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Dives into Connecticut history continue to produce shocking finds, and such is the case with Martha Dodd (1908-90), featured in Brendan McNally’s book Traitor's Odyssey (2024).
For about a decade right after World War II, Ms. Dodd resided in Lewisboro, New York, and Ridgefield, Connecticut, living among the area's finest. But she was involved in Soviet spy drama. One of her associates was none other than Corliss Lamont, the brother of Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont’s grandfather, also mentioned in the book. (Part 2 of this review will focus on Soviet-era Martha.)
But a decade before Martha was living in the Ridgefield area, she accompanied her father William Dodd, US Ambassador to Germany, to his post at the start of the Nazi era in 1933-37.
Instead of being a fierce anti-Nazi, Martha, then in her 20s, started out having trysts with those working in the Nazi regime, and a lot of them, during her time in the Nazi capital.
In fact, Ernst “Putzi” Hanfstaengl, Hitler’s German-American foreign press secretary and Harvard class '09, reportedly also had his way with Martha, or rather Martha had her way with him.
This produced a suprising idea by Putzi, in c. 1933-34 with regard to Adolph Hitler.
Read the excerpt from Brendan McNally’s Traitor's Odyssey: The Untold Story of Martha Dodd and a Strange Saga of Soviet Espionage (2024).
… one day, Putzi Hanfstaengl came to Martha with a brilliant idea. Hitler needed to get married, and the best thing would be if he married an American woman. That woman should be Martha.
Chapter 5. MARTHA, THE FUHRER NEEDS A WIFE
It wasn’t that Hitler didn’t like women. He did, though only up to a point. He liked being around them and talking to them and they certainly liked talking to him. But that was about as far as it went. The women, of course, were crazy about him. Everyone said it was his eyes. In this regard, he was like a Valentino. People with any sophistication generally took it for granted that Hitler was homosexual. Anyone who knew what to look for saw it. It wasn’t that Putzi lacked sophistication, it was just that he was old-fashioned in asserting that all Hitler needed was to find the right woman and settle down. The problem was that Hitler still wasn’t really comfortable around women. Until just a few years earlier, Hitler’s adult life had been spent entirely among men. Whether it was in Viennese flophouses and workingmen’s dormitories, or army barracks and frontline trenches, his was a world almost completely away from women. Things being what they were, it was that way with a lot of men. It didn’t necessarily have anything to do with sexual orientation. But now, with the ladies screaming for him by the thousands, it turned out Adolf Hitler had no idea what to do with them once he’d got them on the couch. Hitler insisted that there was magic behind his ability to take a woman’s breath away and that the magic depended on his celibacy.
Putzi of course knew all that was horseshit and that it was just a question of finding the right girl, one who’d make a man of Adolf Hitler. And sweet experience told Putzi Hanfstaengl that the right girl in this case was Martha Dodd.
He and Martha had, of course, done the deed, and as far as he was concerned, Martha was absolutely fantastic; if anybody could make Hitler see the light, it would be Martha. He also knew how these things worked. Hitler would fall in love with her, they’d get married and everything would be happily ever after.
[…]
Putzi knew Hitler’s grand, romantic image involved presenting himself as an unmarried man, untroubled by carnal desires, whose energies were wholly focused on Germany and the fulfillment of the Aryan race’s cosmic destiny. Putzi thought that if Hitler had an American wife, he would be so much more acceptable to the outside world as well as to modern, outward-looking Germany. Hitler with a good-looking, witty and sophisticated American wife was the best thing to ensure that the Thousand Year Reich got off to a good start.
It galled Putzi that a thrice-married cow like Magda Goebbels could have herself called ‘The First Lady of the Third Reich’. Well, if Putzi had any say in it, the title would belong to Martha Dodd.
As you can figure out, dating Hitler didn’t work out, so Martha ended up Hitler-less and later back in America and Ridgefield. Reviewing her FBI file online (see link below), you’ll see that she moved onto Soviet things.
For Connecticut gossip purposes, it should be noted that Martha was from the North Carolina Dodds, not the ones in Connecticut politics.
But for Connecticut gossip purposes, you’d be forgiven for mixing them up.
This book is a real page-turner and essential reading regarding Connecticut history and more.
Learn more about Martha Dodd:
> Scroll to the bottom of this linked article, search “Dodd” in the declassified FBI files directory and see Martha’s FBI file.
> Read more about Martha, Putzi, and Nazi agent and architect Philip Johnson of New Canaan in: Johnson & Tremaine associates, Ridgefield’s Martha Dodd featured In Hitler’s Aristocrats (2023) - Part 5 of 6.
Six installments, Hitler's Artistocrats et al.: part 1 | 2a | 2b | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | + Assassination Plot | + Martha & Hitler | + Thomas W. Lamont
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