Roswell Gilpatric
Encyclopedia
Roswell Leavitt Gilpatric (November 4, 1906 – March 15, 1996) was a prominent New York City
corporate attorney and government official who served as Deputy Secretary of Defense
from 1961–64, when he played a pivotal role in the high-stake strategies of the Cuban Missile Crisis
, advising President John F. Kennedy
as well as Robert McNamara
and McGeorge Bundy
on dealing with the Russian nuclear
missile threat. Gilpatric later served as Chairman of the Task Force on Nuclear Proliferation in 1964.
, the son of Wall Street
attorney Walter Hodges Gilpatric, an Amherst College
graduate born in Warren, Rhode Island
, and the former Charlotte Elizabeth Leavitt, a graduate of Mount Holyoke College
born to American missionary parents in Osaka
, Japan
. Charlotte Leavitt was a college classmate and lifelong friend of Frances Perkins
, the first woman appointed to a Presidential Cabinet. On his mother's side Roswell Gilpatric was related to Harvard College
astronomer Henrietta Swan Leavitt
, whose father was the Congregational minister George Roswell Leavitt.
Gilpatric attended Poly Preparatory Country Day School from 1917 to 1920, when the family moved to White Plains
, where he attended high school for two years before transferring to the Hotchkiss School
, graduating in 1924. His duties as a scholarship boy, which included waiting on tables and cleaning rooms, kept down his participation in extracurricular activities at Hotchkiss, but he was a member of the Cum Laude Society
.
He graduated from Yale University
in 1928, Phi Beta Kappa; and then from Yale Law School in 1931, where he was an editor of the Yale Law Journal
. Following his graduation, Gilpatric went to work for the New York City law firm of Cravath, Swaine & Moore
, where he became a partner and where he practiced when not serving in government. Gilpatric owed much of his political cachet to his special relationship with the celebrated lawyer, diplomat and investment banker Robert A. Lovett
, to whom Gilpatric was a protégé.
Gilpatric served as Under Secretary of the Air Force
from 1951-1953. During 1956 and 1957, Gilpatric was a member of the Rockefeller Brothers'
Special Studies Project
. Gilpatric was a childhood friend of Governor Nelson Rockefeller
.
Gilpatric joined the new Kennedy administration in 1961 as part of the wave of Kennedy appointments. His appointment was unusual: he was one of the few Pentagon leaders handpicked by the new President. Fearing that Robert McNamara was inexperienced in Washington's ways, Kennedy chose Gilpatric to add experience to his Defense team. Gilpatric's boss, United States Secretary of Defense
Robert S. McNamara, was known as a whiz kid, a Midwestern industrial production wunderkind. But Kennedy sensed McNamara would need a strong lieutenant savvy in the ways of Washington.
Kennedy chose Gilpatric as the Pentagon's number two, passing over Paul Nitze
, Gilpatric's old classmate from Hotchkiss
, who had wanted the job. It was a propitious appointment: within a few months, the dashing Eastern lawyer and his Midwestern boss were finishing each other's sentences. McNamara frequently started out with the expression: "Ros and I...."
As the Cuban crisis began to unfold, Gilpatric was appointed to the EXCOMM
team, the top-level working group appointed by President Kennedy to assess the Russian missile threat in Cuba. At one point during the tense standoff of the Cuban Missile Crisis
, McGeorge Bundy
was arguing for United States bombing of Cuba to eliminate the threat of a Russian nuclear attack. McNamara countered, arguing that there should be no bombing because the Russian response was unpredictable.
It was at this critical moment that Gilpatric stepped in to settle the argument. "Essentially, Mr. President," Gilpatric was recorded telling Kennedy, "this is a choice between limited action and unlimited action, and most of us think it is better to start with limited action." It was Gilpatric's intervention that changed the direction of the discussion, according to Harvard professor and former Department of Defense
official Graham T. Allison
, who authored a book, Essence of Decision
, about the crisis. Proposing the blockade was McNamara and Gilpatric's solution to providing President Kennedy with a strong response – but short of the airstrike that McGeorge Bundy and others were pushing. By crafting their solution, and with the normally reticent Gilpatric speaking up forcefully for it, the two managed to change the thrust of policy.
The President followed Gilpatric and McNamara's recommendation.
(The exchange between Gilpatric and Kennedy at the 506th meeting of the National Security Council
in Washington DC, October 21, 1962, from 2:30-4:50 p.m., was recorded and has been released to the public. The minutes of that meeting may be read online at the Yale Law School Avalon Project).
