The Office of the Coordinator of Information (OCOI) was established with the appointment of William J. Donovan as COI, by Presidential order, July 11, 1941. "Responsible for collecting, analyzing, and making available to the President and to government agencies selected by the President, information bearing upon the national security; and conducting particular intelligence-gathering operations by request of the President. Performed intelligence functions through Research and Analysis (R&A), Foreign Nationalities (FN), and Visual Presentation (VP) Branches, and Oral Intelligence (OI) Division. Performed propaganda functions through Foreign Information Service (FIS) Branch. Simultaneous with transfer of FIS Branch to newly established Office of War Information by EO 9182, June 13, 1942, remaining OCOI units redesignated OSS, and COI redesignated DSS, by Presidential military order, June 13, 1942." (quote from Records of the Office of Strategic Services [OSS], National Archives)
The Office of Strategic Services Adolf Hitler Source Book & Psychological Profile from the Nizkor Project is 1400 pages of declassified documents from the 1930s and 1940s. "The United States Office of Strategic Services was established in 1942, being an offshoot of an agency formed in 1941, known as the Coordinator of Information, at the head of which was Colonel William J Donovan. Its task was to pool information gathered by all of the intelligence services and to coordinate and organise psychological warfare in the event of the United States entering the war. Since 1941 Donovan had been in touch with the author of this study, Walter C Langer, who was a psychoanalyst. Donovan, now promoted to General, headed the OSS when it was established in 1942. Although it was no longer responsible for issues concerning overt psychological warfare, Donovan suggested to Langer in the spring of 1943 that some form of comprehensive evaluation, from a psychological and psychoanalytical perspective of Adolf Hitler, and his hold on the German population, would be valuable: "What we need is a realistic appraisal of the German situation. If Hitler is running the show, what kind of a person is he? What are his ambitions? How does he appear to the German people? What is he like with his associates? What is his background? And most of all, we want to know as much as possible about his psychological make-up-the things that make him tick. In addition, we ought to know what he might do if things begin to go against him. Do you suppose you could come up with something along these lines? ... Hire what help you need and get it done as soon as possible. Keep it brief and make it readable to the layman." (The Mind of Adolf Hitler. Walter C Langer. London: Secker and Warburg, 1973, pp.3-10)" - quote from Background to A Psychologial Profile of Adolph Hitler by Walter C Langer by Dr S D Stein
