George Ball
Encyclopedia
George Wildman Ball was an American diplomat
.
. He lived in Evanston, Illinois
and graduated from Northwestern University
.
During 1944 – 45 he was director of the Strategic Bombing Survey
in London.
He was the Under Secretary of State for Economic and Agricultural Affairs in the administrations of John F. Kennedy
and Lyndon B. Johnson
. He is well known for his opposition to escalation in the Vietnam War
. After Kennedy decided to send 16,000 "trainers" to Vietnam, "Ball, the one dissenter in Kennedy’s entourage, pleaded with JFK to recall France’s devastating defeat in 1954 at Dien Bien Phu
and throughout Indochina. 'Within five years we’ll have 300,000 men in the paddies and jungles and never find them again.'" In response to this prediction, "JFK laughed and replied, 'Well, George, you're supposed one of the smartest guys in town, but you're crazier than hell. That will never happen.'"
Ball was one of the architects of Cable 243
, and a supporter of the 1963 overthrow
of South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem
.
Ball also served as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations from June 26 to September 25, 1968. In August 1968 in UN Security Council he passionately defended the right of Czechoslovakia for freedom against the Soviet invasion and the right to live without dictatorships.
During the Nixon
Administration, George Ball helped draft American policy proposals in the Persian Gulf
.
Ball was long a critic of Israel
i policies toward its Arab
neighbors. He "called for the recalibration of America’s Israel policy in a much noted Foreign Affairs
essay in 1977," and in 1992 co-authored The Passionate Attachment with his son, Douglas Ball. The book argued that American support for Israel
has been morally, politically and financially costly.
He often used the aphorism (perhaps originally coined by Ian Fleming
in Diamonds are Forever
) "Nothing propinks like propinquity," later dubbed the Ball Rule of Power. It means that the more direct access you have to the president, the greater your power, no matter what your title actually is.
Ball was an avowed socioeconomic elitist and an advocate of free trade, multinational corporations and the latters' theoretical ability to neutralize what he considered to be "obsolete" nation states. Prior to and following his ambassadorship, Ball was employed by Lehman Brothers Kuhn Loeb
. He was a senior managing director at Lehman Brothers until his retirement in 1982. Ball was among the first North American members of the Bilderberg Group
, attending every meeting except for one before his death.
in the 1974, made for TV film, The Missiles of October
, by James Karen
in the 2000 movie Thirteen Days
and by Bruce McGill
in the 2002 TV film Path to War
.
Foreign relations of the United States
The United States has formal diplomatic relations with most nations. The United States federal statutes relating to foreign relations can be found in Title 22 of the United States Code.-Pacific:-Americas:-Caribbean:...
.
Biography
Ball was born in Des Moines, IowaDes Moines, Iowa
Des Moines is the capital and the most populous city in the US state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small portion of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines which was shortened to "Des Moines" in 1857...
. He lived in Evanston, Illinois
Evanston, Illinois
Evanston is a suburban municipality in Cook County, Illinois 12 miles north of downtown Chicago, bordering Chicago to the south, Skokie to the west, and Wilmette to the north, with an estimated population of 74,360 as of 2003. It is one of the North Shore communities that adjoin Lake Michigan...
and graduated from Northwestern University
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
.
During 1944 – 45 he was director of the Strategic Bombing Survey
Strategic bombing survey (Europe)
The United States Strategic Bombing Survey was established by the Secretary of War on 3 November 1944, pursuant to a Directive from President Roosevelt...
in London.
He was the Under Secretary of State for Economic and Agricultural Affairs in the administrations of John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
and Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...
. He is well known for his opposition to escalation in the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
. After Kennedy decided to send 16,000 "trainers" to Vietnam, "Ball, the one dissenter in Kennedy’s entourage, pleaded with JFK to recall France’s devastating defeat in 1954 at Dien Bien Phu
Battle of Dien Bien Phu
The Battle of Dien Bien Phu was the climactic confrontation of the First Indochina War between the French Union's French Far East Expeditionary Corps and Viet Minh communist revolutionaries. The battle occurred between March and May 1954 and culminated in a comprehensive French defeat that...
and throughout Indochina. 'Within five years we’ll have 300,000 men in the paddies and jungles and never find them again.'" In response to this prediction, "JFK laughed and replied, 'Well, George, you're supposed one of the smartest guys in town, but you're crazier than hell. That will never happen.'"
