Archibald Bulloch Roosevelt Jr.
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Archibald Bulloch Roosevelt Jr. (February 18, 1918 – May 31, 1990),
and London. Roosevelt had a speaking or reading knowledge of at least twenty languages.Early life
Archibald Bulloch Roosevelt Jr. was born in
World War II
During the war, he became an Army intelligence officer. He served as a "Ritchie Boy" secret unit specially trained at Fort Ritchie, Maryland.[3] He accompanied U.S. troops in their landing in North Africa in 1942 and soon began to form views on the French colonial administration and the beginnings of Arab nationalism. Later in the war he was a military attaché in Iraq and Iran.
Post-war work in the CIA
In 1947, Roosevelt joined the Central Intelligence Group, the immediate forerunner of the
From 1949 to 1951, he was in New York as head of the Near East section of the
Operation Straggle, 1956
Roosevelt met with National Security Council member Wilbur Crane Eveland and former Syrian minister Michail Bey Ilyan in Damascus on 1 July 1956 to discuss a US-backed 'anticommunist' takeover of Syria.[5] They made a plan, scheduled for enactment on 25 October 1956, in which the military would
take control of Damascus, Aleppo, Homs, and Hamah. The frontier posts with Jordan, Iraq, and Lebanon would also be captured in order to seal Syria's borders until the radio stations announced that a new government had taken over under Colonel Kabbani, who would place armored units at key positions throughout Damascus. Once control had been established, Ilyan would inform the civilians he'd selected that they were to form a new government, but in order to avoid leaks none of them would be told until just a week before the coup.[6]
The CIA backed this plan (known as "Operation Straggle") with 500,000 Syrian pounds (worth about $167,000) and the promise to support the new government.[7] Although Secretary of State John Foster Dulles publicly opposed a coup, privately he had consulted with the CIA and recommended the plan to President Eisenhower.[8]
The plan was postponed for five days, during which time
Iraq
In mid-1962, the
Post-CIA retirement
After retiring from the CIA in 1974, Roosevelt became a vice president of
Well known in Washington social circles in his own right, he was particularly active on the diplomatic circuit during the
In 1988, Roosevelt published a memoir called For Lust of Knowing: Memoirs of an Intelligence Officer, where he mentions his wartime service as an Army intelligence officer in Morocco, Iraq and Iran. He is much more circumspect in describing his time with the CIA, adhering so strictly to his oath to keep the CIA's secrets that he did not even identify the countries where he had served. And although he was happy to tell interviewers that they could figure it out from his entry in Who's Who in America, he also was quick to explain that some Americans have forgotten what an oath is and that he would not break his even if the government told him to. Even still, evidence shows there was concern within the US government about the public knowledge of the contents of his book. President Ronald Reagan states in his diary that he was advised against holding a public White House reception for Roosevelt, so as to not promote his book. He does not state who specifically advised him on this matter.
Throughout Roosevelt's life, he pursued an interest in languages. A Latin and Greek scholar when he was a boy, he had a speaking or reading knowledge of perhaps 20 languages, including French, Spanish, German, Russian, Arabic, Hebrew, Swahili, and Uzbek.
Marriage and family
Roosevelt married the former Katharine W. Tweed (the daughter of Harrison Tweed) in 1940 and they had one son, Tweed Roosevelt born in 1942. That marriage ended in divorce in 1950. Roosevelt later married Selwa "Lucky" Showker Roosevelt, who was the chief of protocol with the rank of ambassador from 1982 to 1989. They were married for 40 years.
Death and burial
Roosevelt died on May 31, 1990, of
See also
Notes
- ^ Pace, Eric (1 June 1990). "A. B. Roosevelt, a C.I.A Veteran And Banking Official, Dies at 72". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. Retrieved 18 February 2024.
- ^ Smith, J.Y. (31 May 1990). "Archibald B. Roosevelt Jr., Retired CIA Officer, Dies". The Washington Post. Retrieved 18 February 2024.
- ^ CBS, "60 Minutes," Season 53, episode 34, first presented May 9, 2021.
- ISBN 9780465019656.
- ^ Blum, Killing Hope (1995), p. 86.
- ^ Blum, Killing Hope (1995), pp. 86–87.
- ^ a b Blum, Killing Hope (1995), p. 87.
- ^ Saunders, The United States and Arab Nationalism (1996), p. 49.
- ^ Saunders, The United States and Arab Nationalism (1996), p. 51.
- ISBN 978-1-137-48711-7.
Further reading
- Wilford, Hugh (2013). America's Great Game: The CIA's Secret Arabists and the Making of the Modern Middle East. Basic Books. ISBN 9780465019656.