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58-404: Richard Bissell may refer to: Richard M. Bissell Jr. (1909–1994), American CIA officer Richard Pike Bissell (1913–1977), American author and playwright See also [ edit ] Richard Bessel (born 1948), British historian [REDACTED] Topics referred to by the same term This disambiguation page lists articles about people with

116-475: A Ph.D. in economics in 1939, and remained there as an assistant professor through 1941. The following year, he joined the U.S. Department of Commerce as Chief Economic Analyst of the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce. In July 1947, Bissell was recruited by W. Averell Harriman to run a committee to lobby for an economic recovery plan for Europe . In 1948, he was appointed assistant deputy administrator of

174-584: A bishop of the Episcopal Church . He moved to the U.S., eventually becoming Bishop of Connecticut. His mother, Eleanor Gertrude (Gooderham), was a Canadian-born descendant of William Gooderham, Sr. (1790–1881), a founder of the Gooderham and Worts Distillery of Toronto. Like his father, Acheson was a staunch Democrat and opponent of prohibition. Acheson attended Groton School and Yale College (1912–1915), where he joined Scroll and Key Society,

232-717: A cadre of Office of Strategic Services (OSS) veterans of WWII — Frank Wisner , Stewart Alsop , Thomas Braden , Philip Graham , David K. E. Bruce and Walt Rostow —the politically influential Georgetown Set drew its membership from the Georgetown neighborhood within the upper northwest section of the capital. The group would grow to include George Kennan , Dean Acheson , William Averell Harriman , Desmond FitzGerald , Joseph Alsop , Tracy Barnes , Ben Bradlee , John F. Kennedy , Clark Clifford , Charles "Chip" Bohlen , James Angleton , Felix Frankfurter , James "Scotty" Reston , Allen Dulles and Paul Nitze . While Bissell

290-567: A deepening division inside the Democratic Party. Johnson took Acheson's advice, in terms of de-escalating the war, and deciding not to run for reelection. Acheson distrusted Hubert Humphrey , and supported Richard Nixon for president in 1968. He provided advice to the Nixon administration through Henry Kissinger , focusing on NATO and on African affairs. He broke with Nixon in 1970 with the incursion into Cambodia . In 1964, he received

348-578: A few months later, critics, especially in South Korea, took Acheson's statements to mean that the United States support for the new Syngman Rhee government in South Korea would be limited and that the speech provided Stalin and Kim Il Sung with a "green light" to believe the U.S. would not intervene if they invaded the South. When Soviet archives opened in the 1980s, however, research found that

406-657: A firm anti-communist, he was attacked by various anti-communists for not taking a more active role in attacking communism abroad and domestically, rather than hew to his policy of containment of communist expansion. Both he and Secretary of Defense George Marshall came under attack from men such as Joseph McCarthy ; Acheson became a byword to some Americans, who tried to equate containment with appeasement. Congressman Richard Nixon , who later as president would call on Acheson for advice, ridiculed "Acheson's College of Cowardly Communist Containment". This criticism grew very loud after Acheson refused to "turn his back on Alger Hiss " when

464-661: A new tradition of bright law students clerking for the U.S. Supreme Court justices. Acheson clerked for him for two terms from 1919 to 1921. Frankfurter and Brandeis were close associates, and future Supreme Court Justice Frankfurter suggested that Brandeis take on Acheson. Throughout his long career, Acheson displayed: A lifelong Democrat , Acheson worked at a law firm in Washington, Covington & Burling , often dealing with international legal issues before Franklin Delano Roosevelt appointed him Undersecretary of

522-631: The Axis Powers . Acheson implemented the Lend-Lease policy that helped re-arm Great Britain and the American/British/Dutch oil embargo that cut off 95 percent of Japanese oil supplies and escalated the crisis with Japan in 1941. Roosevelt froze all Japanese assets merely to disconcert them. He did not intend the flow of oil to Japan to cease. The president then departed Washington for Newfoundland to meet with Churchill. While he

580-810: The Cold War . Acheson helped design the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan , as well as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization . He was in private law practice from July 1947 to December 1948. After 1949 Acheson came under political attack from Republicans led by Senator Joseph McCarthy over Truman's policy toward the People's Republic of China . As a private citizen in 1968 he counseled President Lyndon B. Johnson to negotiate for peace with North Vietnam . During

638-585: The Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, President John F. Kennedy called upon Acheson for advice, bringing him into the executive committee ( ExComm ), a strategic advisory group. Dean Gooderham Acheson was born in Middletown, Connecticut , on April 11, 1893. His father, Edward Campion Acheson , was an English-born Canadian (immigrated to Canada in 1881) who became a Church of England priest after graduating from Wycliffe College and later became

