This study examines the ways early leaders can influence the process of institutionalization in public organizations. Using Schein's (1983, 1991) model of cultural creation and embedding as a heuristic device, secondary historical sources detailing the creation and development of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the careers of three significant leaders are used to understand the institutionalizing effects of those leaders, how they created those effects, and what happened to those effects over time. The case studies of William Donovan and Allen Dulles at CIA and J. Edgar Hoover at the FBI, provide evidence that these early leaders explicitly and implicitly used several of the cultural creation and embedding mechanisms identified by Schein to entrench their beliefs and predispositions into their organizations. These ensconced attitudes and tendencies seemingly played significant roles in the institutionalization of beliefs, rules, and roles that have developed, persisted, and affected the historical evolution of both CIA and the FBI. / Ph. D.

The United States engagement in Vietnam began during the Second World War. With military bases established in China, the U.S. took part in fighting the Japanese troops in the Pacific theatre. When France surrendered to Nazi Germany in 1940, Japan would take over the French Indochina and the war would spread to Vietnam as well. In order to collect intelligence on Japanese targets, the Americans needed to operate secret services on the ground. After the Japanese coup de main in 1945, they would eventually partner with Ho Chi Minh and his organization Viet Minh. The Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the wartime predecessor of the CIA, provided intelligence training and equipment, while the Viet Minh would assist with valuable information on Japanese troops. To some extent, the OSS helped Ho Chi Minh and Viet Minh accede to power in Vietnam after the war.