Political decoy

Apolitical decoyis a person employed toimpersonateapolitician,to draw attention away from the real person or to take risks on that person's behalf. This can also apply to military figures, or civilians impersonated for political or espionage purposes.

The political decoy is an individual who has been selected because of a strong physicalresemblanceto the person being impersonated. This resemblance can be strengthened byplastic surgery.Often, such decoys are trained to speak and behave like the "target".

Political decoys in history

Since deception is the whole purpose of employing a political decoy, many instances of alleged decoying remain uncertain.

Joe R. Reeder, an undersecretary for theU.S. Armyfrom 1993 to 1997, has gone on record with claims that a number of figures around the world have or have had decoys, includingManuel Noriega,Raoul Cédras,Enver Hoxha,Fidel Castro,andOsama bin Laden.

Of Noriega's four alleged decoys, Reeder said, "They were good: They practiced his gait, his manner of speech and hismodus operandi– what he did during the day and night. "

Information on these instances of decoying is hard to come by. And falsely accusing an enemy of using a decoy can be an effectivepsychological operationstactic (making an enemy seem like a coward who dare not appear in person, for example).

This means that the confusion generated by the existence of real decoys is deepened by counterclaims of decoys where there may be none.

The case ofOsama bin Ladenis instructive. In the absence of confirmed sightings of the terrorist figurehead, many sources openly speculated that videotaped messages from bin Laden were in fact recordings of a double – either as part of a "frame-up" operation, or as part of a strategy of deception on bin Laden's part.

Speculation in such situations is naturally liable to run high. For the purposes of this entry, only well-documented allegations or confirmed cases of political decoying are discussed. Instances which are still under debate will have section headings below in quotes.

Bernard Montgomery / Clifton James and "Tex" Banwell (1944)

GeneralBernard Montgomery(left) andM. E. Clifton James

SoldierM. E. Clifton Jamessuccessfully impersonated GeneralBernard Montgomery( "Monty" ) forintelligencepurposes duringWorld War II. In 1940, James acted in anArmyproduction calledWhen Knights Were Boldand his photograph appeared in an Army newspaper with a remark about how much he resembled General Montgomery.

As a result, he was approached by actorDavid Nivenin May 1944. Niven, then a Colonel in the Army Kinematograph Section, told James he wanted to impersonate "Monty", as this would allow Montgomery to be somewhere else, thus confusing the Germans.

James had to learn Montgomery's gestures, mannerisms, gait and voice and had to give up smoking.

Because James had lost his right-hand middle finger in theFirst World War,a realistic replacement was made.

Even his wife had to be deceived and was both kept in the dark and sent back to Leicester. Once he was trained, his trip as "Monty" was toGibraltarand from there toAlgiers."Monty's" presence succeeded in confusing the Germans in regard to the invasion plans.

James was later the subject of abiopiccalledI Was Monty's Doublestarring James himself in the double role as Monty and himself.

The second (and less famous) "Monty's Double",Keith Deamer Banwell,was serving with the land-basedLong Range Desert Group.

Banwell was captured in a raid on Tobruk, but with a friend managed to steal a German vehicle and escape. During a subsequent raid on Crete he was taken prisoner at Heraklion and put under the personal supervision of former world heavyweight boxing championMax Schmeling,who was serving in the German Army.

Banwell and a few of his comrades managed to slip away from their captors and then acquired an assault landing craft. With the help of some Cretan fishermen they made their getaway, but the craft ran out of fuel and drifted for 9 days before reaching the North African coast. The privations of this voyage put Banwell in hospital for 12 weeks.

When he had recovered, someone noticed that he bore a resemblance to General Montgomery. It was decided that he participate in deception ploys, and so Banwell was sent to Cairo to meet Montgomery, given the appropriate clothing, insignia and General's badges and sent on trips around the Middle East to confuse enemy spies.

However, as he was considerably taller than Montgomery, he was told that on no account should he get out of the car. Banwell, finding the assignment boring, sought a return to the infantry.

Joseph Stalin / "Rashid" / Felix Dadaev (1940s–1950s)

Soviet leaderJoseph Stalinis alleged to have had a double, identified only as "Rashid". Officials at theKGBallegedly learned that Rashid was a "double" for Stalin and employed him to replace Stalin for some public functions after World War II. Rashid spent two years studying withAlexei Dikiy,an actor who played the role of Stalin in propaganda films. Rashid claimed there were other Stalin lookalikes employed by the KGB, although he never met any. He claimed to have heard of another Stalin double who was hired to live in the leader's dacha outside of Moscow in the late 1940s and 1950s when Stalin was dying. This double filled in for Stalin for media events and at times when Stalin had to meet government functionaries and others. Rashid died in 1991, aged 93.

In 2008 another one of Stalin's doubles, Felix Dadaev, came forward, having written a book about his adventures as a political decoy. The Putin government gave him permission to tell his story at age 88.He appeared in a 2014 documentary about Stalin's last days on German television.

Sukarno / unknown (1950s)

The U.S.Central Intelligence Agency(CIA) had planned to bring downIndonesia's first presidentSukarnoby portraying him in a pornographic film in the late 1950s.

The agency put together a pornographic film starring a Sukarno look-alike in bed with a blonde playing a Soviet agent. The humiliation caused by circulating the film was supposed to drive Sukarno from office, but the plan was unsuccessful, as Sukarno took great humor in the footage and asked for additional copies.

Henry Kissinger / unknown (1971)

A former aide toHenry Kissingerhas gone on the record with claims that Kissinger was impersonated at least once during his secret visit to China in 1971. Since no one was allowed to examine 'Kissinger' at close quarters, the resemblance of the impersonator to his 'target' must remain under some doubt.

