William Bundy
Encyclopedia
William Putnam "Bill" Bundy (September 24, 1917 – October 6, 2000) was a member of the CIA
and foreign affairs advisor to Presidents
John F. Kennedy
and Lyndon B. Johnson
. He had a key role in planning the Vietnam War
. After leaving government service he became a historian.
he came from a family long involved in politics. His father, Harvey Hollister Bundy
, was a diplomat who helped implement the Marshall Plan
. Bill was raised in a highly accomplished, highly intellectual family. After attending the Groton School
and Yale University
(where he was one of the first presidents of the Yale Political Union
) and a member of Skull and Bones
, he entered Harvard Law School
but left to join the Army Signal Corps during World War II
. During this time he worked at Bletchley Park
in Britain as part of the top secret
ULTRA
operation to break Nazi codes.
After finishing law school in 1947, Bundy joined the Washington-based law firm of Covington and Burling. While there, he contributed to Alger Hiss
's defense fund in the Hiss-Chambers
Case. In 1953, Senator Joseph McCarthy
cited his $400 contribution. Bundy explained that Donald Hiss
, Alger's brother, worked with him at Covington & Burling
. Allen Dulles and Vice President Richard M. Nixon defended him, and the matter dropped.
, where he was 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
. During the Kennedy years he was deputy to Assistant Secretary for International Security Affairs Paul Nitze
and worked for the Secretary of the Navy. During much of the LBJ
era he was Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific affairs. After resigning from the executive branch in 1969 he taught at Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(MIT). In 1972 he moved to Princeton University
where he remained for the rest of his life. He edited the influential journal of the Council on Foreign Relations
(of which he was a member) — Foreign Affairs
— from 1972 to 1984, after declining the offer of the Council's chairman, David Rockefeller
, to be the Council's president.
His brother, McGeorge Bundy
(1919–1996), was also an integral part of the both the Kennedy
and Johnson administrations. Bill was married to Mary Acheson, the daughter of Truman's
Secretary of State
Dean Acheson
. Bill and Mary had three children, Michael, Christopher, and Carol.
Bill Bundy was somewhat to the left of his brother politically, and was a spirited opponent of Joseph McCarthy
. He was also considered one of the administration's more dovish members on Vietnam
.
Bundy's most noted work is A Tangled Web: The Making of Foreign Policy in the Nixon Presidency (1998).
Bundy was Honorary American Secretary General of the Bilderberg Meetings
from 1975 to 1980.
Bundy's papers are held by the Seeley G. Mudd
Library at Princeton University.
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...
and foreign affairs advisor to Presidents
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....
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 had a key role in planning the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
. After leaving government service he became a historian.
Early years
Raised in Boston, MassachusettsMassachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
he came from a family long involved in politics. His father, Harvey Hollister Bundy
Harvey Hollister Bundy
Harvey Hollister Bundy Sr., , was an American lawyer, Special Assistant to the Secretary of War during the second World War, and father of McGeorge Bundy. Born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, to McGeorge Bundy, a lawyer, he was grandson to Solomon Bundy, a lawyer and New York Congressman...
, was a diplomat who helped implement the Marshall Plan
Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan was the large-scale American program to aid Europe where the United States gave monetary support to help rebuild European economies after the end of World War II in order to combat the spread of Soviet communism. The plan was in operation for four years beginning in April 1948...
. Bill was raised in a highly accomplished, highly intellectual family. After attending the Groton School
Groton School
Groton School is a private, Episcopal, college preparatory boarding school located in Groton, Massachusetts, U.S. It enrolls approximately 375 boys and girls, from the eighth through twelfth grades...
and Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
(where he was one of the first presidents of the Yale Political Union
Yale Political Union
The Yale Political Union , a debate society now the largest student organization at Yale University, was founded in 1934 by Professor Alfred Whitney Griswold , to enliven the university's political culture of the time. It was modelled on the Cambridge Union Society and Oxford Union...
) and a member of Skull and Bones
Skull and Bones
Skull and Bones is an undergraduate senior or secret society at Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut. It is a traditional peer society to Scroll and Key and Wolf's Head, as the three senior class 'landed societies' at Yale....
, he entered Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...
but left to join the Army Signal Corps 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...
. During this time he worked at Bletchley Park
Bletchley Park
Bletchley Park is an estate located in the town of Bletchley, in Buckinghamshire, England, which currently houses the National Museum of Computing...
in Britain as part of the top secret
Top Secret
Top Secret generally refers to the highest acknowledged level of classified information.Top Secret may also refer to:- Film and television :* Top Secret , a British comedy directed by Mario Zampi...
ULTRA
Ultra
Ultra was the designation adopted by British military intelligence in June 1941 for wartime signals intelligence obtained by "breaking" high-level encrypted enemy radio and teleprinter communications at the Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park. "Ultra" eventually became the standard...
operation to break Nazi codes.
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
Alger Hiss was an American lawyer, government official, author, and lecturer. He was involved in the establishment of the United Nations both as a U.S. State Department and U.N. official...
