William P. Bundy
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William Putnam Bundy (September 24, 1917 – October 6, 2000) was an American attorney and intelligence expert, an analyst with the
CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...
. Bundy served as a foreign affairs advisor to both presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. He had key roles in planning the Vietnam War, serving as deputy to Paul Nitze under Kennedy and as Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific affairs under Johnson. After leaving government service in 1969, Bundy served as a historian of foreign affairs, teaching at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and at Princeton University, from 1972 to his death. His book ''A Tangled Web: The Making of Foreign Policy in the Nixon Presidency'' (1998) is considered his most important work.


Early years

Born in 1917 and raised in Boston, Massachusetts, he came from a family long involved in Republican politics. His father, Harvey Hollister Bundy, served as an assistant secretary of state to Colonel
Henry L. Stimson Henry Lewis Stimson (September 21, 1867 – October 20, 1950) was an American statesman, lawyer, and Republican Party politician. Over his long career, he emerged as a leading figure in U.S. foreign policy by serving in both Republican and D ...
beginning in 1931, and later as his special assistant on atomic matters when Stimson was Secretary of War under President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Bundy as a diplomat also helped implement the Marshall Plan. Bill was raised in a highly accomplished, highly intellectual family, with a brother
McGeorge Bundy McGeorge "Mac" Bundy (March 30, 1919 – September 16, 1996) was an American academic who served as the U.S. National Security Advisor to Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson from 1961 through 1966. He was president of the Ford Founda ...
who was two years younger. After attending
Groton School Groton School (founded as Groton School for Boys) is a private college-preparatory boarding school located in Groton, Massachusetts. Ranked as one of the top five boarding high schools in the United States in Niche (2021–2022), it is affiliated ...
and Yale University (where he was one of the first presidents of the Yale Political Union and a member of Skull and Bones), Bundy entered
Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...
. During World War II, he left to join the Army Signal Corps. In August 1943 he led the nine-man 6813th Signals Security Detachment to the UK secret code breaking ' Government Code and Cipher School' at Bletchley Park. He and six other cryptanalysts worked in Hut 6 and the two translators worked in Hut 3. They fitted in well and he later described his time there as "the most satisfying of my career."


