Charles E. Bohlen
Encyclopedia
Charles Eustis “Chip” Bohlen (August 30, 1904 – January 1, 1974) was a United States diplomat
from 1929 to 1969 and Soviet
expert, serving in Moscow
before and during World War II
, succeeding George F. Kennan
as United States Ambassador
to the Soviet Union (1953–1957), then ambassador to the Philippines
(1957–1959), and to France
(1962–1968). He became an exemplar of the nonpartisan foreign policy coterie known as "The Wise Men
."
to Charles Bohlen, a "gentleman of leisure," and Celestine Eustis Bohlen. The second of three Bohlen children, he acquired an interest in foreign countries while traveling Europe as a boy.
Bohlen was graduated from Harvard College
in 1927.
in 1929, learned Russian and became a Soviet specialist, working first in Riga
, Latvia
. In 1934, aged 30, he joined the staff of the embassy in Moscow.
On the morning of August 24, 1939, he visited the Third Reich
diplomat Hans von Herwarth
and received the full content of the secret protocol to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
, signed the day before. The secret protocol contained an understanding between Adolf Hitler
and Joseph Stalin
to split Central Europe
, the Baltic region
, and Finland
between their nations. U.S. President
Franklin D. Roosevelt
was urgently informed. The United States did not convey this information to any of the concerned governments in Europe. A week later the plan was realized with the German invasion of Poland
, and World War II
started.
In 1940–41 he worked in the American Embassy in Tokyo
, and was interned for six months before release by the Japanese in mid-1942. He worked on Soviet issues in the State Department during the war, accompanying Harry Hopkins
on missions to Joseph Stalin
. He worked closely with President Franklin D. Roosevelt
and was Roosevelt's interpreter at the Tehran Conference
(1943) and the Yalta Conference
(1945).
Bohlen, criticized by some of the American Congress hawks, paid more attention to liberal public opinion, since he believed domestic influence in a democracy was inevitable. When George C. Marshall became Secretary of State in 1947, Bohlen became a key adviser to American President Harry Truman.
In 1946 he disagreed with his friend Ambassador George Kennan
on how to deal with the Soviets. Kennan proposed a strategy of containment of Soviet expansion, while Bohlen was more cautious and recommended accommodation, allowing Stalin to have a sphere of influence
in Eastern Europe
.
Ambassador Kennan, declared persona non grata
for some declarations about the Soviet Republics in Berlin in September 1952 would not be allowed to come back to Russia by Stalin, the Embassy being run by Chargé d´Affairs Jacob Beam. On 20 January 1953, Dwight D. Eisenhower
became President. There was not yet an American ambassador in Moscow when Stalin died in March 1953; the embassy was in the charge of Beam.
In April 1953 President Eisenhower named Bohlen ambassador to the Soviet Union; he was confirmed by a vote of 74–13 despite the criticisms made by Senator Joe McCarthy, who had been involved also accusing his brother in law, a worker in the American Embassy in Moscow, Charles W. Thayer
.
Bohlen did not enjoy a good relationship with Soviet leaders, or with Secretary of State John Foster Dulles
.. He was demoted on 18 April 1957 by Eisenhower.
Charles E. Bohlen later served as ambassador to the Philippines
(4 June 1957–15 October 1959). He was ambassador to France (1963–1968) under presidents John F. Kennedy
and Lyndon B. Johnson
. He retired from the foreign service in January 1969.
According to JFK advisor Ted Sorensen, Bohlen was involved in the first few days of secret discussions surrounding the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962. However, to everyone's surprise he kept reservations aboard an ocean liner that would take him to his Paris posting as ambassador, rather than postponing the trip and flying to France after the crisis had been resolved. He was thus absent for most of what was arguably the most important confrontation between the two superpowers during the Cold War period.
In 2006, Bohlen was featured on a United States postage stamp
, one of a block of six featuring prominent diplomats.
General Henry Bohlen
, born 1810, the first foreign-born (German) Union general in the Civil War and grandfather of Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach
(who used the name Krupp
after married Bertha Krupp
, heiress of the Krupp family, the German weapons makers). In this way Charles E. Bohlen was related to Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach
, Germany's primary weapons maker during World War II
and a convicted war criminal.
