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rology. He never retired but ran the Neurologisch-Psychiatrische
Universitäts-Klinik (Vienna University Clinic for Neurology and
Psychiatry) until his death. Highly decorated by the Austrians, Hoff died
on 23 August 1969 and lies buried at the Neustifter Friedhof in the 18th
district of Vienna (Neustift am Walde).^47 It is not known if he ever received
any American award for his war service or if he was ever granted US citi-
zenship. However, in view of his very successful postwar career in his
native Austria and his innate optimism and resilience, one wonders if Hoff
ultimately gave much thought to the callous treatment he had received
from the State Department during his period of courageous service to the
United States.
In some ways not unlike the rivalry between SOE and the FO, local
relations between OSS and State could sometimes become tense, though
the personal relationship between Art Dayton and Loy Henderson, the
US minister, was always civil. One needs to bear in mind how small the
American contingent was in those early days of US interest in Iraq: the
legation itself consisted of only the minister, an administrative and con-
sular officer, a political officer, an economic officer, a propaganda officer,
and three clerks. The military attaché had a larger staff (of nine) than the
US minister.^48 On the periphery of this tiny group hovered Dayton and
Hoff, and that was it. Given such intimacy, the risk was that personal rela-
tionships could have a disproportionate influence on affairs of State.
Henderson was very gracious and appears to have appreciated genuinely
the support that Dayton and Hoff were at times able to provide the
severely underresourced legation. However, for all the genuinely warm
friendship between Dayton and Henderson, when it came to business,
there was never any reciprocation: it was all take and no give on State’s
part. Moreover, Henderson appears to have been strongly opposed to any-
thing which he would have called ‘action’ by OSS, such as recommending
government or army action on any matter; or expressing any views on
such subjects as Zionism, the influencing of opinion, or the making of
official US representations. Henderson appears to have especially disliked
any Iraqi requests for OSS action that were made directly, bypassing the
legation. For instance, when ‘Doc’ Hoff answered an urgent direct appeal
by arranging for typhus serum to be sent to an afflicted area, Henderson
was not pleased, insisting that it was for State to handle such matters. He
was also implacably opposed to OSS having Harold Lamb working in Iraq
as well as Persia, where he was normally based, because Lamb was too
outspoken in his sympathies and wanted to do something about improving
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