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696-884: The Economic Cooperation Administration (ECA) (better known as the Marshall Plan ) in Germany and eventually became the ECA's deputy director and acting director. He worked with the Office of Policy Coordination (OPC) in diverting counterpart funds of the ECA to OPC operations in Europe. Bissell and his wife Ann moved to Washington, D.C. , where they associated with a group of journalists, politicians, and government officials who were later termed "the Georgetown Set". Originally formed in 1945–1948 by

754-774: The Presidential Medal of Freedom , with Distinction. In 1970, he won the Pulitzer Prize for History for his memoirs of his tenure in the State Department, Present at the Creation: My Years in the State Department . The Modern Library placed the book at No. 47 on its top 100 non-fiction books of the 20th century. At 6:00 p.m. on October 12, 1971, Acheson died of a massive stroke, at his farm home in Sandy Spring, Maryland , at

812-467: The CIA entitled "The Stimulation of Innovation". He called for funding the research and development of groundbreaking new technologies for intelligence gathering and surveillance. He acknowledged that such surveillance may entail "gray activities" by the CIA, such as surveillance that the agency might not have the legal right to undertake. But he said the dubious legal status of such activities should not preclude

870-523: The CIA from pursuing them. He also advocated that the CIA implement covert political actions in target countries. After Frank Wisner suffered a mental breakdown in September 1958, Bissell replaced him as the CIA's Deputy Director for Plans . Bissell assumed the office on 1 January 1959. He was meanwhile also playing a key role as CIA Program Manager in the development of the Corona program . Leading

928-610: The CIA nearly a decade later. The U-2 spy plane was a great success and within two years Bissell was able to say that 90% of all hard intelligence about the Soviet Union coming into the CIA was "funneled through the lens of the U-2's aerial cameras". The U-2 photographs debunked the allegations of a " bomber gap "—the belief that the Soviets had amassed a numerical advantage over the U.S. in strategic bomber aircraft which could reach

986-517: The CIA's Directorate of Plans (DDP) put Bissell in a vital position. The DDP branch of the CIA was responsible for covert operations , such as the prior overthrow of Mohammad Mosaddegh and Jacobo Árbenz . When Bissell took office, the main DDP target was Fidel Castro . In March 1960, a top-secret policy paper, entitled "A Program of Covert Action Against the Castro Regime" (code-named JMARC),

1044-586: The CIA's Office of Security, in August 1960. In Bissell's memoir and his 1975 testimony to a presidential commission, he said he was approached by Edwards. In any case, Bissell acknowledged, "when the plan was presented to me I supported it. In September 1960, Bissell initiated talks with two leading figures of the Mafia , Johnny Roselli and Sam Giancana . Soon, other crime bosses such as Carlos Marcello , Santo Trafficante Jr. and Meyer Lansky became involved in

1102-580: The CIA, Kennedy offered him a post as director of a new science and technology department. It would leave Bissell in charge of developing the Lockheed A-12 , the new spy plane that would make the U-2 obsolete. Bissell turned down the offer. In February 1962, he left the CIA and was replaced as Deputy Director for Plans by Richard Helms . In July 1962, Bissell joined the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA) and eventually served as its president. IDA

1160-592: The Chinese Civil war , China switched from a close friend of the U.S. to a bitter enemy—the two powers were at war in Korea by 1950. Critics blamed Acheson for what they called the " loss of China " and launched several years of organized opposition to Acheson's tenure; Acheson ridiculed his opponents and called this period in his outspoken memoirs "The Attack of the Primitives". Although he maintained his role as

1218-710: The Cuban government and join the invaders (a propaganda ploy that had worked well on the Guatemalan Army in the 1954 coup ). However, the Cuban soldiers were not persuaded. It was soon apparent to Bissell that the invasion at the Bay of Pigs by Brigade 2506 was facing disaster. At 7 a.m. on April 18, he told President Kennedy that the brigade of Cuban exiles was trapped on the beaches and encircled by Castro's military. Bissell asked Kennedy to send in American forces to save

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1276-638: The Cubans living in the Trinidad area joined the rebellion, and if they could establish a guerrilla presence in the Escambray Mountains, then the operation had a "fair chance" of succeeding. The JCS analysis put the probability of success at 30 percent. At a meeting on 11 March 1961, Kennedy rejected the JMARC proposal: "'Too spectacular,' he told Bissell. 'It sounds like D-Day . You have to reduce