Bohlen was the grandson on his mother's side of United States Senator James Biddle Eustis, Ambassador to France under President Stephen Grover Cleveland.
In 1935 Charles E. Bohlen married Avis Thayer. Avis Howard Thayer (born September 18, 1912 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
) was the daughter of George Thayer and Gertrude Wheeler. The Avis Bohlen award was created and named for her in 1982. It is administered by the American Foreign Service Association
and each year honors the Foreign Service
dependent who has done the most to advance the interests of the United States.
Her brother-in-law Charles Wheeler Thayer, also a diplomat, worked closely with Bohlen as U.S. Vice Consul in Moscow
.
They had two daughters, Avis and Celestine, and a son, Charles Jr. Bohlen's daughter Avis Bohlen
became a distinguished diplomat in her own right, serving as deputy chief of mission in Paris, US Ambassador to Bulgaria
, and Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control. Bohlen's other daughter, Celestine, became a journalist and was a Moscow-based reporter for The New York Times
.
United States Foreign Service
The United States Foreign Service is a component of the United States federal government under the aegis of the United States Department of State. It consists of approximately 11,500 professionals carrying out the foreign policy of the United States and aiding U.S...
from 1929 to 1969 and Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
expert, serving in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
before and during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, succeeding George F. Kennan
George F. Kennan
George Frost Kennan was an American adviser, diplomat, political scientist and historian, best known as "the father of containment" and as a key figure in the emergence of the Cold War...
as United States Ambassador
Ambassadors from the United States
This is a list of ambassadors of the United States to individual nations of the world, to international organizations, to past nations, and ambassadors-at-large.Ambassadors are nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate...
to the Soviet Union (1953–1957), then ambassador to the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
(1957–1959), and to France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
(1962–1968). He became an exemplar of the nonpartisan foreign policy coterie known as "The Wise Men
The Wise Men
The Wise Men were a group of government officials and members of the East Coast foreign policy establishment who, beginning in the 1940s, developed the containment policy of dealing with the Communist bloc and crafted institutions and initiatives such as NATO, the World Bank, and the Marshall Plan...
."
Early life
Bohlen was born at Clayton, New YorkClayton, New York
The term Clayton, New York could refer to either of two locations on St. Lawrence River:* Clayton , New York* Clayton , New York...
to Charles Bohlen, a "gentleman of leisure," and Celestine Eustis Bohlen. The second of three Bohlen children, he acquired an interest in foreign countries while traveling Europe as a boy.
Bohlen was graduated from Harvard College
Harvard College
Harvard College, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of two schools within Harvard University granting undergraduate degrees...
in 1927.
Diplomatic career
Bohlen joined the State DepartmentUnited States Department of State
The United States Department of State , is the United States federal executive department responsible for international relations of the United States, equivalent to the foreign ministries of other countries...
in 1929, learned Russian and became a Soviet specialist, working first in Riga
Riga
Riga is the capital and largest city of Latvia. With 702,891 inhabitants Riga is the largest city of the Baltic states, one of the largest cities in Northern Europe and home to more than one third of Latvia's population. The city is an important seaport and a major industrial, commercial,...
, Latvia
Latvia
Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...
. In 1934, aged 30, he joined the staff of the embassy in Moscow.
On the morning of August 24, 1939, he visited the Third Reich
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
diplomat Hans von Herwarth
Hans von Herwarth
Hans Heinrich Herwarth von Bittenfeld , also known as Johnnie or Johann von Herwarth, was a German diplomat who provided the Allies with information prior to and during the Second World War....
and received the full content of the secret protocol to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, named after the Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov and the German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, was an agreement officially titled the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Soviet Union and signed in Moscow in the late hours of 23 August 1939...
, signed the day before. The secret protocol contained an understanding between Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
and Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
to split Central Europe
Central Europe
Central Europe or alternatively Middle Europe is a region of the European continent lying between the variously defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe...
, the Baltic region
Baltic region
The terms Baltic region, Baltic Rim countries, and Baltic Rim refer to slightly different combinations of countries in the general area surrounding the Baltic Sea.- Etymology :...
, and Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
between their nations. U.S. President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
was urgently informed. The United States did not convey this information to any of the concerned governments in Europe. A week later the plan was realized with the German invasion of Poland
Invasion of Poland (1939)
The Invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign or 1939 Defensive War in Poland and the Poland Campaign in Germany, was an invasion of Poland by Germany, the Soviet Union, and a small Slovak contingent that marked the start of World War II in Europe...
