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| Blackford Oakes | |
|---|---|
| First appearance | Saving the Queen |
| Last appearance | Last Call for Blackford Oakes |
| Created by | William F. Buckley, Jr. |
| In-universe information | |
| Gender | Male |
| Occupation | Spy |
| Affiliation | Central Intelligence Agency |
| Nationality | American |
Blackford "Blackie"/"Black" Oakes is a fictional character, a Central Intelligence Agency officer, spy and the protagonist of a series of novels written by William F. Buckley, Jr.
Oakes was born in 1925. He served in World War II as a fighter pilot and graduated from Yale University. [1] Oakes is an engineer by training (at one point in the series, he is hired by an architectural firm), and Anthony Trust, ahead of Black at both Greyburn and Yale, recruits him for the Central Intelligence Agency in his senior year, 1951.
At Yale, Blackford is older than most of his classmates due to his military service. Reference is made to his membership on both the swimming and lacrosse teams there, and he is a member of Zeta Psi fraternity. Sally Partridge, a Vassar graduate, is his main love interest throughout the series. Their fateful meeting and Blackford's courtship of Sally is detailed in Mongoose, R.I.P.
Blackford's missions with the CIA involve various top-secret Cold War enterprises arranged by the Agency's highest ranking individuals and American presidents alike. Oakes possesses the ability to impress his colleagues, superiors (among them John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan), and even his enemies with his easy-going competence and likability.
Oakes' personal life is somewhat hectic because of his constant globetrotting for the Agency, as he can never seem to find ample time to settle down with Sally, who yearns for the day when Blackford will retire from the CIA. Their respective worldviews are quite dissimilar, Oakes being conservative, and Sally, a liberal feminist who studied and teaches Jane Austen and admires Adlai Stevenson. While not only disliking Blackford's chosen profession because it so often spoils their plans, Sally also disapproves of many of the ideals she believes the CIA represents.
While always holding Sally close to his heart, Oakes still finds plenty of time to pursue romantic conquests across the globe, often mixing work with pleasure. He is a suave, intelligent, and confident gentleman who is, in Buckley's own words, distinctly American, and it is no surprise he succeeds in both work and play.
In "Saving the Queen," Blackford's address in 1975 is listed as 3025 P Street, NW.
Blackford is an avid reader of National Review but rarely offers insight into the state of domestic politics and world affairs.
Throughout the series, Blackford proves himself to be the ultimate Cold War warrior, and risks his life for the country he loves countless times, while looking smooth doing it.
Though Oakes is widely regarded as a gentleman, and at times, a charmer, he also has a rebellious streak in the face of unduly harsh authority. Blackford demonstrates this rebelliousness throughout the series, beginning with an incident involving the administration of Greyburn Academy, which Blackford briefly attends as a schoolboy.
Spy fiction is a genre of literature involving espionage as an important context or plot device. It emerged in the early twentieth century, inspired by rivalries and intrigues between the major powers, and the establishment of modern intelligence agencies. It was given new impetus by the development of fascism and communism in the lead-up to World War II, continued to develop during the Cold War, and received a fresh impetus from the emergence of rogue states, international criminal organizations, global terrorist networks, maritime piracy and technological sabotage and espionage as potent threats to Western societies. As a genre, spy fiction is thematically related to the novel of adventure, the thriller and the politico-military thriller.
Allen Welsh Dulles was an American lawyer who was the first civilian Director of Central Intelligence (DCI), and its longest serving director to date. As head of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) during the early Cold War, he oversaw the 1953 Iranian coup d'état, the 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état, the Lockheed U-2 aircraft program, the Project MKUltra mind control program, and the Bay of Pigs Invasion in 1961. As a result of the failed invasion of Cuba, Dulles was fired by President John F. Kennedy.
Everette Howard Hunt Jr. was an American intelligence officer and author. From 1949 to 1970, Hunt served as an officer in the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), where he was a central figure in U.S. regime change in Latin America including the 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état and the 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion in Cuba. Along with G. Gordon Liddy, Frank Sturgis, and others, Hunt was one of the Nixon administration's so-called White House Plumbers, a team of operatives charged with identifying government leaks to outside parties.
James Jesus Angleton was an American intelligence operative who served as chief of the counterintelligence department of the Central Intelligence Agency from 1954 to 1975. According to Director of Central Intelligence Richard Helms, Angleton was "recognized as the dominant counterintelligence figure in the non-communist world".
The Cuban Project, also known as Operation Mongoose, was an extensive campaign of terrorist attacks against civilians, and covert operations, carried out by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency in Cuba. It was officially authorized on November 30, 1961, by U.S. President John F. Kennedy. The name "Operation Mongoose" was agreed to at a White House meeting on November 4, 1961.
Richard Mervin Bissell Jr. was an American Central Intelligence Agency officer responsible for major projects such as the U-2 spy plane and the Bay of Pigs Invasion. He is seen as one of the most important spymasters in CIA history.
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), known informally as the Agency, metonymously as Langley and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with gathering, processing, and analyzing national security information from around the world, primarily through the use of human intelligence (HUMINT) and conducting covert action through its Directorate of Operations. The agency is headquartered in the George Bush Center for Intelligence in Langley, Virginia.
Saving the Queen is a 1976 American spy thriller novel by William F. Buckley, Jr., the first of eleven novels in the Blackford Oakes series.
Stained Glass is an American spy thriller novel by William F. Buckley, Jr., the second of eleven novels in the Blackford Oakes series. Its first paperback edition won a 1980 National Book Award in the one-year category Mystery (paperback).
William King "Bill" Harvey was an American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer, best known for his role in the terrorism and sabotage campaign known as Operation Mongoose. He was known as "America's James Bond", a tag given to him by Edward Lansdale.
The following is a list of written works by William F. Buckley Jr.
Who's on First is a 1980 American spy thriller novel written by William F. Buckley Jr., the third of eleven novels in the Blackford Oakes series.
Marco Polo, if You Can is a 1982 Blackford Oakes novel by William F. Buckley, Jr. It is the fourth of 11 novels in the series.
The Story of Henri Tod is a 1984 Blackford Oakes novel by William F. Buckley, Jr. It is the fifth of 11 novels in the series.
See You Later, Alligator is a 1985 Blackford Oakes novel by William F. Buckley, Jr. It is the sixth of 11 novels in the series.
High Jinx is a 1986 Blackford Oakes novel by William F. Buckley, Jr. It is the seventh of 11 novels in the series by date of publication, but occurs third chronologically.
Mongoose R.I.P. is a 1988 Blackford Oakes novel by William F. Buckley, Jr. It is the eighth of 11 novels in the series.
Tucker's Last Stand is a 1990 Blackford Oakes novel by William F. Buckley, Jr. It is the ninth of 11 novels in the series.
A Very Private Plot is a 1994 historical spy novel by William F. Buckley, Jr. It is the tenth of 11 novels in the Blackford Oakes series. The novel was well received by The New York Times described the novel a full of "grave whimsy with which Mr. Buckley retraces old conflicts" and "deliver[ing] more than mere routine spy thrills."
Last Call for Blackford Oakes is a 2005 Blackford Oakes novel by William F. Buckley, Jr.