19 January 1995
Dear Ms. Peabody,
I thought you might be interested in having a look at the following information
culled from files which one of our researchers came across while doing some
background work on "The History of Women in the Intelligence Agencies
of the U.S.", a study requested by the First Lady. Rest assured, none
of this will be disclosed.
Sincerely,
Louis Freeh
Born 7 March 1922 in Schenectady, N.Y.
Parents were Samuel Peabody (woodcarver) and Miriam Fletcher Peabody
Siblings None
Education Graduated McKinley High School 1939, Entered Cliff College September
1939
While a Junior at Cliff College, Miss Peabody was jilted by Clifford Cliff
IV (scion of the community's most important family) and dropped out of school
to offer her particular services as a code-buster to the United States Government
in order to contribute to the War effort and she was fought over by every
agency. She wound up working with the FBI's Top Secret CounterIntelligence
Unit and was considered single-handedly responsible for breaking the Nazi's
infamous "Kitchen Code". Agent Peabody exhibited skills far beyond
those extraordinary mental accomplishments for which she was already reknowned
when she went undercover into the enemy's midst and, masquerading as a Bavarian
scullery maid, infiltrated the Fuhrer's household staff in order to steal
the "recipes" which were the basis for the "Kitchen Code".
Following WWII, Peabody continued to work for The Bureau on the condition that
she never had to have any personal encounters with Director Hoover whose
personality, appearance, and taste in dresses she said offended her "to
the brink of seriously considering going over to the other side."
Always considered a loose cannon, Agent Peabody wrote her own rules throughout
the following decades. She was even suspected of saboutaging several investigations
because,, according to one angry memo addressed to Director Hoover, she
felt they "abridged the rights of citizens who were breaking no known
laws of the United States, only those of a megalomaniacal fat, ugly man
with entirely too much power. I would quit right now, but I believe that
I can best serve my country from within the institution."
No one ever knew what prevented Director Hoover from destroying Agent Peabody,
but it is assumed by all that she was in possession of information that
even he could be held in check by. In 1968, as the Civil Rights, anti-war
and other movements were all building momentum, Cliff College was considered
by many to be a hotbed of anti-American organizations (including the incipient
Native American organization NASU). Agent Peabody exploited her connections
to the College and, in 1970 she began serving as Secretary to the then-President,
Howard Ellery. She was supposed to file reports from the campus about any
and all suspicious activities. No reports were ever filed. The only communication
Agent Peabody ever had with The Bureau again was a terse letter of resignation
dated April 13, 1971, in which she claimed that, due to an inner-ear infection,
she had lost all knack for busting codes and was content to spend the rest
of her life as an ordinary person doing an ordinary job and living an ordinary
life.
Agent Peabody was kept under surveillance for 15 years, during which time
there was no indication that she was doing anything other than the "ordinary"
stuff she had hoped to. She began collecting her Government pension in
1982, but has continued to serve as Assistant to the Presidents of Cliff
College and to live a simple life in Cliffton, Ohio, with no apparent connection
to her past as an Agent for The Bureau.