, and World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
started.
In 1940–41 he worked in the American Embassy in Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
, and was interned for six months before release by the Japanese in mid-1942. He worked on Soviet issues in the State Department during the war, accompanying Harry Hopkins
Harry Hopkins
Harry Lloyd Hopkins was one of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's closest advisers. He was one of the architects of the New Deal, especially the relief programs of the Works Progress Administration , which he directed and built into the largest employer in the country...
on missions to Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
. He worked closely with President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
and was Roosevelt's interpreter at the Tehran Conference
Tehran Conference
The Tehran Conference was the meeting of Joseph Stalin, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill between November 28 and December 1, 1943, most of which was held at the Soviet Embassy in Tehran, Iran. It was the first World War II conference amongst the Big Three in which Stalin was present...
(1943) and the Yalta Conference
Yalta Conference
The Yalta Conference, sometimes called the Crimea Conference and codenamed the Argonaut Conference, held February 4–11, 1945, was the wartime meeting of the heads of government of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union, represented by President Franklin D...
(1945).
Bohlen, criticized by some of the American Congress hawks, paid more attention to liberal public opinion, since he believed domestic influence in a democracy was inevitable. When George C. Marshall became Secretary of State in 1947, Bohlen became a key adviser to American President Harry Truman.
In 1946 he disagreed with his friend Ambassador George Kennan
George Kennan
George Kennan may refer to:* George Kennan * George F. Kennan , diplomat and historian; the explorer's great-nephew and architect of the U.S. containment over confrontation policy during the Cold War....
on how to deal with the Soviets. Kennan proposed a strategy of containment of Soviet expansion, while Bohlen was more cautious and recommended accommodation, allowing Stalin to have a sphere of influence
Sphere of influence
In the field of international relations, a sphere of influence is a spatial region or conceptual division over which a state or organization has significant cultural, economic, military or political influence....
in Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
.
Ambassador Kennan, declared persona non grata
Persona non grata
Persona non grata , literally meaning "an unwelcome person", is a legal term used in diplomacy that indicates a proscription against a person entering the country...
for some declarations about the Soviet Republics in Berlin in September 1952 would not be allowed to come back to Russia by Stalin, the Embassy being run by Chargé d´Affairs Jacob Beam. On 20 January 1953, Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
became President. There was not yet an American ambassador in Moscow when Stalin died in March 1953; the embassy was in the charge of Beam.
In April 1953 President Eisenhower named Bohlen ambassador to the Soviet Union; he was confirmed by a vote of 74–13 despite the criticisms made by Senator Joe McCarthy, who had been involved also accusing his brother in law, a worker in the American Embassy in Moscow, Charles W. Thayer
Charles W. Thayer
Charles W. Thayer was an American diplomat and author. He was an expert on Soviet-American relations and headed the Voice of America.-Early years:...
.
Bohlen did not enjoy a good relationship with Soviet leaders, or with Secretary of State John Foster Dulles
John Foster Dulles
John Foster Dulles served as U.S. Secretary of State under President Dwight D. Eisenhower from 1953 to 1959. He was a significant figure in the early Cold War era, advocating an aggressive stance against communism throughout the world...
.. He was demoted on 18 April 1957 by Eisenhower.
Charles E. Bohlen later served as ambassador to the Philippines
United States Ambassador to the Philippines
The office of the United States Ambassador to the Republic of the Philippines was established on July 4, 1946 after the Philippines gained its independence from the United States....
(4 June 1957–15 October 1959). He was ambassador to France (1963–1968) under presidents John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
and Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...
. He retired from the foreign service in January 1969.
According to JFK advisor Ted Sorensen, Bohlen was involved in the first few days of secret discussions surrounding the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962. However, to everyone's surprise he kept reservations aboard an ocean liner that would take him to his Paris posting as ambassador, rather than postponing the trip and flying to France after the crisis had been resolved. He was thus absent for most of what was arguably the most important confrontation between the two superpowers during the Cold War period.
