There's another obvious problem with the "OSS killed Patton" story: chronology. By order of President Truman, the OSS was officially dissolved on 1 October 1945. Patton's accident did not take place until December. Donovan was furious with Truman for dissolving his beloved organization, which he had hoped would become a "central intelligence agency" after the war ended. (It did, but not until late 1947.) So it would have been highly unlikely for Donovan, as he was closing the books on the OSS, to order a hit on Patton on behalf of his political rivals, the Democrats. (Donovan was a long-time prominent Republican.) And Donovan and Patton were on the same side where the Soviets were concerned. There isn't a lot of evidence that Eisenhower had political ambitions at that time, assuming Patton might've stood in Ike's way. MacArthur was the one who had hopes of Republican support for a run at the White House--and MacArthur was the only theater commander who specifically excluded the OSS from his area, scarcely endearing himself to Donovan.
The "Patton was murdered" theory makes good urban legend, but until the pieces fit together better than they do in this case, I think I'll remain a skeptic.
Last edited by L. Brown; 06/17/08 06:49 PM.
