Born June 6, 1755, Nathan Hale was a young schoolteacher who volunteered to spy for General Washington in 1776. Captured behind British lines, he was executed without trial.
No contemporary portrait of Hale exists. His statues at Yale and CIA headquarters are idealized creations meant to embody his spirit. His famous final words — “I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country” — come from later recollections, yet they endure as the moral foundation of American intelligence.
