Jackson Rogers Tate (October 15, 1898 – July 19, 1978)
was a
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
admiral
Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, ...
who began his naval career as an enlisted man and became one of the first naval aviators. He fathered a child,
Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada
* Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory
* Victoria, Seychelle ...
, during a brief love affair with Russian actress
Zoya Fyodorova
Zoya Alekseyevna Fyodorova (russian: Зоя Алексеевна Федорова; 11 December 1981) was a Russian film star who had an affair with American Navy captain Jackson Tate in 1945 and bore a child, Victoria Fyodorova in January 1946. ...
near the end of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, but did not know of her birth until 1973. He waged a successful two-year diplomatic quest for her to be allowed to visit him in the United States, finally meeting her in 1975. Her story is told in ''
The Admiral's Daughter
''The Admiral's Daughter'' is a 1979 autobiography written by Victoria Fyodorova with Haskel Frankel. It relates the story of Fyodorova's parents, Jackson Tate and Zoya Fyodorova, who had an affair in Moscow in 1945, her childhood in the Soviet Un ...
''.
Early life and career
Tate enlisted in the Navy before
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
.
[ As a ]lieutenant (jg)
A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations.
The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...
in 1923, he was assigned to an aircraft squadron. In 1940, as a lieutenant commander
Lieutenant commander (also hyphenated lieutenant-commander and abbreviated Lt Cdr, LtCdr. or LCDR) is a commissioned officer rank in many navies. The rank is superior to a lieutenant and subordinate to a commander. The corresponding rank i ...
, he was assigned as an air officer aboard the .
Russian affair
In 1945, Captain Tate was a deputy attaché
In diplomacy, an attaché is a person who is assigned ("to be attached") to the diplomatic or administrative staff of a higher placed person or another service or agency. Although a loanword from French, in English the word is not modified accor ...
who was stationed in Moscow, where he met well-known Russian actress Zoya Fyodorova
Zoya Alekseyevna Fyodorova (russian: Зоя Алексеевна Федорова; 11 December 1981) was a Russian film star who had an affair with American Navy captain Jackson Tate in 1945 and bore a child, Victoria Fyodorova in January 1946. ...
at the U.S. Embassy.[ When Soviet leader ]Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...
learned of the affair, Tate was declared an unwelcome person and expelled from Moscow, and Fyodorova was arrested and, after a pre-trial detention in the Lubyanka and Lefortovo prisons, sentenced for "espionage" to 25 years in strict regime camp (with the replacement of the imprisonment in the Vladimir prison), confiscation of property and exile for the whole family. Their daughter, Victoria, was born January 6, 1946, and was named for V-E Day
Victory in Europe Day is the day celebrating the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces on Tuesday, 8 May 1945, marking the official end of World War II in Europe in the Easter ...
.
Reunion
University of Connecticut
The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from Hart ...
professor Irene Kirk learned of Victoria's story in 1959 and spent years trying to find Tate in the United States.[ Tate was unaware of having a daughter and of his former lover's arrest and imprisonment.]
Personal
The movie ''Hell Divers
''Hell Divers'' is a 1932 American pre-Code black-and-white film from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer starring Wallace Beery and Clark Gable as a pair of competing chief petty officers in early naval aviation. The film, made with the cooperation of the Unite ...
'' was based on a book written by Tate, who also flew stunts for the movie.[
Tate suffered heart ailments and had ]open heart surgery
Cardiac surgery, or cardiovascular surgery, is surgery on the heart or great vessels performed by cardiac surgeons. It is often used to treat complications of ischemic heart disease (for example, with coronary artery bypass grafting); to corr ...
in the last years of his life and died of cancer
Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...
on July 19, 1978, in Orange Park, Florida
Orange Park is a town in Clay County, Florida, United States. It is a suburb of Jacksonville, in neighboring Duval County. The population was 8,412 at the 2010 census. The name "Orange Park" is additionally applied to a wider area of northern ...
. He was survived by his wife, Hazel, his daughter, Victoria, and a son, Hugh.[
]
See also
*
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tate, Jackson
1898 births
1978 deaths
United States Navy admirals
United States Naval Aviators
Deaths from cancer in Florida
American expatriates in the Soviet Union
United States Navy personnel of World War II