David K. E. Bruce
His Excellency David K. E. Bruce | |
---|---|
Bruce in 1962 | |
10th United States Ambassador to NATO | |
In office October 17, 1974 – February 12, 1976 | |
Appointed by |
Richard Nixon Gerald Ford |
Preceded by | Donald Rumsfeld |
Succeeded by | Robert Strausz-Hupé |
Chief of the U.S. Liaison Office to the People's Republic of China | |
In office May 14, 1973 – September 25, 1974 | |
President |
Richard Nixon Gerald Ford |
Preceded by | Diplomatic relations established |
Succeeded by | George H. W. Bush |
United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom | |
In office March 17, 1961 – March 20, 1969 | |
President |
John F. Kennedy Lyndon B. Johnson Richard Nixon |
Preceded by | John Hay Whitney |
Succeeded by | Walter Annenberg |
United States Ambassador to Germany | |
In office April 17, 1957 – October 29, 1959 | |
President | Dwight D. Eisenhower |
Preceded by | James B. Conant |
Succeeded by | Walter C. Dowling |
United States Ambassador to France | |
In office May 17, 1949 – March 10, 1952 | |
President | Harry S. Truman |
Preceded by | Jefferson Caffery |
Succeeded by | James Clement Dunn |
Under Secretary of State | |
In office April 1, 1952 – January 20, 1953 | |
Preceded by | James E. Webb |
Succeeded by | Walter B. Smith |
Personal details | |
Born |
David Kirkpatrick Este Bruce February 12, 1898 Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. |
Died |
December 5, 1977 79) Washington, D.C., U.S. | (aged
Spouse(s) |
Evangeline Bell (m. 1945) |
Children | 4 |
Education | University of Maryland Law School |
David Kirkpatrick Este Bruce (February 12, 1898 – December 5, 1977) was an American diplomat, intelligence officer and politician. He served as Ambassador to France, the Republic of Germany, and the United Kingdom, the only American to be all three.
Background
Bruce was born in Baltimore, Maryland, to William Cabell Bruce and Louise Este (Fisher) Bruce (1864–1945). One of his three brothers was James Cabell Bruce. He studied for a year and a half at Princeton University. He dropped out to serve in the United States Army during World War I. At parental insistence, he then attended the University of Virginia School of Law (1919-1920) and the University of Maryland School of Law (1920-1921) without taking a degree before being admitted to the Maryland bar in November 1921.[1]
Career
State service
He served in the Maryland House of Delegates (1924-1926) and the Virginia House of Delegates (1939-1942).[2][3]
Federal service
During World War II, he headed the Europe branch of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), a precursor to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), which was based in London and coordinated espionage activities behind enemy lines for the United States Armed Forces branches. Other OSS functions included the use of propaganda, subversion, and post-war planning. He observed the invasion of Normandy landing there the day after the initial invasion.[4]
After leaving the OSS at the end of World War Two, and before entering the diplomatic field, in 1948-1949 David Bruce was with the Economic Cooperation Administration which administered the so-called Marshall Plan. It was during this time that David Bruce and his new 2nd wife became an early member of the informal Georgetown Set within D.C.
Bruce, as a member of the new President's Board of Consultants on Foreign Intelligence Activities, wrote a secret report on the CIA's covert operations for President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1956 that was highly critical of its operation under Allen Dulles's leadership.[5]
Diplomatic service
He served as the United States Ambassador to France from 1949 to 1952, United States Ambassador to West Germany from 1957 to 1959, and United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom from 1961 to 1969. He was an American envoy at the Paris peace talks between the United States and North Vietnam in 1970 and 1971. Bruce also served as the first United States emissary to the People's Republic of China from 1973 to 1974.[6] He was the ambassador to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization from late 1974 to 1976.
Bruce served as the Honorary Chair on the Board of Trustees of the American School in London during his diplomatic career in the United Kingdom.[7]
Personal and death
On May 29, 1926, Bruce married Ailsa Mellon, the daughter of the banker and diplomat Andrew W. Mellon.[8] They divorced on April 20, 1945. Their only daughter, Audrey, and her husband, Stephen Currier, were presumed dead when a plane in which they were flying in the Caribbean disappeared on January 17, 1967, after requesting permission to fly over Culebra, a U. S. Navy installation. No trace of the plane, pilot, or passengers was ever found. Audrey and Stephen Currier left three children: Andrea, Lavinia, and Michael.
