William A. Eddy - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

William Alfred "Bill" Eddy (March 9, 1896–May 3, 1962) was a U.S. minister to Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...

(1944–1946), university professor and college president (1936–42), and United States Marine Corps

United States Marine Corps

The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...

officer—serving in World War I and World War II, and U.S. intelligence officer.

After serving in World War I, Eddy had an academic career as a literary scholar professor of English, at Dartmouth College

Dartmouth College

Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...

and the American University in Cairo

American University in Cairo

The American University in Cairo is an independent, non-profit, apolitical, secular institution of higher learning located in Cairo, Egypt...

and later as president of both Hobart College and William Smith College

Hobart and William Smith Colleges

Hobart and William Smith Colleges, located in Geneva, New York, are together a liberal arts college offering Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science and Master of Arts in Teaching degrees. In athletics, however, the two schools compete with separate teams, known as the Hobart Statesmen and the...

(1936–42). He returned to military service just before the start of World War II, serving as an intelligence officer. From 1943 to 1945, he was the U.S. Minister to Saudi Arabia, a consultant for the Arabian American Oil Company (Aramco) and an instrumental figure in the development of the United States' relationship with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries. He was a key figure in the formation of the CIA.

In 2008 Arabian Knight: Colonel Bill Eddy USMC and the Rise of American Power in the Middle East, the first biography on Bill Eddy, was published by Selwa Press. It is written by the Middle East specialist, author and Washington Post journalist Thomas Lippman

Thomas Lippman

Thomas W. Lippman is a journalist and author, specializing in the Middle East and US-Saudi relations. Lippman graduated form Columbia University. Lippman spent more than 30 years with the Washington Post as a writer, editor and diplomatic correspondent, also serving as the Middle East bureau chief...

Early life

William Alfred Eddy was born in 1896 in the city of Sidon

Sidon

Sidon or Saïda is the third-largest city in Lebanon. It is located in the South Governorate of Lebanon, on the Mediterranean coast, about 40 km north of Tyre and 40 km south of the capital Beirut. In Genesis, Sidon is the son of Canaan the grandson of Noah...

, at the time a part of Syria

Syria

Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....

, now in Lebanon

Lebanon

Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...

. His parents, William King Eddy and Elizabeth Mills (Nelson) Eddy, were Presbyterian missionaries

Missionary

A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...

from the United States. Eddy grew up speaking both English at home and in school and Arabic on the streets with his friends. He stayed in the Middle East until high school and then went to the College of Wooster for his college preparatory education

University-preparatory school

A university-preparatory school or college-preparatory school is a secondary school, usually private, designed to prepare students for a college or university education...

. His overseas upbringing and firsthand knowledge of Arabic and Arab culture would play a pivotal role in his life and in American–Saudi relations.

World War I

Following his graduation from Princeton University

Princeton University

Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....

in 1917 and marriage to Mary Garvin, Eddy was accepted into the United States Marine Corps

United States Marine Corps

on June 6, 1917 as a "temporary second lieutenant" and was a part of the first American Marines

United States Marine Corps

fighting in Europe in World War I, serving as an intelligence officer with the 6th Marine Regiment.

During the war he fought alongside other U.S. Marines in the German Offensive of 1918 and in the Battle of Belleau Wood

Battle of Belleau Wood

The Battle of Belleau Wood occurred during the German 1918 Spring Offensive in World War I, near the Marne River in France. The battle was fought between the U.S...

against German Empire

German Empire

The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...

troops that same year. The battle is seen as an important success for allied forces against the Germans. Eddy was seriously injured at Belleau Wood and sent back to the U.S. after his service.

For his actions as a Marine in World War I, he received the Navy Cross

Navy Cross

The Navy Cross is the highest decoration that may be bestowed by the Department of the Navy and the second highest decoration given for valor. It is normally only awarded to members of the United States Navy, United States Marine Corps and United States Coast Guard, but can be awarded to all...

, the Distinguished Service Cross

Distinguished Service Cross (United States)

The Distinguished Service Cross is the second highest military decoration that can be awarded to a member of the United States Army, for extreme gallantry and risk of life in actual combat with an armed enemy force. Actions that merit the Distinguished Service Cross must be of such a high degree...

, two Silver Star

Silver Star

The Silver Star is the third-highest combat military decoration that can be awarded to a member of any branch of the United States armed forces for valor in the face of the enemy....

s, and two Purple Heart

Purple Heart

The Purple Heart is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the President to those who have been wounded or killed while serving on or after April 5, 1917 with the U.S. military. The National Purple Heart Hall of Honor is located in New Windsor, New York...