Ball was one of the architects of Cable 243
Cable 243
DEPTEL 243, also known as Telegram 243, the August 24 cable or most commonly Cable 243, was a high-profile message sent on August 24, 1963 by the United States Department of State to Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., the US ambassador to South Vietnam...
, and a supporter of the 1963 overthrow
1963 South Vietnamese coup
In November 1963, President Ngô Đình Diệm of South Vietnam was deposed by a group of Army of the Republic of Vietnam officers who disagreed with his handling of the Buddhist crisis and, in general, his increasing oppression of national groups in the name of fighting the communist Vietcong.The...
of South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem
Ngo Dinh Diem
Ngô Đình Diệm was the first president of South Vietnam . In the wake of the French withdrawal from Indochina as a result of the 1954 Geneva Accords, Diệm led the effort to create the Republic of Vietnam. Accruing considerable U.S. support due to his staunch anti-Communism, he achieved victory in a...
.
Ball also served as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations from June 26 to September 25, 1968. In August 1968 in UN Security Council he passionately defended the right of Czechoslovakia for freedom against the Soviet invasion and the right to live without dictatorships.
During the Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
Administration, George Ball helped draft American policy proposals in the Persian Gulf
Persian Gulf
The Persian Gulf, in Southwest Asia, is an extension of the Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.The Persian Gulf was the focus of the 1980–1988 Iran-Iraq War, in which each side attacked the other's oil tankers...
.
Ball was long a critic of Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i policies toward its Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
neighbors. He "called for the recalibration of America’s Israel policy in a much noted Foreign Affairs
Foreign Affairs
Foreign Affairs is an American magazine and website on international relations and U.S. foreign policy published since 1922 by the Council on Foreign Relations six times annually...
essay in 1977," and in 1992 co-authored The Passionate Attachment with his son, Douglas Ball. The book argued that American support for Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
has been morally, politically and financially costly.
He often used the aphorism (perhaps originally coined by Ian Fleming
Ian Fleming
Ian Lancaster Fleming was a British author, journalist and Naval Intelligence Officer.Fleming is best known for creating the fictional British spy James Bond and for a series of twelve novels and nine short stories about the character, one of the biggest-selling series of fictional books of...
in Diamonds are Forever
Diamonds Are Forever (novel)
Diamonds Are Forever is the fourth of Ian Fleming's James Bond series of novels. It was first published by Jonathan Cape in the UK on 26 March 1956 and the first print run of 12,500 copies sold out quickly...
) "Nothing propinks like propinquity," later dubbed the Ball Rule of Power. It means that the more direct access you have to the president, the greater your power, no matter what your title actually is.
Ball was an avowed socioeconomic elitist and an advocate of free trade, multinational corporations and the latters' theoretical ability to neutralize what he considered to be "obsolete" nation states. Prior to and following his ambassadorship, Ball was employed by Lehman Brothers Kuhn Loeb
Lehman Brothers
Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. was a global financial services firm. Before declaring bankruptcy in 2008, Lehman was the fourth largest investment bank in the USA , doing business in investment banking, equity and fixed-income sales and trading Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (former NYSE ticker...
. He was a senior managing director at Lehman Brothers until his retirement in 1982. Ball was among the first North American members of the Bilderberg Group
Bilderberg Group
The Bilderberg Group, Bilderberg conference, or Bilderberg Club is an annual, unofficial, invitation-only conference of approximately 120 to 140 guests from North America and Western Europe, most of whom are people of influence. About one-third are from government and politics, and two-thirds from...
, attending every meeting except for one before his death.