He married Evangeline Bell (1914–1995) on April 23, 1945, three days after his divorce.[8] They had two sons and one daughter, Alexandra (called Sasha). Alexandra died under mysterious circumstances (possibly murder or suicide) in 1975 at age 29 at the Bruce family home in Virginia.[9][10]
Bruce purchased and restored Staunton Hill, his family's former estate in Charlotte County, Virginia.
He died on December 5, 1977 of a heart attack at Georgetown University Medical Center.[11]
Awards
Bruce received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, with Distinction, in 1976.
Legacy
The David K.E. Bruce Award was established in 2007 at the American School in London.[7]
Publications
Bruce wrote a book of biographical essays on the American presidents originally published as Seven Pillars of the Republic (1936). He later expanded it as Revolution to Reconstruction (1939) and again revised it as Sixteen American Presidents (1962).
See also
References
- ↑ http://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/bruce-david-kirkpatrick-este
- ↑ Harry S. Truman Library-Oral History of David K.E. Bruce
- ↑ Bio data
- ↑ David Kirkpatrick Este Bruce; Nelson D. Lankford (January 1991). OSS Against the Reich: The World War II Diaries of Colonel David K.E. Bruce. Kent State University Press. p. 35. ISBN 978-0-87338-427-8.
- ↑ Tim Weiner, The Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA (London: Allen Lane, 2007), p. 133.
- ↑ "David Bruce, 75, Selected To Head Office in Peking". The New York Times. March 16, 1973. Retrieved 2009-12-08.
President Nixon announced today that he had recalled Ambassador David K. E. Bruce from retirement to head a United States liaison office in Peking.
- 1 2 School Web site Retrieved 2010-02-20.
- 1 2 Pitz, Marylynne (November 15, 2009). "Ailsa Mellon Bruce's artworks part of Carnegie collection". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved 2009-12-08.
In 1926, the beautiful, reserved and stubborn young woman married David K. E. Bruce, a talented lawyer and the son of Maryland Sen. William C. Bruce. For wedding presents, A.W. Mellon gave his daughter a pearl necklace valued at $100,000 and a 200-acre estate in Syosset, Long Island.
- ↑ Nation: A Gothic Romance in Old Virginia
- ↑ Public Service and Private Pain
- ↑ "U.S. envoy David Bruce is dead at 79". Chicago Tribune. December 6, 1977. Retrieved 2009-12-08.
David K. E. Bruce, a veteran American diplomat who served in a variety of posts including mainland China, died of a heart attack Monday at Georgetown University Medical Center. He was 79.
Further reading
|
- Lankford, Nelson D. The Last American Aristocrat: The Biography of David K. E. Bruce, 1898–1977 (1996).
- Lankford, Nelson D., ed. OSS against the Reich: The World War II Diaries of Colonel David K. E. Bruce (1991).
External links
- First Chapter of 'The Last American Aristocrat' published by the Washington Post with permission of the author
- Review of the book, "The Last American Aristocrat" from The Washington Monthly magazine
- Oral history interview with David K. E. Bruce, 1 March 1972, at the Truman Presidential Museum and Library
Diplomatic posts | ||
---|---|---|
Preceded by Jefferson Caffery |
U.S. Ambassador to France May 17, 1949 – March 10, 1952 |
Succeeded by James Clement Dunn |
Preceded by James E. Webb |
Under Secretary of State April 1, 1952 – January 20, 1953 |
Succeeded by Walter B. Smith |
Preceded by James B. Conant |
U.S. Ambassador to Germany April 17, 1957 – October 29, 1959 |
Succeeded by Walter C. Dowling |
Preceded by John Hay Whitney |
U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom March 17, 1961 – March 20, 1969 |
Succeeded by Walter H. Annenberg |
Preceded by none |
Chief of the U.S. Liaison Office in Beijing May 14, 1973 – September 25, 1974 |
Succeeded by George H. W. Bush |
Preceded by Donald Rumsfeld |
U.S. Permanent Representative to NATO October 17, 1974 – February 12, 1976 |
Succeeded by Robert Strausz-Hupe |