Teaching and academic years

After his military service, Eddy taught at Peekskill Military Academy

Peekskill Military Academy

Peekskill Military Academy was founded as 'Peekskill Academy'. It was a military academy for young men and women, founded in 1833, located in Peekskill, New York, United States. The academy was built by a hanging tree and when a building was built near the great tree , one of the British who was...

in New York. In 1922, he received his doctorate from Princeton University

Princeton University

. His dissertation was on Gulliver's Travels
Gulliver's Travels
Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World, in Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships, better known simply as Gulliver's Travels , is a novel by Anglo-Irish writer and clergyman Jonathan Swift that is both a satire on human nature and a parody of...

.

In 1923, he was appointed the chair of the English Department at the American University in Cairo

American University in Cairo

The American University in Cairo is an independent, non-profit, apolitical, secular institution of higher learning located in Cairo, Egypt...

in Egypt

Egypt

Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

. His wife and children found life in Egypt difficult, however, and later he returned to the U.S. and in 1928 accepted a teaching position at Dartmouth College

Dartmouth College

.

In 1936, he became president of Hobart College

Hobart and William Smith Colleges

in upstate New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

World War II

With the threat of another World War looming, Eddy returned to the United States Marine Corps at the rank of lieutenant colonel

Lieutenant colonel

Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...

and in 1941 became the Naval Attaché and Naval Attaché for Air in Cairo. He would work with both Naval intelligence and the Office of Strategic Services

Office of Strategic Services

The Office of Strategic Services was a United States intelligence agency formed during World War II. It was the wartime intelligence agency, and it was a predecessor of the Central Intelligence Agency...

(OSS) for the duration of the war.

Early in the war, Eddy suggested that the United States try to become closer to Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia

because of its strategic importance and because of the country's relative independence and internal stability.

In December 1941, Eddy was redeployed as Naval Attaché to Tangier

Tangier

Tangier, also Tangiers is a city in northern Morocco with a population of about 700,000 . It lies on the North African coast at the western entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar where the Mediterranean meets the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Spartel...

, Morocco

Morocco

Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...

in order to try to help secure areas of North Africa under threat by the Germans. He was instrumental in obtaining intelligence there and set up an intelligence network which streamlined the process of conveying information from the field back to the US.

While in Tangier Eddy was also part of a group which helped organize subversive fighting elements in Spanish Morocco

Spanish Morocco

The Spanish protectorate of Morocco was the area of Morocco under colonial rule by the Spanish Empire, established by the Treaty of Fez in 1912 and ending in 1956, when both France and Spain recognized Moroccan independence.-Territorial borders:...

in case the Germans made it west.

His intelligence work on the ground was a key to the success of allied operations including the pivotal Patton

George S. Patton

George Smith Patton, Jr. was a United States Army officer best known for his leadership while commanding corps and armies as a general during World War II. He was also well known for his eccentricity and controversial outspokenness.Patton was commissioned in the U.S. Army after his graduation from...

-led Operation Torch

Operation Torch

Operation Torch was the British-American invasion of French North Africa in World War II during the North African Campaign, started on 8 November 1942....

, which began in 1942.

Saudi Arabia

In 1943, the Navy and the OSS agreed to cooperate in sending Eddy to Saudi Arabia as a U.S. State Department employee. His official title was "Special Assistant to the American Minister" resident at the American Legation in the city of Jeddah

Jeddah

Jeddah, Jiddah, Jidda, or Jedda is a city located on the coast of the Red Sea and is the major urban center of western Saudi Arabia. It is the largest city in Makkah Province, the largest sea port on the Red Sea, and the second largest city in Saudi Arabia after the capital city, Riyadh. The...

. He was told to visit neighboring Gulf states

Arab states of the Persian Gulf

"Arab states of the Persian Gulf" or "Arab Persian Gulf states" or "Persian Gulf Arab states" or "Arabic Persian Gulf states" or "Arab States of The Gulf", are terms that refer to the six Arab states of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman, bordering the Persian Gulf....

as well in order to begin and build the U.S.–Middle East relationships that were already beginning to emerge.

At the time, U.S. 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...

had already begun in earnest to begin a relationship with Saudi Arabia, and oil exploration and drilling was continuing and building up via the US company CASOC, Aramco's predecessor.

In 1944, he met King Abdul-Aziz Al Saud (Ibn Saud) for the first time, and they would maintain a close relationship until the king's death in 1953. On September 23, 1944, he became the "Envoy Extraordinary and Ministory Plenipotentiary" to Saudi Arabia, remaining in this post until May 28, 1946—the 2nd resident U.S. chief of mission to Saudi Arabia.

