Robert Benchley Quotes
For a nation which has an almost evil reputation for bustle, bustle, bustle, and rush, rush, rush, we spend an enormous amount of time standing around in line in front of windows, just waiting.
Benchley, Robert. "Back in Line." My Ten Years in a Quandary, and How They Grew. Harper & Brothers, 1936, p. 28.
Berg, one of the early OSS recruits, was a brilliant loner and somewhat paranoid. His early modus operandi was to work with no partners, never as part of a team, and only report to the head of the agency and a deputy or two and otherwise never reveal where he was or how he did things. Berg however was brilliant and multilingual, and even was able to have discussions with the best Physicist left in Germany--Nobel Prize winner Werner Heisenberg. Berg determined that Heisenberg was not working on an atomic bomb with some clever technical discussions and listening to some of Heisenberg's presentations. Therefore, following his orders, he did not assassinate the German Scientist whuch he was prepared to do. Other than OSS officials, many in America did not believe that the Germans would not have their best scientist working on Nuclear Energy. However, Hitler was biased against what he called "Jewish Sceince" and bet on jet planes. After the war, The CIA reorganized the American espionage effort and there was no place for Berg’s old school style.
Robert Charles Benchley was an American humorist best known for his work as a newspaper columnist and film actor. From his beginnings at The Harvard Lampoon while attending Harvard University, through his many years writing essays and articles for Vanity Fair and The New Yorker and his acclaimed short films, Benchley's style of humor brought him respect and success during his life, from his peers at the Algonquin Round Table in New York City to contemporaries in the burgeoning film industry.
