Difference between revisions of "Paul Nitze"

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'''Paul Henry Nitze''' was a Wall Street banker who became an important Cold War figure. During the Second World War he founded the [[Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies|School of Advanced International Studies]], specifically to train young Americans for service in America's emerging empire. A year after founding SAIS he became vice chairman of the US Strategic Bombing Survey and played an important role in the decision to drop nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  
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'''Paul Henry Nitze''' (January 16, 1907 – October 19, 2004) was a Wall Street banker who became an important Cold War figure. During the Second World War he founded the [[Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies|School of Advanced International Studies]], specifically to train young Americans for service in America's emerging empire. A year after founding SAIS he became vice chairman of the US Strategic Bombing Survey and played an important role in the decision to drop nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  
  
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In 1950 Nitze became head of Policy Planning in the State Department and was the principal author of a highly influential secret National Security Council document [http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/nsc-hst/nsc-68.htm NSC-68] which pressed for increased arms spending by exaggerating the military threat of the Soviet Union.<ref>Fred Kaplan, [http://www.slate.com/id/2108510/ 'Paul Nitze: The man who brought us the Cold War'], ''Slate Magazeine'', 21 October 2004</ref> He was also the most important Washington sponsor of the small group of British intellectuals who founded the [[Institute for Strategic Studies]] in the late 1950s.<ref>Denis Healey, ''The Time of My Life'' (London: Penguin, 1989) p.236</ref>
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==Education==
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Nitze attended the [[Hotchkiss School]] and graduated from [[Harvard University]] in 1928.
  
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Nitze continued to exaggerate the Soviet threat throughout his career and later was later actively involved in [[Team B]] (headed by [[Richard Pipes]]) and the [[Committee on the Present Danger]], both of which exaggerated the threat of the Soviet Union to encourage US military spending. The National Security Archive gives the following summary:
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==Career==
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In 1928-1929 the Chicago brokerage firm of Bacon, Whipple and Company sent Nitze to Europe. Upon his return, he heard [[Clarence Dillon]] predict the depression and the decline of the importance of finance. Having attained financial independence through the sale to [[Revlon]] of his interest in a French laboratory producing pharmaceutical products in the U.S., Nitze took an intellectual sabbatical that included a year of graduate study at Harvard in sociology, philosophy, and constitutional and international law.  In 1929 he joined investment bank [[Dillon, Read & Co.]] where he remained until founding his own firm, P. H. Nitze & Co, in 1938.  He returned to Dillon, Read as Vice-President from 1939 through to 1941.<ref>{{cite news
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|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article497316.ece
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|title=Paul Nitze
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|date=October 22, 2004
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|work=The Times}}</ref>
  
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<blockquote style="background-color:beige;border:1pt solid Darkgoldenrod;padding:1%">In the last few years of Kissinger's tenure in government, Nixon/Ford détente policies experienced strong criticism from Republicans on the right, led by Ronald Reagan, as well as from some liberal democrats and former socialists. Some of these tendencies began to crystallize into what later became known as "neo-conservatism." Reflecting the failure or the inability of the Ford administration to build a national consensus in favor of détente, critics of détente in and out of government began to take on the National Intelligence Estimates, arguing that they consistently underestimated the severity of the Soviet military threat to the United States. Conservatives on the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board (PFIAB) asked DCI George H.W. Bush to establish a special panel to assess the NIEs and develop an alternative analysis. Headed by Harvard Sovietologist Richard Pipes, the Team B panel included Paul Nitze, who played an active part. Other participants were Seymour Weiss and Paul Wolfowitz. Given Team B's ominous assumptions about Soviet intentions and capabilities, Raymond Garthoff later argued, "it [was] not surprising that it came up with more ominous findings." After Ford and Kissinger left office Nitze continued to play a role as a critic by helping to establish the Committee for the Present Danger, which brought together "neo-cons" and Republican conservatives, a number of whom would work for the Reagan administration four years later.<ref>William Burr and Robert Wampler, [http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB139/index.htm "The Master of the Game": Paul H. Nitze and U.S. Cold War Strategy from Truman to Reagan], National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 139, 202/994-7000, Posted October 27, 2004</ref></blockquote>
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In 1932, he married Phyllis Pratt, daughter of [[John Teele Pratt]], Standard Oil financier and [[Ruth Baker Pratt]] Republican Congresswoman for New York.  Nitze's brother-in-law [[Walter Paepcke]] founded the [[Aspen Institute]] and [[Aspen Skiing Company]]. Nitze continued to ski in Aspen until well into his 80s.
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In 1950 Nitze became head of Policy Planning in the State Department and was the principal author of a highly influential secret National Security Council document [[NSC-68]] which pressed for increased arms spending by exaggerating the military threat of the Soviet Union.<ref>Fred Kaplan, [http://www.slate.com/id/2108510/ 'Paul Nitze: The man who brought us the Cold War'], ''Slate Magazine'', 21 October 2004</ref> He was also the most important Washington sponsor of the small group of British intellectuals who founded the [[Institute for Strategic Studies]] in the late 1950s.<ref>Denis Healey, ''The Time of My Life'' (London: Penguin, 1989) p.236</ref>
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Nitze continued to exaggerate the Soviet threat throughout his career and later was later actively involved in [[Team B]] (headed by [[Richard Pipes]]) and the [[Committee on the Present Danger]], both of which exaggerated the threat of the Soviet Union to encourage US military spending.
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==Affiliations==
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*[[Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs]]
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*[[NSC-68]] Study Group
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*[[Committee on the Present Danger]] (1976 version)
  
 
==Notes==
 
==Notes==
 
<references/>
 
<references/>
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[[Category:Harvard alumni|Nitze, Paul]]

Latest revision as of 18:34, 23 April 2012

Paul Henry Nitze (January 16, 1907 – October 19, 2004) was a Wall Street banker who became an important Cold War figure. During the Second World War he founded the School of Advanced International Studies, specifically to train young Americans for service in America's emerging empire. A year after founding SAIS he became vice chairman of the US Strategic Bombing Survey and played an important role in the decision to drop nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Education

Nitze attended the Hotchkiss School and graduated from Harvard University in 1928.

Career

In 1928-1929 the Chicago brokerage firm of Bacon, Whipple and Company sent Nitze to Europe. Upon his return, he heard Clarence Dillon predict the depression and the decline of the importance of finance. Having attained financial independence through the sale to Revlon of his interest in a French laboratory producing pharmaceutical products in the U.S., Nitze took an intellectual sabbatical that included a year of graduate study at Harvard in sociology, philosophy, and constitutional and international law. In 1929 he joined investment bank Dillon, Read & Co. where he remained until founding his own firm, P. H. Nitze & Co, in 1938. He returned to Dillon, Read as Vice-President from 1939 through to 1941.[1]

In 1932, he married Phyllis Pratt, daughter of John Teele Pratt, Standard Oil financier and Ruth Baker Pratt Republican Congresswoman for New York. Nitze's brother-in-law Walter Paepcke founded the Aspen Institute and Aspen Skiing Company. Nitze continued to ski in Aspen until well into his 80s.

In 1950 Nitze became head of Policy Planning in the State Department and was the principal author of a highly influential secret National Security Council document NSC-68 which pressed for increased arms spending by exaggerating the military threat of the Soviet Union.[2] He was also the most important Washington sponsor of the small group of British intellectuals who founded the Institute for Strategic Studies in the late 1950s.[3]

Nitze continued to exaggerate the Soviet threat throughout his career and later was later actively involved in Team B (headed by Richard Pipes) and the Committee on the Present Danger, both of which exaggerated the threat of the Soviet Union to encourage US military spending.

Affiliations

Notes

  1. ↑ Paul Nitze. October 22, 2004. 
  2. ↑ Fred Kaplan, 'Paul Nitze: The man who brought us the Cold War', Slate Magazine, 21 October 2004
  3. ↑ Denis Healey, The Time of My Life (London: Penguin, 1989) p.236
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