James Cabell Bruce (December 23, 1892 – July 17, 1980) was a 20th-century American businessman and banker in New York City and Baltimore, who served as U.S. ambassador to Argentina in the 1940s.

Background

James Cabell Bruce was born on December 23, 1892 in Baltimore, Maryland, son of

William Cabell Bruce William Cabell Bruce (March 12, 1860May 9, 1946) was an American politician and Pulitzer Prize-winning writer who represented the State of Maryland in the United States Senate from 1923 to 1929. Background Bruce was born in Charlotte County, V ...

(a lawyer, author, and U. S. Senator) and Louise Este Fisher and brother of

David K. E. Bruce 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 Federal Republic of Germany, and the United Kingdom, the only American ...

. He studied at the

Gilman School Gilman School is an all-boys independent school located in the Roland Park neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland. There are three school divisions: Lower School, grades pre-kindergarten through five; Middle School, grades six through eight; and Upp ...

in Baltimore. He attended

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

, from which he graduated in 1914 with a BA in literature. In 1918, Bruce received a law degree from the

University of Maryland, Baltimore The University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) is a public university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1807, it comprises some of the oldest professional schools of dentistry, law, medicine, pharmacy, social work and nursing in the United States ...

Career

In 1915, Bruce trained with the U.S. Army at

Plattsburgh, New York Plattsburgh ( moh, Tsi ietsénhtha) is a city in, and the seat of, Clinton County, New York, United States, situated on the north-western shore of Lake Champlain. The population was 19,841 at the 2020 census. The population of the surrounding ...

. In 1916, he worked in Rome as secretary to U.S. Ambassador to Italy (and uncle)

Thomas Nelson Page Thomas Nelson Page (April 23, 1853 – November 1, 1922) was an American lawyer, politician, and writer. He served as the U.S. ambassador to Italy from 1913 to 1919 under the administration of President Woodrow Wilson during World War I. In his ...

. In 1917, he enlisted in the U. S. Army. He served in France and Germany, then took time off to complete his law degree. In 1919, he served as a military attache at the U.S. Embassy in Rome. From there, he traveled to the Balkans to investigate Albania and Montenegro for the Paris Peace Conference. In 1919, Bruce worked for the Mercantile Trust Bank of Baltimore and for the Atlantic Trust Company. In 1926, Bruce moved to New York, where he worked for banks including Chase National. In 1931, he moved back to Baltimore as president of the Baltimore Trust Company. In 1933, he became financial advisor to the Homeowners Loan Corporation in Washington, DC. In 1934, he became vice president of the

National Dairy Products Corporation Kraft Foods Inc. was a Multinational corporation, multinational confectionery, food and beverage conglomerate (company), conglomerate. It marketed many brands in more than 170 countries. 12 of its brands annually earned more than $1 billion wor ...

. He also became a director of several large businesses, including:

American Airlines American Airlines is a major airlines of the United States, major US-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is the Largest airlines in the world, largest airline in the world when measured ...

, the Maryland Casualty Company,

Republic Steel Republic Steel is an American steel manufacturer that was once the country's third largest steel producer. It was founded as the Republic Iron and Steel Company in Youngstown, Ohio in 1899. After rising to prominence during the early 20th Centu ...

, the

American Shipbuilding Company The American Ship Building Company was the dominant shipbuilder on the Great Lakes before the World War II, Second World War. It started as Cleveland Shipbuilding in Cleveland, Ohio in 1888 and opened the yard in Lorain, Ohio in 1898. It changed ...

, and Lowe's Theatres.

U.S. Ambassador to Argentina

In 1947, Bruce became U.S. ambassador to Argentina. He returned to the U.S. to campaign for

President Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...

. In 1949, Bruce resigned so he could become U.S. ambassador to Great Britain. However, Truman withdrew his offer, since brother David Bruce was already in line as U.S. ambassador to France. Instead, he became director of the

Mutual Defense Assistance Program The Mutual Defense Assistance Act was a United States Act of Congress signed by President Harry S. Truman on 6 October 1949. For US Foreign policy, it was the first U.S. military foreign aid legislation of the Cold War era, and initially to Eur ...

, a forerunner of

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

. While ambassador, Bruce received a letter from attorney

William L. Marbury, Jr. William Luke Marbury Jr. (September 12, 1901 – March 5, 1988) was a prominent 20th-century American lawyer who practiced with his family's law firm of Marbury, Miller & Evans (later Piper & Marbury, Piper Marbury Rudnick & Wolfe, Piper Rudnick ...

, dated December 28, 1948. In the letter, Marbury states, "there have been new developments in this case which would put to shame any respectable author of a detective story." The letter formed part of correspondence: "this case" refers to the case of

Alger Hiss Alger Hiss (November 11, 1904 – November 15, 1996) was an American government official accused in 1948 of having spied for the Soviet Union in the 1930s. Statutes of limitations had expired for espionage, but he was convicted of perjury in con ...

(Marbury's client).).

Later life

In 1950, Bruce returned to business. His 1958 bid for United States Senate failed.

Personal and death

On May 24, 1919, Bruce married Ellen McHenry Keyser. They had two daughters: Ellen (1920-1998) and Louise (1924-2013). He died on July 17, 1980, in New York City; his wife had preceded him on February 5, 1980.

Works

* ''College Journalism'' with

James Forrestal James Vincent Forrestal (February 15, 1892 – May 22, 1949) was the last Cabinet-level United States Secretary of the Navy and the first United States Secretary of Defense. Forrestal came from a very strict middle-class Irish Catholic fami ...

(1914) * ''Those Perplexing Argentines'' (New York: Longmans, Green, 1953) * ''Memoirs'' (Baltimore: Gateway Press, 2004)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bruce, James Cabell 1892 births 1980 deaths Ambassadors of the United States to Argentina People from Charlotte County, Virginia Politicians from Baltimore Businesspeople from Baltimore University of Maryland, Baltimore alumni 20th-century American diplomats 20th-century American businesspeople Princeton University alumni Gilman School alumni American Airlines people United States Army personnel of World War I 20th-century American Episcopalians