Boris Yeltsin / unknown (1996–2000)

In 1998,DumadeputyAleksandr Saliiasked the office of the Russian Prosecutor-General to investigate claims that a double had been impersonatingBoris Yeltsinfor official purposes since the real Yeltsin's heart surgery in November 1996. Salii told journalists that he and colleagues had examined some 1,500 photographs and gathered evidence showing that a "New Yeltsin" had appeared after 1996, with the supposed decoy frequently displaying his injured hand, whereas the real Yeltsin had always tried to conceal that hand.Yeltsin had frequently disappeared from public view in preceding years, sometimes in circumstances that aroused widespread suspicion. In July 1995, Yeltsin disappeared from public view for weeks following a heart operation. A photograph of Yeltsin was released to dispel rumours about his health, which actually inflamed the situation when it emerged that it appeared to be a manipulated photograph composited from an earlier photograph taken some months prior.

Saddam Hussein / several unknowns (1990s–2003)

In 2003,Germantelevision networkZDFbroadcast claimed thatIraq's former presidentSaddam Husseinwas frequently replaced with doubles for TV appearances. This analysis was based on sophisticated measuring techniques, which detected discrepancies in the position of Hussein's facial features and blemishes from appearance to appearance. It was supported by the opinion ofJerrold Post,the man who created theCIA's Psychological Profile Unit.It was also alleged that Austrian politicianJörg Haiderhad actually met a double when he thought he was meeting Hussein.

However, those claims are disputed: Ala Bashir, Saddam Hussein's formerpersonal physician,stated, "The stories about Saddam Hussein having body doubles, to foster the impression that the Iraqi dictator was everywhere, are nonsense."

Voice-only decoys

These are generally exceptionally good impersonators, who are used to give the impression that their "target" is conducting a radio interview, telephone call or other vocal assignment.

Winston Churchill / Norman Shelley (1940s)

A recurring rumour holds that some of Winston Churchill's most famous speeches to Parliament during World War II were subsequently recorded for radio broadcast not by Churchill, but byNorman Shelleyimpersonating Churchill. Churchill is known to have commented that Shelley's impersonations were excellent. Although the rumour has been promoted by some historians, there is a lack of supporting evidence, and it is best classified as anurban legend.Shelley did however record a performance of Churchill's "We shall fight on the beaches"speech, but that was several years after the speech was originally made.

Harry S. Truman / unknown impersonator (1947)

Edwin Wright served the U.S. federal government underPresidentHarry S. Trumanas General staff G-2 and Middle East specialist, Washington (1945–46); on the Bureau of Near East-South Asian-African Affairs, Department of State (1946 onwards); country specialist (1946–47); advisor U.N. affairs (1947–50); and advisor on intelligence (1950–55).

According to Wright, an unknown individual impersonated President Truman's voice on the telephone in order to sway foreign leaders into voting in particular ways at the United Nations.

There are two documents from Truman himself alleging this, both currently lodged at the Truman Presidential Library.

In the first, Truman wrote:

Something's going on and I don't know what it is. Somebody called up the President of Haiti and he said that it wasI....He said, "We want you to vote for the Zionist program." As a result the President of Haiti changed his vote to satisfy what he thought was me. I don't know who this fellow was that called him up.

Wright comments

"In other words, somebody impersonated President Truman and threatened the President of Haiti. There were people who used President Truman's voice and name and he didn't know who they were."

Indira Gandhi / impersonator Rustom Nagarwala (1971)

Main article:1971 Nagarwala scandal

In a cross-gender voice impersonation in 1971, a former captain of the Indian Army named Rustom Sohrab Nagarwala (male) was able to take out 6 millionrupeesfrom theState Bank of Indiaby mimicking the voice of prime ministerIndira Gandhito chief cashier Ved Prakash Malhotra. Nagarwala was arrested, however, after Malhotra went in person to collect a receipt from P.N. Haksar, Indira Gandhi's personal secretary, informing him that the requested payment was done. A stunned Haksar informed Malhotra that Mrs. Gandhi had instructed nothing of the sort and urged him to inform the police immediately. Later that year, Nagarwala died of a heart attack in prison.

Other alleged decoys

Queen Elizabeth I and the Bisley Boy

For many years, the story of the Bisley Boy tempted people into believing that QueenElizabeth I of Englandwas really a man. According to the legend, Elizabeth (then a princess) had died aged 10 while staying atBerkeley Castle,Gloucestershire.Her minders, terrified of the retribution of her father,Henry VIII,made a substitution. They tried to find a lookalike girl of sufficient education, but could not find one, so a lookalike boy from the nearby village ofBisleywas put in her place and sworn to secrecy. This legend "explained" why Elizabeth never married, why she went bald in middle age, and why she said she had the heart and stomach of a king in theTilbury speech.Proponents of the "Bisley Boy" story includedBram Stokerin his 1910 nonfiction bookFamous Impostors.According toLaurie Lee,his mother always referred to Elizabeth as "the Bisley boy".

It is possible that the tale was invented as a joke by a local clergyman in the 19th century.

Resurrected Jesus

Some theories postulate that theresurrection of Jesuscan be explained as a deliberate act of an impersonation.

Japan

InJapan,during theSengoku period,military commanders prepared substitutes calledkagemusha,meaning "shadow samurai". This was a closely guarded secret however, and few historical records remain.

See also

• Alleged doubles of Adolf Hitler
• Alleged doubles of Vladimir Putin
• Body double
• Dave(film)
• The Devil's Double
• The Dictator
• Doppelgänger
• Double Star
• Kagemusha
• Identity theft
• Impersonation
• Look-alike
• Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain