William Harding Jackson

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William Jackson
United States National Security Advisor
Acting
In office
September 1, 1956 – January 7, 1957
PresidentDwight D. Eisenhower
Preceded byDillon Anderson
Succeeded byRobert Cutler
Deputy Director of Central Intelligence
In office
October 7, 1950 – August 3, 1951
PresidentHarry S. Truman
Preceded byEdwin Wright
Succeeded byAllen Dulles
Personal details
Born(1901-03-25)March 25, 1901
Belle Meade, Tennessee, U.S.
DiedSeptember 28, 1971(1971-09-28) (aged 70)
Tucson, Arizona, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
Spouses
Elizabeth Lyman Rice
​
​
(m. 1929; div. 1946)​
Mary Keating
​
​
(m. 1951; div. 1965)​
  • Irma Hanley
Children3, including Bruce
EducationPrinceton University (BA)
Harvard University (LLB)

William Harding Jackson (March 25, 1901 – September 28, 1971) was a

United States National Security Advisor
from 1956 to 1957.

Early life

William Harding Jackson was born on March 25, 1901, on the Belle Meade Plantation, in Belle Meade, Tennessee, near Nashville, Tennessee. He was named after his father William Harding Jackson (1874–1903), who died when he was two years old. His mother was Anne Davis Richardson (1877–1954). (After her husband's death, she married Maxwell Stevenson of Hempstead, New York).[3]

Jackson attended the Fay School in Boston and St. Mark's School, an Episcopal Preparatory school in Southborough, Massachusetts. He received his undergraduate Bachelor of Arts degree (B.A.) from Princeton University (1924) and his LL.B. from Harvard Law School (1928).[1]

Career

In 1928, Jackson joined the New York law firm of

Carter, Ledyard & Milburn, where he became a full partner in 1934.[4]

Brig. Gen. William J. Donovan, Director of the OSS, and Jackson (right) in April 1945

During World War II, Jackson served in the United States Army (6 March 1942 – 7 July 1945) as an intelligence officer, graduating from the Army-Air Force (USAAF) Air Combat Intelligence School at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He was assigned as an A-2 Assistant Intelligence officer, HQ 1st Bomber Command at 90 Church Street in New York (close to his law office), which immediately became the USAAF Anti-Submarine Command. Jackson was the principal author (along with investment banker Alexander Standish and Harold B. Ingersoll) of the USAAF Bay of Biscay Intelligence Estimate, calling for the attack on Nazi U-boats at their source on the coast of France. This was a significant turning point for the Battle of the Atlantic.

After graduation from Harrisburg in June 1942, Jackson was promoted to Major and brought into the War Department by Secretary Henry L. Stimson, where he became General Staff (Chief of Secret Intelligence reporting to General George C. Marshall from the European Theater of Operations (ETO) at COSSAC headquarters) with the cover title Chief of G-2 intelligence for 1st Army Group (FUSAG). After training on the Enigma codes at Bletchley Park, UK, he became the senior ULTRA SCIU team leader for all US armies in the ETO.[5]

Jackson achieved the rank of lieutenant colonel, and was assigned by

Gil Winant near Grosvenor Square, next to the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). Shortly thereafter he was promoted to full colonel and appointed G-2 intelligence chief at 1st Army Group (FUSAG) headquarters in London's West End to work on Operation Bodyguard, the massive deception plan to make the Nazis believe the D-Day assault (Operation Overlord) would come from Scandinavia in the north and at Pas-de-Calais under the command of Gen. George S. Patton, at the narrowest point of the English Channel. He worked closely with Gen. T. J. Betts, Deputy G-2 SHAEF and then Colonel Edwin L. Sibert
(G-2) at Headquarters, 1st Army located in Bristol.

After the successful D-Day feint, Jackson was made head of all OSS X-2 Special Counter-Intelligence Units (SCIU) in the ETO, traveling with 12th Army Group's forward EAGLE TAC headquarters to Luxembourg on General Omar Bradley's staff.[6] During the "Battle of the Bulge" in Dec-Jan 1945 (in addition to his duties with ULTRA and SCIU teams), on January 1, 1945, during the middle of heated battle, Jackson was named Deputy G-2 for all U.S. armies at 12th Army Group.[7]

Decorations—For service to his country and the people of Europe, Jackson was awarded the Bronze Star, the Legion of Merit with 1-OLC, and the Belgian Croix de Guerre. He is believed to be the only US Army officer below the rank of general to receive both the French Legion of Honor and Croix de Guerre with Palm.

CIA Change of Command, October 7, 1950 (front row from left to right): incoming Deputy Director William Harding Jackson, incoming Director General Walter Bedell Smith and outgoing Director Admiral Roscoe Hillenkoetter

Prior to discharge from the Army and OSS, Jackson was assigned the task of studying the British Secret Intelligence Service. The study took four months working in London with MI-5, MI-6 and Sir Anthony Eden to complete a report for Gen. Marshall and Gen. Donovan on June 14, 1945. On November 14, 1945, at the request of then SecNav James Forrestal, William Harding Jackson submitted his own plan for a new central intelligence agency as an alternative to General Donovan's plan.[8]

After World War II, Jackson resigned from Carter, Ledyard & Milburn to become an investment banker and the 'Managing Partner' (1947–1955) for

J.H. Whitney & Co. of New York.[9]

