William "Rip" Robertson

Who was William "Rip" Robertson?

William "Rip" Robertson was an American Central Intelligence Agency operative.

Robertson was born in Texas and attended Vanderbilt University before and after the war. During World War II he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps and served in the Pacific Theater as a Captain and served during the Korean War. He later entered the CIA in 1947 and served as a Paramilitary Operations Officer in their famed Special Activities Division.

He was assigned to the Executive Action operation that was designed to remove unsatisfactory foreign leaders from power. One such action was the overthrow of the president of Guatemala Jacobo Arbenz in 1954. Later Robertson was discovered to be responsible for ordering a British ship bombed, he had misidentified it as a Russian ship. Afterwards he was deemed an outcast by the CIA. He then worked as an advisor to Nicaraguan President Anastasio Somoza Garcia.

Prior to the Bay of Pigs invasion he resumed work for the CIA. During the battle he commanded the ship Barbara J while Grayston Lynch commanded the ship Blagar. He also led a unit of Cuban exiles in the Congo Crisis.

Robertson died in 1973 in Laos due to the effects of malaria.