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Robin Moore
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Robin Moore (born Concord, Massachusetts October 31, 1925) is an American writer who is most known for his books The Green Berets, The French Connection: A True Account of Cops, Narcotics, and International Conspiracy and, with Xaviera Hollander and Yvonne Dunleavy, The Happy Hooker: My Own Story. Moore also co-authored the lyrics for the "Ballad of the Green Berets," which was featured in the film based on his book and starring John Wayne.
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Raised in the Boston area, Moore attended Middlesex School and Belmont Hill School. He flew combat missions over Germany in the closing months of World War II, and graduated from Harvard College in 1949. One of his first jobs was working in television production and then at the Sheraton Hotel Company co-founded by his father. While working in the hotel business in the Caribbean, he recorded the early days of Castro in the non-fiction book The Devil To Pay.
Thanks to connections with Harvard classmate Robert F. Kennedy, Moore was allowed to join U.S. Army Special Forces in a civilian capacity. He trained with the soldiers in airborne and special forces training for nearly a year, then accompanied them on deployment to Vietnam. His experiences formed the basis for The Green Berets, a bestseller that helped secure him international acclaim. Another book, The Khaki Mafia, written with June Collins, gives a fictional account of the Vietnam service club scandal involving Sergeant Major of the Army William O. Wooldridge and others.
During the 1970's and 1980's Moore travelled widely spending time in such places as Dubai, Iran, Rhodesia and Russia. Having gathered the information needed he wrote Dubai, The White Tribe, and The Moscow Connection.
Moore travelled to the Afghanistan in December 2001 to research the CIA-Northern Alliance war against the Taliban and al-Qaeda, publishing the account in the bestseller The Hunt for Bin Laden. Shortly after publication, however, controversy arose over the veracity of the book, particularly regarding the involvement of mercenary Jack Idema. Idema, who was one of Moore's major sources, provided what later proved to be fabricated accounts of his exploits. In order to portray himself as having a greater role in the operation, Idema apparently went as far as to rewrite much of Moore's text prior to publication. Special Forces soldiers who were on the mission (including those whom Moore interviewed) disputed Idema's claims.[1] With Idema thus discredited, Moore eventually disavowed The Hunt for Bin Laden and the book remains out of print.[2] Despite the unfortunate fate of the book, Moore continues to enjoy the respect of the Special Forces community.[3]
In 2003, continuing his interest in writing about the war on terror, Moore traveled to Iraq to research Operation Iraqi Freedom and the downfall of the Saddam Hussein regime for his book, Hunting Down Saddam.He recently completed The Singleton: Target Cuba with General Geoffrey Lambert (USASF-Ret.), a novel about Fidel Castro and biological warfare.
Moore is listed as "creator" of the comic strip "Tales of the Green Beret" and was the co-screenwriter for the film Inchon about the Inchon landing during the Korean War.[4]
Moore lives in Hopkinsville, Kentucky (home to Fort Campbell and the 5th Special Forces Group) with his British-born wife Helen (née Kirkman), where he is currently working on his memoirs and three other books. A new edition of The Green Berets is due out in April and his latest book, Wars of the Green Berets, co-authored with Col. Mike 'Doc' Lennon, will be released in June, 2007. In recognition of his achievement in writing about the Special Forces, Moore was granted "Freedom of the City" by Hopkinsville Mayor Richard Liebe.[citation needed]
- Website dedicated to Robin Moore maintained by Chapter 38 of the Special Forces Association
- The Devil To Pay (ISBN 1-879915-02-2)
- The Green Berets (ISBN 0-312-98492-8)
- The French Connection: A True Account of Cops, Narcotics, and International Conspiracy (ISBN 1-59228-044-7)
- The Happy Hooker: My Own Story (ISBN 0-06-001416-4)
- Mafia Wife (with Barbara Fuca) (ISBN 0-02-586180-8)
- ^ Pelton, Robert Young (2006). Licenced to Kill: Hired Guns in the War on Terror. Random House, 243. “Though [the Special Forces soldiers] never met or talked to Idema, and despite the fact that almost ten members had carefully detailed their actions to Moore at K2, the first chapter puts forth an account of the team's infill into Afghanistan that the men tell me has been entirely fabricated.”
- ^ Blake, Mariah (2005-01). Tin Soldier: An American Vigilante In Afghanistan, Using the Press for Profit and Glory. Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved on 2006-12-18.
- ^ Ghianni, Tim. "Fighting soldiers, tender brothers", The Tennessean, 2006-9-11. “We're the only ones who understand what we do," says Steve Stone, referring to "The Brotherhood" of Green Berets, whether fresh from Iraq or weathered by Vietnam, who converge here. He nods to Moore. "And that's our icon sitting right there.”
- ^ Robin Moore on imdb.com.