London: The Odyssey Begins
19
about "isms," I wondered, if he knew to what extent democracy's enemies were still active? I spent my first night reviewing my plans and taking inventory of what I had brought with
me. There were four cameras (two were later stolen); dozens
of packs of film, scores of names and addresses; and quantities
of such delectable items (which were luxuries then) as rice,
tongue, butter, and bacon, destined as my personal gifts to
some of London's top political racketeers and hate specialists.
I knew they would welcome me—not as John Roy Carlson,
but in the guise I had chosen for myself.
I had not embarked on my overseas adventure without full
preparation. My experiences in Under Cover and The Plotters
had taught me that without careful planning my investigations
would not only end in disaster hut might lead to a cracked
skull and worse.
In Under Cover I posed as George Pagnanelli, an American
of Italian descent, no better than the hoodlums he traveled
with, in order to infiltrate into the American Nazi bund and
be accepted as a trusted worker among our native merchants
of hate. In The Plotters I was Robert Thompson, Jr., a disillusioned World War II veteran who was eager to join with
those Communists, preachers of bigotry, and political thugs
who preyed on veterans. When the first copy of Under Cover
appeared in 1943, George Pagnanelli vanished. When I turned
in the finished manuscript of The Plotters in 1946, Robert
Thompson, Jr., followed him.
But Fascism and Communism in America were only part of
the over-all world picture. The exposure of the enemies within
our gates could only be the beginning of my work. I also
wanted to keep in touch with hate movements abroad, and so
I invented still another character and established him in this
field. I created "Charles L. Morey"—and it was as Charles
Morey that I now began my undercover work in London.
(Later, when I would reach the Middle East, I knew I would
have to kill off Morey as I had Pagnanelli and Thompson.
No native-born white American Protestant—which was what