After completing law school at St. John's in February 1931, Cuneo became law secretary to
Fiorello H. LaGuardia, who was then a
congressman representing
New York. During this time, he would brief LaGuardia on the investigations of judicial malpractice and fraudulent bankruptcies. His 1955 memoir
Life With Fiorello would serve in large part for the basis of the Tony Award-winning musical
Fiorello! In 1936, James Farley appointed Cuneo associate general counsel of the
Democratic National Committee. According to
Neal Gabler, from the mid-1930s on, Cuneo not only acted as a liaison between
Franklin Roosevelt and
Walter Winchell, but he frequently wrote long political items for the Winchell column.
World War II service When
World War II began,
General William Donovan, who was head of the
Office of Strategic Services (OSS), appointed Cuneo a liaison officer between the OSS,
British Security Coordination (a part of MI-6), the
Federal Bureau of Investigation, the
United States Department of State, and U.S. President
Franklin Roosevelt. A friend of the muckraking newspaper columnist and broadcaster
Drew Pearson, Cuneo used his position at the OSS to leak stories on U.S. commanders and their behavior. Pearson, whose reputation had been severely damaged after President Roosvelt had publicly called him a liar, wanted to strike back at the administration and its conduct of the war. Cuneo suggested to Pearson that a sensational, exclusive news story would make people forget Roosevelt's criticism, and offered Pearson details of General
George S. Patton's
slapping of a private soldier he had learned from others in the War Department. Pearson's resulting broadcasts and news articles sufficiently concerned Secretary of War
Henry L. Stimson that he requested Army General
Joseph T. McNarney to "..put an inspector on the War Department to see who has been leaking out information. Pearson's articles are about three-quarters false but there's just a germ of truth in them that someone must have given him." While working with Donovan and British Intelligence, Cuneo became acquainted with such notable people as
Sir William Stephenson,
Roald Dahl,
Noël Coward,
Ivar Bryce, and
James Bond creator
Ian Fleming. A particularly close friendship developed between Fleming and Cuneo, and Fleming named a taxi driver in his James Bond novel
Diamonds Are Forever "Ernie Cureo"
(sic). Fleming later credited Cuneo with more than half the plot for
Goldfinger and all of the basic plot for
Thunderball; the dedication of the latter novel reads, "To Ernest Cuneo, Muse." For his service during the war, Cuneo was decorated by
Italy,
Great Britain, and the
City of Genoa.
Post-war activities In March 1951, Cuneo and a small group of investors purchased the
North American Newspaper Alliance (NANA). In addition, Cuneo and the
Bell Syndicate-North American Newspaper Alliance group acquired the
McClure Newspaper Syndicate in September 1952, with Louis Ruppel installed as president and editor. Cuneo was involved with the
Citizens Committee for a Free Cuba, an anti-Castro organisation formed in the 1960s. He remained with NANA as a columnist and military analyst from 1963 to 1980. For a number of years Cuneo wrote a syndicated column, "Take It or Leave It," which appeared three times a week. Earlier (in the early 1960s) he took over the "National Whirligig," the original "news behind the news" column which appeared five days a week; writing that column until his death. He also later served as editor-at-large of
The Saturday Evening Post. Cuneo also wrote several books. His writings also appeared in several articles posted by the
Professional Football Researchers Association. These writing reflected on Cuneo's own experiences in the NFL, as well as his friendship with
Pro Football Hall of Famer
Benny Friedman. ==Published works==