Difference between revisions of "Joseph Godson"

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::"In 1950 he joined the Foreign Service and became labor attache at the American Embassy in Ottawa until 1952 and in London from 1953 to 1959. He then went to Belgrade, Yugoslavia, as a first secretary from 1959 to 1961 and to Zagreb as consul general until 1964. He became consul general in Edinburgh in 1968 and remained there until he retired from the service in 1971." <ref>[http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A0DEEDB163DF931A2575AC0A960948260 Joseph Godson - The New York Times, September 12, 1986]</ref>  
 
::"In 1950 he joined the Foreign Service and became labor attache at the American Embassy in Ottawa until 1952 and in London from 1953 to 1959. He then went to Belgrade, Yugoslavia, as a first secretary from 1959 to 1961 and to Zagreb as consul general until 1964. He became consul general in Edinburgh in 1968 and remained there until he retired from the service in 1971." <ref>[http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A0DEEDB163DF931A2575AC0A960948260 Joseph Godson - The New York Times, September 12, 1986]</ref>  
  
:A figure of arguably greater importance at the time earns no mention at all in Crewe and King. Joseph Godson, as US labour attache in London in the Fifties, had played a close supporting role in Gaitskell's battle with the Left. (His son, Roy, a close associate of both [[Stephen Haseler]] and former CIA director [[William Casey]], married the daughter of Gaitskell's principal union ally in the same battle, [[Sam Watson]].) Godson Snr. had stayed on in London after retiring from US government service and with money from the US Congress and NATO had set up the [[Labour Committee for Transatlantic Understanding]] with which both Rodgers and Owen had been involved, and whose treasurer for many years had been electricians' union(EETPU) leader [[Frank Chapple]]. (Chapple was the only prominent trade unionist to sign the fund-raising appeal for the embryonic SDP in the Guardian  in February 1981.)
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==Aneurin Bevan expulsion==
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::Gaitskell held a series of secret meetings at the Russell Hotel, where he planned the expulsion with [[Sam Watson]], the leader of the Durham miners. Also in attendance was the Labour attaché at the American Embassy in London, Joe Godson. One of the most important post-war events in the Labour Party's internal affairs was overseen by an American spook. <ref> Smear: Wilson and the Secret State, Stephen Dorril and Robin Ramsay, Fourth Estate Ltd, 1991, p14 </ref>
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:A figure of arguably greater importance at the time earns no mention at all in Crewe and King. Joseph Godson, as US labour attaché in London in the Fifties, had played a close supporting role in Gaitskell's battle with the Left. (His son, Roy, a close associate of both [[Stephen Haseler]] and former CIA director [[William Casey]], married the daughter of Gaitskell's principal union ally in the same battle, [[Sam Watson]].) Godson Snr. had stayed on in London after retiring from US government service and with money from the US Congress and NATO had set up the [[Labour Committee for Transatlantic Understanding]] with which both Rodgers and Owen had been involved, and whose treasurer for many years had been electricians' union(EETPU) leader [[Frank Chapple]]. (Chapple was the only prominent trade unionist to sign the fund-raising appeal for the embryonic SDP in the Guardian  in February 1981.)
  
 
:Joseph Godson, in an active retirement, was also organising European initiatives for the [[Centre for Strategic and International Studies]] (CSIS), the proselytising think-tank which funded the author of the SDP/Liberals joint policy statement in 1987. He combined that with running US government-funded educational visits for British trade unionists and editing 35 Years of NATO (Dodd, Mead, 1984) a transatlantic symposium on 'the changing political, economic and military setting', funded by [[Rupert Murdoch]]'s Times and introduced by its then editor [[Charles Douglas-Home]] and NATO secretary general [[Peter Carrington]].
 
:Joseph Godson, in an active retirement, was also organising European initiatives for the [[Centre for Strategic and International Studies]] (CSIS), the proselytising think-tank which funded the author of the SDP/Liberals joint policy statement in 1987. He combined that with running US government-funded educational visits for British trade unionists and editing 35 Years of NATO (Dodd, Mead, 1984) a transatlantic symposium on 'the changing political, economic and military setting', funded by [[Rupert Murdoch]]'s Times and introduced by its then editor [[Charles Douglas-Home]] and NATO secretary general [[Peter Carrington]].

Revision as of 21:58, 17 December 2007

Labour attache at the US Embassy in London from 1953 to 1959. Later European Co-ordinator for the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Background

"Mr. Godson, a native of Poland, was a 1937 graduate of the College of the City of New York and received a law degree from New York University in 1940.
"In 1950 he joined the Foreign Service and became labor attache at the American Embassy in Ottawa until 1952 and in London from 1953 to 1959. He then went to Belgrade, Yugoslavia, as a first secretary from 1959 to 1961 and to Zagreb as consul general until 1964. He became consul general in Edinburgh in 1968 and remained there until he retired from the service in 1971." [1]

Aneurin Bevan expulsion

Gaitskell held a series of secret meetings at the Russell Hotel, where he planned the expulsion with Sam Watson, the leader of the Durham miners. Also in attendance was the Labour attaché at the American Embassy in London, Joe Godson. One of the most important post-war events in the Labour Party's internal affairs was overseen by an American spook. [2]
A figure of arguably greater importance at the time earns no mention at all in Crewe and King. Joseph Godson, as US labour attaché in London in the Fifties, had played a close supporting role in Gaitskell's battle with the Left. (His son, Roy, a close associate of both Stephen Haseler and former CIA director William Casey, married the daughter of Gaitskell's principal union ally in the same battle, Sam Watson.) Godson Snr. had stayed on in London after retiring from US government service and with money from the US Congress and NATO had set up the Labour Committee for Transatlantic Understanding with which both Rodgers and Owen had been involved, and whose treasurer for many years had been electricians' union(EETPU) leader Frank Chapple. (Chapple was the only prominent trade unionist to sign the fund-raising appeal for the embryonic SDP in the Guardian in February 1981.)
Joseph Godson, in an active retirement, was also organising European initiatives for the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), the proselytising think-tank which funded the author of the SDP/Liberals joint policy statement in 1987. He combined that with running US government-funded educational visits for British trade unionists and editing 35 Years of NATO (Dodd, Mead, 1984) a transatlantic symposium on 'the changing political, economic and military setting', funded by Rupert Murdoch's Times and introduced by its then editor Charles Douglas-Home and NATO secretary general Peter Carrington.
Godson's foremost British associate in this CSIS/NATO work was SDP founder member Alan Lee Williams, a former Labour MP and junior defence minister who was treasurer of the European Movement from 1972 and 1979. From his office as director of the English Speaking Union he had chaired Godson's Labour and Trade Union Press Service operation and, with the renewed rise of CND in the late 1970s, had become a central figure in the government-funded Peace Through NATO. [3]

Affiliations

Notes

  1. Joseph Godson - The New York Times, September 12, 1986
  2. Smear: Wilson and the Secret State, Stephen Dorril and Robin Ramsay, Fourth Estate Ltd, 1991, p14
  3. By Tom Easton, From Lobster 31, June 1996 Who were they travelling with? Last Accessed 16th June 2007