Career

After finishing law school in 1947, Bundy joined the Washington-based law firm of Covington and Burling. While there, he contributed to
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 ...
's defense fund in the Hiss-
Chambers Chambers may refer to: Places Canada: * Chambers Township, Ontario United States: * Chambers County, Alabama *Chambers, Arizona, an unincorporated community in Apache County *Chambers, Nebraska * Chambers, West Virginia *Chambers Township, Holt ...
Case. In 1953, Senator
Joseph McCarthy Joseph Raymond McCarthy (November 14, 1908 – May 2, 1957) was an American politician who served as a Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957. Beginning in 1950, McCarthy became the most visi ...
cited his $400 contribution. Bundy explained that
Donald Hiss Donald Hiss (December 15, 1906 – May 18, 1989), also known as "Donie" and "Donnie", was the younger brother of Alger Hiss. Donald Hiss's name was mentioned during the 1948 hearings wherein his more famous and older brother, Alger, was ac ...
, Alger's brother, worked with him at Covington & Burling.
Allen Dulles Allen Welsh Dulles (, ; April 7, 1893 – January 29, 1969) was the first civilian Director of Central Intelligence (DCI), and its longest-serving director to date. As head of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) during the early Cold War, he ov ...
and Vice President
Richard M. Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was t ...
defended him, and the matter dropped. (Bundy's father, Harvey Hollister Bundy, Sr., served as chairman of the board at Carnegie from 1953 to 1958, not long after Hiss served as president from 1946 to 1949.) In the early 1950s, Bundy was recruited for the Central Intelligence Agency, serving as an analyst and as chief of staff for the Office of National Estimates. In 1960, Bundy took a leave of absence from the CIA to serve as staff director for Eisenhower's
Commission on National Goals The U.S. President's Commission on National Goals was organized in February 1960 as a non-official body whose purpose was to develop a broad outline of national objectives and programs for the next decade and longer. Composition The commission o ...
. During the Kennedy years, he was deputy to Assistant Secretary for International Security Affairs Paul Nitze and worked also for the Secretary of the Navy. During much of the
LBJ Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...
era, he was Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific affairs. He continued to serve as an advisor on Vietnam following the election of President
Richard M. Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was t ...
, but resigned from government in 1969. Bundy moved to academia, teaching at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In 1972 he moved to Princeton University, where he served as a professor for the rest of his life. He edited the influential journal, ''
Foreign Affairs ''Foreign Affairs'' is an American magazine of international relations and U.S. foreign policy published by the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonprofit, nonpartisan, membership organization and think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy and ...
,'' of the
Council on Foreign Relations The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an American think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, mi ...
from 1972 to 1984, also serving as a member of the Council. He declined an offer by the Council's chairman, David Rockefeller, to be the Council's president. His brother,
McGeorge Bundy McGeorge "Mac" Bundy (March 30, 1919 – September 16, 1996) was an American academic who served as the U.S. National Security Advisor to Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson from 1961 through 1966. He was president of the Ford Founda ...
(1919–1996), also attended Yale and was a member of Skull and Bones. After being involved in intelligence and the Council on Foreign Relations, he served from 1961 to 1966 as the National Security Advisor to both the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. Bill Bundy was somewhat to the left of his brother politically, and was a spirited opponent of
Joseph McCarthy Joseph Raymond McCarthy (November 14, 1908 – May 2, 1957) was an American politician who served as a Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957. Beginning in 1950, McCarthy became the most visi ...
. He was also considered one of the administration's more dovish members on Vietnam, and was an advisor to three presidents. In 1989 he acknowledged the complexity of the presidents' decisionmaking, saying, "In a nutshell, my present feeling is that it was a tragedy waiting to happen, but one made much worse by countless errors along the way, in many of which I had a part." Bundy was Honorary American Secretary General of the
Bilderberg Meetings The Bilderberg meeting (also known as the Bilderberg Group) is an annual off-the-record conference established in 1954 to foster dialogue between Europe and North America. The group's agenda, originally to prevent another world war, is now defin ...
from 1975 to 1980. Bundy's most noted work is ''A Tangled Web: The Making of Foreign Policy in the Nixon Presidency'' (1998). His papers are held by the
Seeley G. Mudd Seeley Greenleaf Mudd, M.D. (April 18, 1895 – March 10, 1968) was an American physician, professor, and major philanthropist to academic institutions. Early life Mudd was born in Denver, Colorado in 1895, and was the son of noted mining engine ...
Library at Princeton University.


Personal life and death

Bill Bundy married Mary Acheson, the daughter of Truman's Secretary of State
Dean Acheson Dean Gooderham Acheson (pronounced ; April 11, 1893October 12, 1971) was an American statesman and lawyer. As the 51st U.S. Secretary of State, he set the foreign policy of the Harry S. Truman administration from 1949 to 1953. He was also Truman ...
and his wife
Alice Alice may refer to: * Alice (name), most often a feminine given name, but also used as a surname Literature * Alice (''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland''), a character in books by Lewis Carroll * ''Alice'' series, children's and teen books by ...
. Bill and Mary had three children, Michael, Christopher, and Carol. On October 6, 2000, William Putnam Bundy died at his home in Princeton, New Jersey at the age of 83 from heart trouble.


See also

*
NSC Working Group on South Vietnam The National Security Council Working Group on South Vietnam/Southeast Asia was founded in the wake of the election Lyndon B. Johnson's election campaign against Barry Goldwater to explore the different options LBJ could take in Vietnam. William Bu ...


References

* * *


Further reading

*Bird, Kai. ''The Color of Truth: McGeorge and William Bundy, Brothers in Arms: A Biography''. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1998. .


External links


William P. Bundy Papers at the Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library, Princeton UniversityWilliam P. Bundy in 1981
discussing his experiences with the Vietnam war, and Lyndon Johnson's strategies.
WGBH WGBH may refer to: * WGBH Educational Foundation, based in Boston, Massachusetts, United States ** WGBH (FM), a public radio station at Boston, Massachusetts on 89.7 MHz owned by the WGBH Educational Foundation ** WGBH-TV WGBH-TV (channel 2), ...
Open Vault.
William P. Bundy Papers (MS 1761).
Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library. {{DEFAULTSORT:Bundy, William United States presidential advisors Lawyers from Boston Writers from Boston Groton School alumni Military personnel from Massachusetts Members of the Steering Committee of the Bilderberg Group Bletchley Park people 1917 births 2000 deaths Harvard Law School alumni Yale University alumni People associated with Covington & Burling Assistant Secretaries of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs 20th-century American lawyers