Duchess

Epilogue

The war ended on September 2nd, 1945, and the OSS dissolved into the newly-formed Central Intelligence Agency almost immediately.

Benjamin died in 1984, outliving Louisa by over twenty years.

The doctors inferred that the damage done to Louisa's body during the war caused more long-term damage than previously thought, causing her to die only at age forty-one.

Louisa miscarried twice before successfully giving birth to three healthy children before her death: Laura, Margaret, and Robert.

Benjamin was integral in the founding of the CIA, but resigned his position as Coordinator of Information once the war was over, in order to give himself and his family respite from the public eye and the fast-paced lifestyle he and Louisa had always lived.

The children grew up most of their lives without their mother, but First Officer Maureen Dunlop reconnected with Benjamin at Louisa's funeral.
They called her Aunt Maureen, and she bought an apartment just down the road from the Tallmadge family in order to help with the children whenever she could.

The hundreds of Jewish refugees, American escapees, and French Resistance members that passed through Louisa and Ben's Marseille apartment went on to live full lives after the war, a few of them even keeping in touch with the Tallmadges.

The Duchess of the Allies and the Head of Intelligence were never truly recognized for their work until 2006, when file of documents emerged suddenly declassified, detailing Louisa's work in Munich, Ben's in Ireland, and their joint operations in France.

Their three children helped these documents become widely published, and the world finally became aware of how much the little housewife and her bureaucratic husband truly sacrificed for the cause of liberty.