In popular culture
George Ball was portrayed by John RandolphJohn Randolph (actor)
John Randolph was an American film, television and stage actor.-Early life:Randolph was born Emanuel Hirsch Cohen in New York City, the son of Jewish immigrants Dorothy , an insurance agent, and Louis Cohen, a hat manufacturer...
in the 1974, made for TV film, The Missiles of October
The Missiles of October
The Missiles of October is a 1974 docudrama made-for-television play about the Cuban missile crisis. The title evokes the book The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman about the missteps among the great powers and the failed chances to give an opponent a graceful way out, which led to the First...
, by James Karen
James Karen
James Karen is an American character actor of Broadway, film and television.-Life and career:Karen was born Jacob Karnofsky in Wilkes-Barre, in northeastern Pennsylvania, the son of Russian-born Jewish immigrants Mae and Joseph H. Karnofsky, a produce dealer. As a young man, Karen was encouraged...
in the 2000 movie Thirteen Days
Thirteen Days
"Thirteen Days" is often used to denote the period of the Cuban missile crisis.Thirteen Days is also the title of:* Thirteen Days , a 1969 memoir by Robert F. Kennedy of the crisis...
and by Bruce McGill
Bruce McGill
Bruce Travis McGill is an American actor who has an extensive list of credits in film and television. He is perhaps best known for his role as Jack Dalton on the television series MacGyver and as Daniel Simpson "D-Day" Day in National Lampoon's Animal House.-Early life:McGill was born in San...
in the 2002 TV film Path to War
Path to War
Path to War is a 2002 American biographical television film, produced by HBO and directed by John Frankenheimer that deals directly with the Vietnam War as seen through the eyes of United States President Lyndon B...
.
External links
- George W. Ball Papers at the Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library, Princeton University
- Photo: George Ball
- Cold War International History Project's Cold War Files
- Bio at Northwestern University
- Bio at Montgomery Endowment
- Profile: George Ball, The Center for Cooperative Research
- Memorandum for the President from George Ball, "A Compromise Solution in South Vietnam"
- Memo from George Ball to McNamara
- Personal papers at National Archives Records
- Personal papers at Princeton University
- George W. Ball. How to save Israel in spite of herself, Foreign AffairsForeign AffairsForeign Affairs is an American magazine and website on international relations and U.S. foreign policy published since 1922 by the Council on Foreign Relations six times annually...
, The Council on Foreign RelationsCouncil on Foreign RelationsThe Council on Foreign Relations is an American nonprofit nonpartisan membership organization, publisher, and think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy and international affairs...
, April 1977. - George W. Ball. The Coming Crisis in Israeli-American Relations, Foreign AffairsForeign AffairsForeign Affairs is an American magazine and website on international relations and U.S. foreign policy published since 1922 by the Council on Foreign Relations six times annually...
, The Council on Foreign RelationsCouncil on Foreign RelationsThe Council on Foreign Relations is an American nonprofit nonpartisan membership organization, publisher, and think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy and international affairs...
, Winter 1979. - George W. Ball. The conduct of American foreign policy, Foreign AffairsForeign AffairsForeign Affairs is an American magazine and website on international relations and U.S. foreign policy published since 1922 by the Council on Foreign Relations six times annually...
, The Council on Foreign RelationsCouncil on Foreign RelationsThe Council on Foreign Relations is an American nonprofit nonpartisan membership organization, publisher, and think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy and international affairs...
, 1980. - James A. Bill. George Ball: Behind the Scenes in U.S. Foreign Policy
- Robert Dallek. George Ball: Behind the Scenes in U.S. Foreign Policy, The Washington Monthly, July 1997.
- Richard Curtiss. George Ball's Middle East views were muffled by U.S. media, Washington Report on Middle East AffairsWashington Report on Middle East AffairsThe Washington Report on Middle East Affairs magazine, published nine times per year in Washington, D.C., focuses on "news and analysis from and about the Middle East and U.S...
, July 1994. - William Engdahl. George Ball's role in the 1979 Iranian Revolution, Payvand News, March 10, 2006.
- Book review of biography on George Ball
- New York Times obituary
- Oral History Interviews with George Ball, from the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library
- Interview with George W. Ball, 1981, on the Vietnam War. WGBH Open Vault.