note: in New Jersey]. Marcus was told by the officer that the Fort Monmouth laboratories were infiltrated with communists. Lawton told Marcus that he was to support an inquiry by Senator McCarthy [Annotator’s Note: fear of communism was fueled by Senator Joseph McCarthy who seemed to find communists lurking in almost every public office. His inflammatory accusations ruined the careers of many innocent individuals. McCarthy would eventually be discredited and censured by his peers in the Senate for his heavy handed methods.]. The alleged infiltration resulted in security clearances being jeopardized for accused individuals as was their future work participation in the labs. Marcus could not understand why he was selected for this assignment. He was told that most of the people who were communists were from City College of New York, University of Michigan or UCLA. Marcus was a graduate of City College. In addition, Marcus was a counterintelligence officer with a top secret clearance. Consequently, he was definitely not a communist. Lastly, since many of the accused communists were Jews, Marcus was selected because of his religion. The inquiry members did not want to be thought to be anti-Semitic. Marcus was given his orders and informed that he was on active duty effective the following Monday. He was to assist Senator McCarthy while the latter performed his inquiry at Fort Monmouth. A week or two later, General Lawton and Marcus greeted the Senator when he arrived. He had brought along two other cohorts. One individual was named Cohn [Annotator’s Note: Roy Cohn] plus there was one other man who name eluded Marcus. Marcus interfaced almost exclusively with the two men who accompanied McCarthy. The main task for Marcus was to assure that there was a refrigerator behind the curtains on the stage where McCarthy did his interviews. Supposedly, the refrigerator held cold water, but it was actually a pitcher of gin used to fill McCarthy’s glass. Many of the people involved in the interviews were friends of Marcus and his wife. The friends could not converse with one another because Marcus was McCarthy’s aid. Out of the 110 people questioned, 109 were reinstated. One was asked to quit his job. Ultimately, McCarthy would be brought to trial in the Senate and kicked out of the Senate. He would eventually die of the alcohol problem. During this period some of the restrictions felt by Marcus and his wife were mainly self-imposed because of the connection with McCarthy. It made them feel strange and the end result was that they left the laboratories. Marcus did not feel overtly threatened by communism but many people did. General Lawton told Marcus that the Rosenbergs [Annotator’s Note: Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were American citizens who were tried and executed for spying for the Russians on the atomic bomb program—the Manhattan Project.] who were involved in nuclear spying for the Russians worked at Fort Monmouth. They were thought to have organized communist cells at the Fort before he left to work on the atomic bomb program. Marcus was shaken up when he was selected to aid McCarthy because he hated him passionately.

In early 1954, Bernard Marcus was visited by a colonel with the Signal Corps in Washington. The officer had been told by a member of the CIA [Annotator’s Note: CIA—Central Intelligence Agency] that the Signal Corps would be funded to develop a drone with photographic reconnaissance capability. The effort would be undertaken at the Fort Monmouth Photographic Lab and Marcus was requested to be in charge. A major, who would later become a colonel, gave Marcus the specifications defined by the CIA. All the channels at the Simcore [Annotator’s Note: spelling uncertain of the Fort Monmouth facility] Laboratories were cleared and Marcus was given the job. It took about a year for the work to reach the testing stage. The drone was built by Radioplane in California. The cameras were provided by Fairchild in Long Island. The drone was tested in the California desert. A Signal Corps base was needed to do the testing so Colonel Webster and Marcus were put in charge of finding an unused military based for the testing. They came up with Fort Huachuca in Arizona. Marcus was offered the job there as a civilian assistant to the Colonel. Marcus and his wife toured the area and decided against the move to the remote area. The testing was done in the desert of California in early 1955. While at Fort Monmouth, Marcus was often visited by a CIA official who kept in touch with him. Marcus’ wife called him “the spook” because he was a military officer who did not want to be identified as such. The spook offered Marcus a job with a company in Pasadena that was working on a classified job for the CIA. Marcus would be the project manager for the work dealing with specialized cameras. The job would triple his existing salary. Marcus’ wife did not disagree so a few days later a call came in from Bill McFadden [Annotator’s Note: William Clyde "Bill" McFadden] who was an executive with the Hycon Company. He was offered a tour of the company and indications were that he would receive a job offer. Marcus drove from Camp Irwin in California where the drone testing had been completed in March 1955.

Bernard Marcus drove to Pasadena to meet with a gentleman [Annotator’s Note: William Clyde "Bill" McFadden an executive in the Hycon Company had called Marcus to offer him work on a sensitive project.]. He told Marcus all about the company and the job while not discussing any sensitive project details. An offer was made that included stock options. Upon returning home, Marcus discussed the opportunity with his wife. They were both still reeling for the McCarthy incident and decided to seek the opportunity [Annotator’s Note: Marcus had been assigned to be an aide to Senator Joseph McCarthy during his inquiry at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey. The anti-communist interrogations by the Senator and Marcus’ association with him alienated many of the family’s former friends.]. The move upset the family to no end [Annotator’s Note: the transfer would be from East coast to West coast.]. After the school year ended, the family moved to Pasadena. The first day there, Marcus was told to meet with his new company’s customer in a hotel [Annotator’s Note: the word customer is a euphemism for the CIA—Central Intelligence Agency.]. The individual from the CIA introduced himself as Walter Lloyd. Marcus was sworn to secrecy and told all about the project. It involved a high flying aircraft that would carry high resolution cameras to take photographs over enemy territory. The plane had an operational altitude of 70,000 feet. The CIA had recommended Marcus as the project manager. He took an oath of secrecy. That was his start of involvement with the U-2 project [Annotator’s Note: the high flying U-2 airplane was a spy plane that flew over Russia and other non-friendly countries. One such aircraft would subsequently be shot down over the Soviet Union in 1960 while being flown for the CIA by Francis Gary Powers. Power’s trial for espionage created an international furor.]. Marcus was amazed at the scope of the project. To fly for eight hours at 70,000 feet seemed a significant undertaking. The cameras for the plane were to be developed by Edwin Land [Annotator’s Note: the inventor, scientist and co-founder of the Polaroid Corporation which developed the Polaroid Land Camera. That camera had the capability of developing film within the camera.]. Marcus had met Land several times before. The man who was in charge of the CIC [Annotator’s Note: CIC—Counterintelligence Corps] and then the CIA was still keeping in touch [Annotator’s Note: Marcus’ former boss had been in command of the American Counterintelligence Corps in Germany while Marcus was based there. Upon Marcus return to the States, the boss had offered him a lucrative job in Germany with what would become the CIA—Central Intelligence Agency. After Marcus conferred with his wife, he refused the position. The boss insisted at that time that their paths would cross again. They did repeatedly.]. The U-2 project was an intense, seven day a week job. At the same time, it was very satisfying. When the film from the Russian over flights would be processed at a special lab at Eastman Kodak, Marcus would be called in to exam the quality of the picture vis-à-vis the operational performances of the airplane as a platform and the performance of the cameras. It was an exciting time. Marcus was disassociated with the U-2 program in 1958. The flights continued beyond that point.

US Satellite Program

Feelings toward Enemies

Career Transitions

Israeli Air Force Cameras

Reflections