1334-494: The Kennedy and Johnson administrations. During the Cuban Missile Crisis , for example, he was dispatched by Kennedy to France to brief French President Charles de Gaulle and gain his support for the United States blockade. Acheson so strongly opposed the final decision merely to blockade that he resigned from the executive committee. During the 1960s, he was a leading member of a bipartisan group of establishment elders known as

1392-585: The Period 1944–1949 , which later was simply called the China White Paper , attempted to dismiss any misinterpretations of Chinese and American diplomacy toward each other. Published during the height of Mao Zedong 's takeover, the 1,054-page document argued that American intervention in China was doomed to failure. Although Acheson and Truman had hoped that the study would dispel rumors and conjecture,

1450-640: The Soviet Union) and marked the fundamental change in American foreign policy that became known as the Truman Doctrine . On June 30, 1947, Acheson received the Medal for Merit from President Truman. During the summer of 1949, after the unexpected Democratic victory in the 1948 elections did not quiet the question " Who Lost China?" , Acheson had the State Department produce a study of recent Sino-American relations . The document known officially as United States Relations with China with Special Reference to

1508-643: The Soviet Union. In 1946, as chairman of a special committee to prepare a plan for the international control of atomic energy, he wrote the Acheson–Lilienthal report . At first Acheson was conciliatory towards Joseph Stalin . The Soviet Union's attempts at regional hegemony in Eastern Europe and in Turkey and Iran changed Acheson's thinking. From this point forward, one historian writes, "Acheson

1566-667: The Treasury in March 1933. When Secretary William H. Woodin fell ill, Acheson suddenly found himself acting secretary despite his ignorance of finance. Because of his opposition to FDR's plan to deflate the dollar by controlling gold prices (thus creating inflation), he was forced to resign in November 1933. He resumed his law practice. Brought back as assistant secretary of state on February 1, 1941, Acheson implemented much of Roosevelt's economic policy of aiding Great Britain and harming

1624-456: The United States are over'. The Menon cabal would frustrate Acheson's Korean War diplomatic policy, and remained a force beyond Acheson's tenure as Secretary of State, while Acheson's vituperative description of the cabal's diplomatic efforts as 'sophistries' by Menon and Pearson personally wounded Pearson, who would go on to become Prime Minister of Canada. With the Communist victory in

1682-620: The Wise Men , who initially supported the Vietnam War. As secretary of state, Acheson had supported the French efforts to control Indochina as the necessary price for French support of NATO, and to contain communism. By 1968, however, his viewpoint had changed. President Johnson asked Acheson to reassess American military policy, and he concluded that military victory was impossible. He advised Johnson to pull out as quickly as possible, to avoid

1740-767: The World Bank , and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade , the last of which would evolve into the World Trade Organization . Later, in 1945, Harry S. Truman selected Acheson as the Undersecretary of the United States Department of State ; he retained this position working under Secretaries of State Edward Stettinius, Jr. , James F. Byrnes , and George Marshall . As late as 1946 Acheson sought détente with

1798-482: The age of 78. His body was found slumped over his desk in his study. Acheson was interred in Oak Hill Cemetery in Georgetown, Washington, DC. He had a son, David C. Acheson (father of Eleanor D. Acheson ), and two daughters, Jane Acheson Brown and Mary Acheson Bundy, wife of William Bundy . Acheson was portrayed by John Dehner in the 1974 television docudrama , The Missiles of October . In

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1856-460: The assassination plots against Castro. Robert Maheu , a veteran of CIA counter-espionage activities, was instructed to offer the Mafia $ 150,000 to kill the Cuban prime minister. The advantage of employing the Mafia for this work is that it provided the CIA with a credible cover story. The Mafia were known to be furious with Castro for closing down their profitable Havana casinos. If the assassination

1914-533: The briefing. He expressed surprise only at the size of the operation he had inherited from Eisenhower. In late January 1961, President Kennedy asked the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) to vet the JMARC proposal. To preserve " plausible deniability ", the proposal only included the invasion, not the plot to kill Castro. After deliberating, the JCS concluded that if the invaders were given four days of air cover, and if

1972-744: The brigade to march into the Escambray Mountains, but Bissell explained this was not an option as their route was being blocked by 20,000 Cuban troops. Bissell informed Kennedy that the operation could still be saved if U.S. warplanes were allowed to fly cover. Admiral Burke urged the President, "Let me take two jets and shoot down the enemy aircraft." But Kennedy declined, "reminding Bissell and Burke that he has warned them over and over again that he would not commit U.S. forces to combat." As Evan Thomas points out in The Very Best Men , "Bissell had been caught in his own web. 'Plausible deniability'

2030-411: The crisis arose in reality, any action required for success would be authorized rather than permit the enterprise to fail." In other words, he and Bissell realized that the invasion, as designed, was likely to fail, but they expected Kennedy to agree to additional military support needed to prevent a negative outcome. According to Evan Thomas ( The Very Best Men ): "Some old CIA hands believe that Bissell

2088-607: The documents helped to convince many critics that the administration had indeed failed to check the spread of communism in China. Acheson's speech on January 12, 1950, before the National Press Club did not mention the Korea Peninsula and Formosa (Taiwan) as part of the all-important "defense perimeter" of the United States, known as the Acheson Line. Since the war in Korea broke out on June 25, just

2146-440: The first U-2 overflights, Bissell initiated Project RAINBOW to develop radar camouflage for the aircraft. When this was unsuccessful, he launched Project Gusto to develop a follow-on aircraft. Gusto evolved into Project OXCART, under which the CIA developed and operated the Lockheed A-12 .As DDP, Bissell oversaw the early stages of Project OXCART, the development of the Lockheed A-12 . In 1957, Bissell delivered an address at

2204-626: The latter was accused of being a Communist spy, and convicted of perjury for denying he was a spy. He retired on January 20, 1953, the last day of the Truman administration, and served on the Yale board of trustees along with Senator Robert A. Taft , one of his sharpest critics. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1955. Acheson returned to his private law practice. Although his official governmental career

2262-550: The men. Bissell anticipated he would say "Yes". Instead, the President replied that he still wanted "minimum visibility" of the U.S. role in the invasion. That night, Bissell had another meeting with the President. This time it took place in the White House and included General Lyman Lemnitzer , Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff , and Admiral Arleigh Burke , Chief of Naval Operations . General Lemnitzer called for

2320-412: The mountains would now necessitate crossing an impenetrable swamp. As CIA officer David Atlee Phillips and others noted, the revised plan rendered nearly impossible the "fallback option" of the invaders retreating into the mountains if the initial landing went badly. The scaled-back plan meant less chance for success, but as Allen Dulles recorded at the time: "We felt that when the chips were down, when

2378-420: The noise level of this thing.'" He asked Bissell to scale back the plan, and to choose a more remote landing site than Trinidad. Bissell and his team worked around the clock for three days and returned with a revised plan, code-named Operation Zapata. As requested, the landing was no longer at Trinidad. Instead, Bissell selected Bahia de Cochinos (Bay of Pigs), 80 miles from the Escambray Mountains. The journey to

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2436-411: The other country—and convinced President Dwight D. Eisenhower that Nikita Khrushchev was lying about the number of bombers and missiles being built by the Soviet Union. However, because of the shroud of secrecy erected by the CIA around the U-2 spy plane as its source of information, the "bomber gap" hysteria in some American circles was not easily put to rest. In 1956, after the Soviets protested

2494-555: The same name. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Richard_Bissell&oldid=1220812118 " Category : Human name disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Richard M. Bissell Jr. Richard Mervin Bissell Jr.

2552-543: The speech had little if any impact on Communist decision for war in Korea. Acheson's advocacy of foreign policy discomfited many traditional American allies, who banded together with India's de facto foreign minister Krishna Menon , in what Acheson named at the time and again in his memoirs as the ' Menon cabal '. Members of the cabal included Anthony Eden and Selwyn Lloyd from Britain; R.G. Casey of Australia; and Lester B. Pearson of Canada, who famously observed in 1951 that "the days of easy and automatic relations with

2610-487: The team were Jack Hawkins (Colonel) , Desmond FitzGerald , William Harvey and Ted Shackley . The covert action plan to overthrow Castro was presented to President Dwight Eisenhower at an Oval Office meeting on 17 March 1960, and he quickly authorized it. The onus of carrying out the plan gradually fell to Bissell. It was later disputed as to who first set in motion the plot to kill Castro. Most CIA histories state that Bissell approached Sheffield Edwards, director of

2668-577: Was a Pentagon think tank set up to evaluate weapons systems. Later he worked for United Technologies in Hartford, Connecticut (1964–74), which supplied weapons systems. He also worked as a consultant for the Ford Foundation . In February 1994, Bissell died at his home in Farmington, Connecticut . He was 84. His autobiography, Reflections of a Cold Warrior: From Yalta to the Bay of Pigs,