's defense fund in the Hiss-Chambers
Whittaker Chambers
Whittaker Chambers was born Jay Vivian Chambers and also known as David Whittaker Chambers , was an American writer and editor. After being a Communist Party USA member and Soviet spy, he later renounced communism and became an outspoken opponent later testifying in the perjury and espionage trial...
Case. In 1953, Senator Joseph McCarthy
Joseph McCarthy
Joseph Raymond "Joe" McCarthy was an American politician who served as a Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957...
cited his $400 contribution. Bundy explained that Donald Hiss
Donald Hiss
-Biography:Donald Hiss was born on December 15, 1906, in Baltimore, Maryland. He graduated from Johns Hopkins University and the Harvard Law School....
, Alger's brother, worked with him at Covington & Burling
Covington & Burling
Covington & Burling LLP is an international law firm with offices in Beijing, Brussels, London, New York, San Francisco, Silicon Valley, San Diego, and Washington, DC. The firm advises multinational corporations on significant transactional, litigation, regulatory, and public policy matters...
. Allen Dulles and Vice President Richard M. Nixon defended him, and the matter dropped.
Positions held
During the 1950s he worked as an analyst for the Central Intelligence AgencyCentral 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...
, where he was 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
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. It operated under the auspices of the American Assembly The U.S. President’s...
. During the Kennedy years he was deputy to Assistant Secretary for International Security Affairs Paul Nitze
Paul Nitze
Paul Henry Nitze was a high-ranking United States government official who helped shape Cold War defense policy over the course of numerous presidential administrations.-Early life, education, and family:...
and worked for the Secretary of the Navy. During much of the LBJ
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...
era he was Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific affairs. After resigning from the executive branch in 1969 he taught at Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
(MIT). In 1972 he moved to 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....
where he remained for the rest of his life. He edited the influential journal of the Council on Foreign Relations
Council on Foreign Relations
The Council on Foreign Relations is an American nonprofit nonpartisan membership organization, publisher, and think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy and international affairs...
(of which he was a member) — Foreign Affairs
Foreign Affairs
Foreign Affairs is an American magazine and website on international relations and U.S. foreign policy published since 1922 by the Council on Foreign Relations six times annually...
— from 1972 to 1984, after declining the offer of the Council's chairman, David Rockefeller
David Rockefeller
David Rockefeller, Sr. is the current patriarch of the Rockefeller family. He is the youngest and only surviving child of John D. Rockefeller, Jr. and Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, and the only surviving grandchild of oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller, founder of Standard Oil. His five siblings were...
, to be the Council's president.
His brother, McGeorge Bundy
McGeorge Bundy
McGeorge "Mac" Bundy was United States National Security Advisor to Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson from 1961 through 1966, and president of the Ford Foundation from 1966 through 1979...
(1919–1996), was also an integral part of the both the 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 Johnson administrations. Bill was married to Mary Acheson, the daughter of Truman's
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...
Secretary of State
United States Secretary of State
The United States Secretary of State is the head of the United States Department of State, concerned with foreign affairs. The Secretary is a member of the Cabinet and the highest-ranking cabinet secretary both in line of succession and order of precedence...
Dean Acheson
Dean Acheson
Dean Gooderham Acheson was an American statesman and lawyer. As United States Secretary of State in the administration of President Harry S. Truman from 1949 to 1953, he played a central role in defining American foreign policy during the Cold War...
. Bill and Mary had three children, Michael, Christopher, and Carol.
Bill Bundy was somewhat to the left of his brother politically, and was a spirited opponent of Joseph McCarthy
Joseph McCarthy
Joseph Raymond "Joe" McCarthy was an American politician who served as a Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957...
. He was also considered one of the administration's more dovish members on Vietnam
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
.
Bundy's most noted work is A Tangled Web: The Making of Foreign Policy in the Nixon Presidency (1998).
Bundy was Honorary American Secretary General of the Bilderberg Meetings
Bilderberg Group
The Bilderberg Group, Bilderberg conference, or Bilderberg Club is an annual, unofficial, invitation-only conference of approximately 120 to 140 guests from North America and Western Europe, most of whom are people of influence. About one-third are from government and politics, and two-thirds from...
from 1975 to 1980.
Bundy's papers are held by the Seeley G. Mudd
Seeley G. Mudd
Seeley Greenleaf Mudd, M.D. was an American physician, professor, and philanthropist.Mudd was born in Denver, Colorado in 1895, and was the son of noted mining engineer Seeley W. Mudd and brother of Harvey S. Mudd, also a miner, businessman, and philanthropist. He was eight when his family moved...
Library at Princeton University.
Further reading
- Bird, Kai. The Color of Truth: McGeorge and William Bundy, Brothers in Arms: A Biography. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1998. ISBN 0684809702.
External links
- William P. Bundy Papers at the Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library, Princeton University
- William P. Bundy in 1981 discussing his experiences with the Vietnam war, including Lyndon Johnson's strategies in Vietnam. WGBHWGBH-TVWGBH-TV, channel 2, is a non-commercial educational public television station located in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. WGBH-TV is a member station of the Public Broadcasting Service , and produces more than two-thirds of PBS's national prime time television programming...
Open Vault. Accessed July 22, 2010.