In 1948,

Mathias Correa (an aide to then Sec. of Defense James Forrestal) for the purpose of analyzing departmental practices and inter-agency coordination. The Survey Group, known as the Dulles, Jackson, Correa Committee or Dulles Group, submitted its final report on February 28, 1949. It was a scathing criticism of CIA and its operations under Director Roscoe H. Hillenkoetter, which resulted in the removal of several key persons at CIA and, eventually, the removal of Hillenkoetter.[2]

On July 18, 1950, the new Secretary of Defense, Louis Johnson, and General Omar Bradley sent a letter to President Truman nominating William Harding Jackson for Director of Central Intelligence to replace Hillenkoetter. Having known of Jackson's background, Truman added a short note to the letter and sent it to his White House aide, Donald S. Dawson, saying "...Don: Let's look into this. Tell Mr. [Averell] Harriman what we are doing. If this works out, we'll forget Gen. Smith."[10]

White House, March 1, 1956: William Harding Jackson, U.S. National Security Advisor and President Dwight D. Eisenhower

General Walter Bedell Smith did not want the job of DCI and tried to beg off on health issues, repeatedly. When Jackson declined because of philanthropic and business commitments in New York, Truman is said to have all but issued a direct order as commander-in-chief to General Smith, that he would become the next DCI. Smith turned to Bill Jackson as his nominee for Deputy Director of Central Intelligence to reorganize the Agency - with particular emphasis on covert activities, psychological warfare, and building a professional career Agency.

Jackson was appointed Deputy Director of the

Eisenhower Administration, Bill Jackson is listed by the 'White House Staff' publication[11]
and by the CIA as being a 'Special Adviser' and 'Senior Consultant to the Director of Central Intelligence' (from 1951–1955).

In 1953, Jackson was appointed Chairman of President Eisenhower's

United States National Security Advisor from September 1, 1956, until January 7, 1957.[14][15]

Personal life

Jackson's first wife, Elizabeth Lyman (married 1929) was the ex-wife of Thomas Rice of Dover; she brought two children Thomas Rice, Jr. and Lyman Rice to their marriage. Jackson and Elizabeth had two more sons, William Harding Jackson, Jr. and Richard Lee Jackson. They divorced in 1946 after Jackson returned from World War II.

At age 39, Jackson was elected the youngest president to serve (1940–1949) on the board of directors of The Society of the New York Hospital, one of America's oldest hospitals founded by King George III in 1771, and was nominated to the National Academy of Sciences.[16] After the war, Jackson was elected to the boards of Bankers Trust, the John Hay Whitney Foundation, the New York Hospital for Special Surgery, and the Menninger Foundation.

In 1951, Jackson married Mary Pitcairn, the daughter of Norman B. Pitcairn, a former President of the Wabash Railroad.[17] They had two sons together: Bruce P. Jackson and Howell E. Jackson. After they divorced, around 1965, Keating married another New York lawyer, Wendell Davis, who died in 1972. She married a third time to U.S. Senator and former Ambassador to Israel, Kenneth Keating; thus, becoming Mary Pitcairn Jackson Davis Keating.[8]

Death

Jackson died on September 28, 1971, in Tucson, Arizona, at the age of 70.[1]

References

  1. ^
    New York Times
    . September 29, 1971.
  2. ^
    ISBN 0-271-00750-8
    - both texts declassified with redactions and deletions by the CIA and published by The Pennsylvania State University Press)
  3. ^ (Reference: Tennessee State Library and Archives, "The Papers of William Hicks Jackson (1835-1903) from 1766-1978", Accession Number 1979.059, completed December 12, 1979.)
  4. OCLC 21046992
    .
  5. ^ National Archives and Records Administration, College Park MD, RG-226-OSS: Stack 230, Row 06, Compartment 33, Shelf 6, Box 367, "OSS Personnel File - Colonel William Harding Jackson"
  6. ISBN 0-671-41023-7
    .
  7. ^ NARA: RG-226-OSS; Office of Strategic Services Personnel File - Colonel William Harding Jackson.
  8. ^
    ISBN 978-1-5035-4773-5
    .
  9. ^ Eisenhower Presidential Library - the interviews of Gordon Gray
  10. ^ Harry S. Truman Presidential Library & Museum; official file 1285-Nominations - Co-authored letter: SecDef Louis A. Johnson and Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff General Omar Bradley to President Truman, dated July 18, 1950.
  11. ^ Eisenhower Presidential Library, White House Staff photographs and biographies of key people
  12. ^ "The New York Times - Banker Here Gets Key Geneva Role". September 20, 1955.
  13. ^ "U.S. President's Appointments". The Times. February 25, 1956. p. 5.
  14. ^ "Foreign Relations of the United States, 1955–1957, National Security Policy, Volume XIX". Department of State, Office of the Historian. Retrieved July 12, 2020.
  15. ^ Lay, James S.; Johnson, Robert H. (1960). Organizational history of the National Security Council during the Truman and Eisenhower administrations. Washington, DC: Central Intelligence Agency. p. 40.
  16. ^ Harry S. Truman Presidential Library & Museum; OF-192E; H-Q; Box 824: Endorsements; Letter: Anna Rosenberg to John R. Steelman, White House special assistant.
  17. ^ Keating, Mary Leet (Pitcairn) (January 28, 2009). "Obituary". Princeton Town Topics. Town Topics; Princeton NJ; Vol. LXIII, No. 4.
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Government offices
Preceded by Deputy Director of Central Intelligence
1950–1951 		Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded by National Security Advisor
Acting
1956–1957 		Succeeded by
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