In 2006, Bohlen was featured on a United States postage stamp
Postage stamp
A postage stamp is a small piece of paper that is purchased and displayed on an item of mail as evidence of payment of postage. Typically, stamps are made from special paper, with a national designation and denomination on the face, and a gum adhesive on the reverse side...
, one of a block of six featuring prominent diplomats.
Family
Bohlen's great-great-uncle was American Civil WarAmerican Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
General Henry Bohlen
Henry Bohlen
Henry Bohlen was an American Civil War Union Brigadier General. Before becoming the first foreign-born Union general in the Civil War, he fought in the Mexican-American War Henry Bohlen (October 22, 1810 – August 22, 1862) was an American Civil War Union Brigadier General. Before becoming...
, born 1810, the first foreign-born (German) Union general in the Civil War and grandfather of Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach
Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach
Gustav Georg Friedrich Maria Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach, "Taffi", ran the German Friedrich Krupp AG heavy industry conglomerate from 1909 until 1941...
(who used the name Krupp
Krupp
The Krupp family , a prominent 400-year-old German dynasty from Essen, have become famous for their steel production and for their manufacture of ammunition and armaments. The family business, known as Friedrich Krupp AG Hoesch-Krupp, was the largest company in Europe at the beginning of the 20th...
after married Bertha Krupp
Bertha Krupp
Bertha Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach , born Bertha Krupp and commonly known by this name outside Germany, was a member of the Krupp family, Germany's leading industrial dynasty of the 19th and 20th centuries...
, heiress of the Krupp family, the German weapons makers). In this way Charles E. Bohlen was related to Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach
Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach
Alfried Felix Alwyn Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach , often referred to as Alfried Krupp, was a convicted war criminal, an industrialist, a competitor in Olympic yacht races and a member of the Krupp family, which has been prominent in Germany since the early 19th century.The family company, known...
, Germany's primary weapons maker during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and a convicted war criminal.
Bohlen was the grandson on his mother's side of United States Senator James Biddle Eustis, Ambassador to France under President Stephen Grover Cleveland.
In 1935 Charles E. Bohlen married Avis Thayer. Avis Howard Thayer (born September 18, 1912 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
) was the daughter of George Thayer and Gertrude Wheeler. The Avis Bohlen award was created and named for her in 1982. It is administered by the American Foreign Service Association
American Foreign Service Association
The American Foreign Service Association is the professional association certified by the United States Department of State, the Commercial Service, Foreign Agricultural Service, and U.S. Agency for International Development to represent members of the United States Foreign Service. AFSA's history...
and each year honors the Foreign Service
United States Foreign Service
The United States Foreign Service is a component of the United States federal government under the aegis of the United States Department of State. It consists of approximately 11,500 professionals carrying out the foreign policy of the United States and aiding U.S...
dependent who has done the most to advance the interests of the United States.
Her brother-in-law Charles Wheeler Thayer, also a diplomat, worked closely with Bohlen as U.S. Vice Consul in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
.
They had two daughters, Avis and Celestine, and a son, Charles Jr. Bohlen's daughter Avis Bohlen
Avis Bohlen
Avis Thayer Bohlen is a diplomat and former Assistant Secretary for Arms Control and United States Ambassador to Bulgaria . Her parents were Charles E. Bohlen, former Ambassador to the Soviet Union , and Avis Howard Thayer...
became a distinguished diplomat in her own right, serving as deputy chief of mission in Paris, US Ambassador to Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
, and Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control. Bohlen's other daughter, Celestine, became a journalist and was a Moscow-based reporter for The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
.
Further reading
- Isaacson, Walter. The Wise Men: Six friends and the world they made: Acheson, Bohlen, Harriman, Kennan, Lovett, McCloy (1986)
- Encyclopedia of World Biography on Charles (Chip) Bohlen.
- Charles E. Bohlen, NNDB.
- Ilario Fiore, Lavrenti Il Terribile, (Italian), Torino, 1973. Spanish Translation by Juan Moreno: Laurenti El Terrible, 1974, Ed. Plaza y Janés, Esplugas de Llobregat, Barcelona, 509 pages, ISBN 84-01-41049-5
- http://oasis.lib.harvard.edu/oasis/deliver/~sch00461. Subject: Bohlen, Avis Howard Thayer, 1912-1981. Papers, 1929-1981: A Finding Aid, Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America, Call No.: 82-M28, Repository: Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute