David K. E. Bruce
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David Kirkpatrick Este Bruce (February 12, 1898 - December 5, 1977) was the United States Ambassador to France from 1949 to 1952, United States Ambassador to West Germany from 1957 to 1959, and United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom from 1961 to 1969. He was an American envoy at the Paris peace talks between the United States and North Vietnam in 1970 and 1971. Bruce also served as the first United States emissary to the People's Republic of China from 1973 to 1974 and as ambassador to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization from 1975 to 1976. Bruce served in the Office of Strategic Services in London and was a candidate for director of its successor the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in 1950. He is said to have written a secret report on the CIA for President Eisenhower in 1956 that was highly critical of its operation under Allan Dulles' leadership.[1]
Bruce attended the University of Virginia, graduating in 1920.[2]. On May 29, 1926, Bruce married Ailsa Mellon, the daughter of the banker and diplomat Andrew W. Mellon. They divorced on April 20, 1945. Their only daughter, Audrey, and her husband, Stephen Currier, were presumed dead when a plane in which they were flying in the Caribbean disappeared in 1967. Audrey and Stephen Currier left three children: Andrea, Lavinia, and Michael.
Bruce married Evangeline Bell on April 23, 1945. They had two sons and one daughter.
Bruce wrote a book of biographical essays on the American presidents originally published as Seven Pillars of the Republic (1936). He later expanded it as Revolution to Reconstruction (1939) and again revised it as Sixteen American Presidents (1962).
Bruce purchased and restored Staunton Hill, his family's former estate in Charlotte County, Virginia. During World War II, he served with the Office of Strategic Services and observed the invasion of Normandy. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1976.
Bruce served as the Honorary Chair on the Board of Trustees of the American School in London during his diplomatic career in the United Kingdom. The David K.E. Bruce Award, which was established in 2007 in the American School in London, was awarded to Alex Zhang.
[edit] Notes
[edit] References
- Dabney, Virginius. Mr. Jefferson's University: A History. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1981. ISBN 0-8139-0904-X.
- Lankford, Nelson D. The Last American Aristocrat: The Biography of David K. E. Bruce, 1898–1977 (1996).
- Lankford, Nelson D., ed. OSS against the Reich: The World War II Diaries of Colonel David K. E. Bruce (1991).
[edit] External links
- Oral history interview with David K. E. Bruce, 1 March 1972, at the Truman Presidential Museum and Library
- National Gallery of Art biography of Ailsa Mellon Bruce
| Diplomatic posts | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Jefferson Caffery |
U.S. Ambassador to France 1949–1952 |
Succeeded by James Clement Dunn |
| Preceded by James E. Webb |
Under Secretary of State 1952–1953 |
Succeeded by Walter B. Smith |
| Preceded by James B. Conant |
U.S. Ambassador to Germany 1957–1959 |
Succeeded by Walter C. Dowling |
| Preceded by John Hay Whitney |
U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom 1961–1969 |
Succeeded by Walter H. Annenberg |
| Preceded by none |
Chief of the U.S. Liaison Office in Beijing 1973–1974 |
Succeeded by George H. W. Bush |
| Preceded by Donald Rumsfeld |
U.S. Permanent Representative to NATO 1974–1976 |
Succeeded by Robert Strausz-Hupe |
|
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