February 15, 2026
Tea, spies, and side‑eye
I'm Always in the Club
From Yale’s Elizabethan Club to Paris spy games, readers serve snark with their tea
TLDR: A biography details how Yale’s literary scene helped recruit Peter Matthiessen into the CIA in the early 1950s. Commenters split between “this isn’t news” eye-rolls and witty vole-and-cuckoo jokes, turning a serious spy origin story into a teacup meme about culture meeting covert power.
A new biography claims Peter Matthiessen, the future nature writer, was recruited into the CIA (the U.S. spy agency) in 1950 by James Jesus Angleton—yes, over genteel tea vibes and a Shakespeare First Folio at Yale’s Elizabethan Club. There’s a literary cast too: professor Norman Holmes Pearson, who did wartime counterintelligence with the OSS (America’s WWII spy office) and worked with Britain’s MI6, quietly funneling campus talent into covert work. The piece paints Matthiessen learning tradecraft in Manhattan before heading to Paris, while the CIA’s “librarians” and “cowboys” schooled recruits in the art of subtle espionage.
The comments? Pure mood. One camp rolls its eyes, with the strongest hot take being basically “we already knew the CIA recruited Ivy Leaguers.” irishcoffee’s deadpan “TL;DR: the CIA recruited people in the 1950s” became the thread’s banner. The other camp leans hard into the literary weirdness, quoting Evelyn Waugh’s vole line and joking about “first cuckoo of spring” field notes from spies. Folks riffed on “spooks whispering about pinkos over Earl Grey,” turning the Elizabethan Club into Hogwarts for spies. Drama level: low-key but spicy—Is this news or just vibes? Either way, the community turned a dusty archive story into a meme about poets, teacups, and covert power with a wink.
Key Points
- •Peter Matthiessen was recruited into the CIA in 1950 by James Jesus Angleton, with mentor Norman Holmes Pearson linking their Yale literary network to intelligence.
- •Pearson led OSS X-2 in London, aided Ultra at Bletchley Park, hired Angleton, and reported to MI6; Angleton later led CIA’s Office of Special Operations and had ties to Kim Philby.
- •The article distinguishes CIA roles: OSO handled foreign intelligence/counterintelligence/espionage, while OPC managed covert action like election interference and sabotage.
- •Matthiessen trained in tradecraft at a Manhattan safe house, maintaining anonymity with his instructor and passing a test to deduce the instructor’s identity.
- •In June 1951, after training, Matthiessen sailed to France with his wife for an overseas assignment.