Application and Personal History Statement - Julia Carolyn McWilliams

Before she was a well-known TV personality and cookbook author, Julia Child, worked for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), precursor to the CIA, during World War II. Known then as Julia McWilliams, she began as a typist, but because of her experience and education was eventually promoted to research assistant. Not only did she play a role in communications between U.S. Government officials and intelligence officers, often having access to top-secret documents, but she was able to travel the world while on different assignments. In 1945, while on assignment in Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) she met fellow OSS employee and future husband, Paul Child. This application, which is in her handwriting, includes a memo in which she explains her “forced resignation” from a previous job.