On February 14, 1945, King Abdul-Aziz had a historic meeting with President Roosevelt onboard the U.S. Naval

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

ship the on the Great Bitter Lake

Great Bitter Lake

The Great Bitter Lake is a salt water lake between the north and south part of the Suez Canal. It is adjoined by the Small Bitter Lake . Before the Canal was built, their site was occupied by dry salt valleys. Together, the Bitter Lakes now have a surface area of about 250 km²...

of the Suez Canal

Suez Canal

The Suez Canal , also known by the nickname "The Highway to India", is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. Opened in November 1869 after 10 years of construction work, it allows water transportation between Europe and Asia without navigation...

in Egypt

Egypt

. Colonel Eddy was asked by the King to be translator for both the King and for President Roosevelt for their conversation. It was the first time the King had left Saudi Arabia. Much of the men's conversation was recorded by Eddy in a later work titled FDR Meets Ibn Saud.

During his brief stay in the kingdom, Eddy was instrumental in cementing the U.S.-Saudi relationship and in bringing in U.S. business to the kingdom and in keeping out other foreign, mainly British at the time, business interests.

Eddy left in 1946 and then spent some time in Yemen

Yemen

The Republic of Yemen , commonly known as Yemen , is a country located in the Middle East, occupying the southwestern to southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, and Oman to the east....

further developing U.S. relations with the Middle East.

CIA

On August 1, 1946, Eddy was appointed the post of Special Assistant to the Secretary of State for Research and Intelligence. He was an instrumental figure in the passing of the National Security Act of 1947

National Security Act of 1947

The National Security Act of 1947 was signed by United States President Harry S. Truman on July 26, 1947, and realigned and reorganized the U.S. Armed Forces, foreign policy, and Intelligence Community apparatus in the aftermath of World War II...

which in essence allowed for the creation of the Central Intelligence Agency

Central Intelligence Agency

The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...

. Eddy and his family moved to Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

where he worked on creating and developing the CIA and also on continuing the development of U.S.–Middle Eastern relations.

American support of the partition of Palestine

Palestine

Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....

into a Jewish state and an Arab state met with some skepticism throughout the Middle East. Despite the U.S. support of the Zionist cause, however, many Arab states like Saudi Arabia continued to build their relationship with the U.S. because of their strong ties with people like Colonel Eddy.

Writing from his new home base of Beirut

Beirut

Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...

in the late 1940s, Eddy included in his CIA assessment of the region a warning about religious fundamentalism

Fundamentalism

Fundamentalism is strict adherence to specific theological doctrines usually understood as a reaction against Modernist theology. The term "fundamentalism" was originally coined by its supporters to describe a specific package of theological beliefs that developed into a movement within the...

that could grow with the continued US support of the partition idea.

Aramco

During the late 1940s and throughout the 1950s, Eddy worked as a consultant for the Arabian American Oil Company (Aramco). He was an instrumental figure in keeping Aramco–Saudi relations as peaceful as could be. Given King Abdul-Aziz's relationship with Eddy and other Americans like Thomas Barger

Thomas Barger

Thomas Barger was an American geologist, explorer, miner, businessman and former CEO of the Arabian American Oil Company .-Biography:...

, the Saudis resisted completely nationalizing the company and instead brokered several key deals that would maintain American involvement and training while at the same time expanding benefits brought by the oil revenue to more Saudis.

Final days

His final days were spent in Beirut. William Eddy died on May 3, 1962 at age 66 in the hospital of the American University of Beirut

American University of Beirut

The American University of Beirut is a private, independent university in Beirut, Lebanon. It was founded as the Syrian Protestant College by American missionaries in 1866...

, which his father and family friends had helped to found.

He was buried in the city of his birth, Sidon, in an Arab Christian graveyard. His grave is inscribed: "William Alfred Eddy. Colonel, U.S.M.C. Born Sidon, March 9, 1896. Died Beirut, May 3, 1962."

External links

William A. Eddy Papers at the Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library, Princeton University
Arabian Knight. A link to the book publisher's page on the new biography of Colonel Eddy by Thomas Lippman.
FDR Meets Ibn Saud. A free PDF file of the book by Colonel Eddy.
United Newsreel. A newsclip from 1945 about FDR's meeting with Ibn Saud with mention of Colonel Eddy.
William Alfred Eddy Papers. A link to Princeton University's collection of papers from Colonel Eddy's life.

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Early life

World War I

Teaching and academic years

World War II

Saudi Arabia

CIA

Aramco

Final days

See also

Further reading

External links