Charles E. Bohlen
Charles "Chip" Eustis Bohlen (August 30, 1904 – January 1, 1974) was an American diplomat, ambassador, and expert on the Soviet Union. He helped shape United States foreign policy during World War II and the Cold War and helped develop the Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe.
Charles E. Bohlen
George F. Kennan
George F. Kennan
January 1, 1974 (aged 69)
Washington, D.C., U.S.
Avis Howard Thayer Bohlen
Avis T.
Charles E., Jr.
Celestine E. Bohlen
In 1934, he served as a diplomat in the first US embassy to the Soviet Union in Moscow as well as during and after World War II. He succeeded George F. Kennan as ambassador to the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1957. He served as ambassador to the Philippines from 1957 to 1959 and to France from 1962 to 1968. He was an advisor to every U.S. President from 1943 to 1968 and one of the nonpartisan foreign policy advisers who were known colloquially as "The Wise Men."
Early life and education[edit]
Bohlen was born in Clayton, New York, on August 30, 1904, to Celestine Eustis Bohlen, the daughter of James B. Eustis, a senator from Louisiana and ambassador to France, and Charles Bohlen. His father had inherited a fortune and was a banker and sportsman. The second of three Bohlen children, Charles Eustis was raised in Aiken, South Carolina, and moved with his family at age 12 to Ipswich, Massachusetts. He graduated from St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire.[1] He acquired an interest in foreign countries by traveling in Europe as a boy.[2] Bohlen graduated from Harvard College in 1927. He was a member of the Porcellian Club, where he gained the nickname "Chipper" which was later shortened to "Chip."[3]
Family[edit]
Bohlen's great-grand uncle was American Civil War general Henry Bohlen, the first foreign-born Union general (from Germany) in the Civil War and the grandfather of Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach, who used the name Krupp after he had married Bertha Krupp, an heiress of the Krupp family of German weapon-makers. He was therefore distantly related to Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach, Germany's primary weapon-maker during World War II. Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach was indicted for war crimes at the Nuremberg tribunal, but illness prevented his prosecution until his demise in 1950.
In 1935, Bohlen married Avis Howard Thayer, born September 18, 1912, in Philadelphia, the daughter of George Thayer and Gertrude Wheeler.[4] 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 US Foreign Service dependent who has done the most to advance US interests.[5]
Her brother, Charles W. Thayer, was also a diplomat and worked closely with his brother-in-law, Charles, as US vice-consul in Moscow.
Charles and Avis Bohlen had two daughters, Avis and Celestine, and a son, Charles Jr.[6] The daughter Avis also became a distinguished diplomat and served as deputy chief of mission in Paris, US ambassador to Bulgaria, and US assistant secretary of state for arms control. The other daughter, Celestine, became a journalist and has been a Moscow-based reporter for The New York Times.
Legacy[edit]
In May 2006, Bohlen was featured on a US postage stamp, one of a group of six prominent diplomats who was thus honored.[18][19][20]