David K. E. Bruce

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

United States Ambassador to France
In office
May 17, 1949 – March 10, 1952
PresidentHarry S. Truman
Preceded byJefferson Caffery
Succeeded byJames Clement Dunn
17th United States Under Secretary of State
In office
April 1, 1952 – January 20, 1953
Preceded byJames E. Webb
Succeeded byWalter B. Smith
Personal details
Born
David Kirkpatrick Este Bruce

(1898-02-12)February 12, 1898
Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
DiedDecember 5, 1977(1977-12-05) (aged 79)
Washington, D.C., U.S.
Resting placeOak Hill Cemetery
Washington, D.C., U.S.
Political partyDemocratic[1]
Spouses
​
​
(m. 1926; div. 1945)​
​
​
(m. 1945)​
Children4
Education
University of Maryland Law School

David Kirkpatrick Este Bruce (February 12, 1898 – December 5, 1977) was an American diplomat, intelligence officer and politician. He served as ambassador to France, the Federal Republic of Germany, and the United Kingdom, the only American to be all three.

Background

Bruce was born in

University of Maryland School of Law (1920–1921) without taking a degree before being admitted to the Maryland bar in November 1921.[2]

Career

State service

Bruce served in the Maryland House of Delegates (1924–1926) and the Virginia House of Delegates (1939–1942).[3][4]

Federal service

During World War II, Bruce headed the Europe branch of the

invasion of Normandy landing there the day after the initial invasion.[5]

After leaving the OSS at the end of World War II, and before entering the diplomatic field, in 1948–1949 David Bruce was with the

Georgetown Set
within D.C.

Bruce, as a member of the new

President's Board of Consultants on Foreign Intelligence Activities, wrote a secret report on the CIA's covert operations for President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1956 that was highly critical of its operation under Allen Dulles's leadership.[6]

Diplomatic service

He served as the

ambassador to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization
from late 1974 to 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.[8]

President John F. Kennedy (1961–1963) appointed Bruce as ambassador to the Court of St James's (i.e. the United Kingdom). After Kennedy's death President Lyndon B. Johnson (1963–1969) kept Bruce but ignored all his recommendations. Bruce sought closer ties with Britain and greater European unity. Bruce's reports regarding Britain's financial condition were pessimistic and alarmist. With regard to Vietnam, Bruce privately questioned U.S. involvement and constantly urged the Johnson administration to allow Britain more of a role in bringing the conflict to an end.[9]

Personal life and death

On May 29, 1926, Bruce married

Andrew W. Mellon.[10] 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 on January 17, 1967, after requesting permission to fly over Culebra, a U. S. Navy installation. No trace of the plane, pilot, or passengers was ever found. Audrey and Stephen Currier left three children: Andrea, Lavinia, and Michael.

He married

British Ambassador to Italy).[13] They had two sons and one daughter, Alexandra (called Sasha). Alexandra died under mysterious circumstances (possibly murder or suicide) in 1975 at age 29 at the Bruce family home in Virginia.[14][15]

Bruce purchased and restored Staunton Hill, his family's former estate in Charlotte County, Virginia.

He died on December 5, 1977, of a heart attack at Georgetown University Medical Center.[16] He was buried at Oak Hill Cemetery in Washington, D.C.[17]

Awards

Bruce received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, with Distinction, in 1976.

Legacy

The David K.E. Bruce Award was established in 2007 at the American School in London.[8]

Publications

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).

See also

References

  1. ^ "The Political Graveyard: Index to Politicians: Bruce".
  2. ^ "Bruce, David Kirkpatrick Este | Encyclopedia.com". www.encyclopedia.com. Retrieved August 22, 2019.
  3. ^ Harry S. Truman Library-Oral History of David K.E. Bruce
  4. ^ Bio data
  5. ISBN 978-0-87338-427-8
    .
  6. ^ Tim Weiner, The Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA (London: Allen Lane, 2007), p. 133.
  7. ^ "David Bruce, 75, Selected To Head Office in Peking". The New York Times. March 16, 1973. Retrieved December 8, 2009.
  8. ^ a b School Web site Archived December 6, 2010, at the Wayback Machine Retrieved February 20, 2010.
  9. ^ Jonathan Colman, "The London Ambassadorship of David KE Bruce During the Wilson-Johnson Years, 1964–68." Diplomacy and Statecraft 15.2 (2004): 327-352. online
  10. ^ a b Pitz, Marylynne (November 15, 2009). "Ailsa Mellon Bruce's artworks part of Carnegie collection". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved December 8, 2009.
  11. ^ Barron, James (December 14, 1995). "Evangeline Bruce, 77, Hostess Known for Washington Soirees". The New York Times. Retrieved April 7, 2020.
  12. ^ Owens, Mitchell (March 16, 1995). "AT HOME WITH: Evangeline Bruce; The Improbable Author". The New York Times. Retrieved April 7, 2020.
  13. ^ "Virginia Surtees, scholar of Pre-Raphaelite art – obituary". The Telegraph. October 25, 2017 – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
  14. ^ Nation: A Gothic Romance in Old Virginia
  15. ^ "PUBLIC SERVICE AND PRIVATE PAIN (Published 1982)". The New York Times. Archived from the original on April 10, 2023.
  16. ^ "U.S. envoy David Bruce is dead at 79". Chicago Tribune. December 6, 1977. Archived from the original on October 24, 2012. Retrieved December 8, 2009.
  17. ^ "Oak Hill Cemetery, Georgetown, D.C. (Chapel) - Lot 19" (PDF). oakhillcemeterydc.org. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 8, 2022. Retrieved August 14, 2022.

Further reading

External videos
video icon Presentation by Nelson Lankford on The Last American Aristocrat, August 23, 1996, C-SPAN
  • Colman, Jonathan. "The London Ambassadorship of David KE Bruce During the Wilson-Johnson Years, 1964–68." Diplomacy and Statecraft 15.2 (2004): 327-352. online
  • 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).
  • Young, John W. "David K. E. Bruce, 1961–69." in The Embassy in Grosvenor Square (Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2012), 153–170.

External links

Diplomatic posts
Preceded by
U.S. Ambassador to France

May 17, 1949 – March 10, 1952 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Under Secretary of State
April 1, 1952 – January 20, 1953 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
U.S. Ambassador to Germany

April 17, 1957 – October 29, 1959 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom

March 17, 1961 – March 20, 1969 		Succeeded by
Walter H. Annenberg
Preceded by
none
Chief of the U.S. Liaison Office in Beijing

May 14, 1973 – September 25, 1974 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
U.S. Permanent Representative to NATO

October 17, 1974 – February 12, 1976 		Succeeded by
Robert Strausz-Hupe
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