2726-721: Was drafted "to bring about the replacement of the Castro regime with one more ... acceptable to the U.S. in such a manner as to avoid any appearance of U.S. intervention." The courses of action outlined in the paper were based on operation PBSuccess , which had worked to great effect in Guatemala in 1954. In fact, Bissell assembled the same team as the one used in Guatemala: Tracy Barnes , David Atlee Phillips , Jacob Esterline , William "Rip" Robertson , E. Howard Hunt and Gerry Droller (aka "Frank Bender"). Added to

2784-513: Was elected to Phi Beta Kappa , and was a brother of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity (Phi chapter). At Groton and Yale he had the reputation of a partier and prankster; he was somewhat aloof but still popular with his classmates. Acheson's well-known, reputed arrogance—he disdained the curriculum at Yale because it focused on memorizing subjects already known—was apparent early. At Harvard Law School from 1915 to 1918, however, he

2842-577: Was gone Acheson used those frozen assets to deny Japan oil. Upon the president's return, he decided it would appear weak and appeasing to reverse the de facto oil embargo. In 1944, Acheson attended the Bretton Woods Conference as the head delegate from the State Department. At this conference the post-war international economic structure was designed. It was the birthplace of the International Monetary Fund ,

2900-410: Was intended to protect the president, but as he had used it, it was a tool to gain and maintain control over an operation.... Without plausible deniability, the Cuba project would have been turned over to the Pentagon , and Bissell would have become a supporting actor." Since Bissell was the primary architect of the failed Bay of Pigs invasion, he bore the brunt of the blame. As a face-saving exit from

2958-424: Was more than 'present at the creation' of the Cold War ; he was a primary architect." Acheson often was acting secretary during the secretary's frequent overseas trips, and during this period he cemented a close relationship with President Truman. Acheson devised the policy and wrote Truman's 1947 request to Congress for aid to Greece and Turkey, a speech which stressed the dangers of totalitarianism (but did not name

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3016-420: Was over, his influence was not. He was ignored by the Eisenhower administration but headed up Democratic policy groups in the late 1950s. Much of President John F. Kennedy 's flexible response policies came from the position papers drawn up by this group. Acheson's law offices were strategically located a few blocks from the White House and he accomplished much out of office. He became an unofficial advisor to

3074-440: Was published posthumously in 1996. Dean Acheson Dean Gooderham Acheson ( / ˈ æ tʃ ɪ s ən / ATCH -iss-ən ; April 11, 1893 – October 12, 1971) was an American politician 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's main foreign policy advisor from 1945 to 1947 during early years of

3132-411: Was setting a trap to force U.S. intervention." Edgar Applewhite, a former deputy inspector general, said Bissell and Dulles were "building a tar baby." The operation relied on the effectiveness of Radio Swan broadcasts from the Swan Islands , located 95 miles northeast of Honduras . The radio operation, run by David Phillips with assistance from E. Howard Hunt , encouraged the Cuban Army to desert

3190-493: Was swept away by the intellect of professor Felix Frankfurter and finished fifth in his class. On May 15, 1917, while serving in the National Guard, Acheson married Alice Caroline Stanley (August 12, 1895 – January 20, 1996). She loved painting and politics and served as a stabilizing influence throughout their enduring marriage; they had three children: David Campion Acheson , Jane Acheson Brown and Mary Eleanor Acheson Bundy. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis had begun

3248-442: Was the son of Richard Bissell, the president of Hartford Fire Insurance . Richard Jr. was born in the Mark Twain House in Hartford, Connecticut , and went to Groton School in Groton, Massachusetts . Two of his fellow pupils at Groton were Joseph Alsop and Tracy Barnes . He studied history at Yale University and graduated in 1932. He then studied at the London School of Economics before returning to Yale where he obtained

3306-443: Was traced back to organized crime, "it would hardly raise an eyebrow." On 18 November 1960 in Palm Beach, Florida , President-elect John F. Kennedy was briefed by Bissell and CIA Director Allen Dulles on the JMARC proposal. It entailed a landing in the Cuban coastal town of Trinidad , not far from the Escambray Mountains , allegedly a hotbed of anti-Castro resistance. According to Bissell, Kennedy remained impassive throughout

3364-446: Was working for the Ford Foundation , Frank Wisner persuaded him to join the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). This would begin the most eventful years of Bissell's life. In 1954, he was placed in charge of developing and operating the Lockheed U-2 "spy plane". He and Herbert Miller, another CIA officer, chose Area 51 as the site for the U-2 test facility, and Bissell supervised the facility and its build-up until he resigned from

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