Gilpatric was not always so dovish. He often took a hard line against the Communist threat, and was not above using force in other matters of international security. In the Eisenhower administration, Gilpatric headed a secret task force charged with "preventing Communist domination of Vietnam." Gilpatric argued forcefully for U.S. commitment to halt the Communist threat in South Vietnam
. In his position with the Kennedy administration, Gilpatric later signed off on the overthrow of the Diem
government. Gilpatric was also a member of a special task force which hatched "Operation Mongoose"
, a dirty tricks campaign aimed at destabilizing the government of Fidel Castro
in Cuba
.
At the same time, Gilpatric showed that he could be intellectually flexible on occasion. When it came to the admission of China
into the United Nations
, for instance, Gilpatric argued forcefully in a letter to The New York Times, written during his Eisenhower years, that the United States should stop trying to block the Communist country's admission into the international governing body. "By no longer trying to block Communist China's admission to the United Nations the United States might be able to bring about a reduction in tensions in southeast Asia that would lessen the chances of further Communist 'nibbling' or 'brush-fire' type of aggression."
Gilpatric did not always face an easy task while acting as go-between for the Pentagon generals and the White House. President Kennedy developed such an intense dislike, for instance, of General Curtis Lemay
that every time his name came up, Kennedy went ballistic. "I mean he just would be frantic at the end of a session with LeMay", Gilpatric recalled, "because, you know, LeMay couldn't listen or wouldn't take in, and he would make what Kennedy considered ... outrageous proposals that bore no relation to the state of affairs in the 1960s. And the President never saw him unless at some ceremonial affair, or where he felt he had to make a record of having listened to LeMay, as he did on the whole question of an air strike against Cuba. And he had to sit there. I saw the President right afterwards. He was just choleric."
It was Gilpatric's calm demeanor and good judgment, wrote Robert F. Kennedy
, that led his brother the President to rely on Gilpatric, especially in times of crisis. When Robert McNamara
met the Brooklyn-born lawyer at Kennedy's suggestion, according to historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr., he found Gilpatric "easy, resourceful and intelligent, and the partnership was immediately sealed." Gilpatric made himself an "indispensable" figure in the Kennedy administration, wrote longtime JFK aide Ted Sorensen
.
As an attorney, Gilpatric represented aviation inventor and high-tech pioneer Sherman Fairchild
, who left Gilpatric a bequest in his will. Gilpatric was awarded an honorary degree by Bowdoin College
in Brunswick, Maine
, citing his years of government service, as well as his parttime residency in Maine.
be withdrawn for sale by the auction house as they had been stolen from his New York City law office at Cravath.
After her marriage to Aristotle Onassis, Jackie Kennedy Onassis wrote to Gilpatric: "I hope you know all you were and are and will ever be to me. With my love, J." Gilpatric maintained that he and the former First Lady had been only friends, although he was her frequent escort and many press accounts suggested they had a romantic relationship. "In private," said The Independent in its obituary, "he was widely believed to have been the lover of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
." Between marriages, Gilpatric had frequently accompanied the former First Lady to Palm Beach, Florida
, where Gilpatric had a home.
L. Patrick Gray
alleged that Gilpatric, back in private practice and with TIME
magazine as a client at the time of the Watergate break-in, learned from sources at the magazine that a senior official at the FBI was leaking to Sandy Smith, one of its reporters. Outraged by such behavior, Gilpatric tipped off Nixon administration officials to the identity of the official, Gray claimed.
In Gray's version of events, Gilpatric called his acquaintance Attorney General
John Mitchell
and told Mitchell that the informer was, in fact, FBI official W. Mark Felt
, the same official later identified by other sources to be Deep Throat
. Mitchell in turn, Gray claimed, urged then-Attorney General
Richard G. Kleindienst to pressure Gray to fire Felt. Was it true? In early 2008, Gilpatric's son John threw cold water on the claim. Roswell Gilpatric had never mentioned knowing John Mitchell, his son told The New York Times.
But as recorded by the then-secret Nixon White House taping system, Nixon, Gray and chief domestic adviser John Ehrlichman
appear to confirm Gray's version in a conversation recorded on February 16, 1973 as the three discussed the alleged press leaks by Mark Felt. During the discussion, Nixon suggested that they bring in Felt's accuser:
Gilpatric served as chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York
, and was a longtime trustee of the Metropolitan Museum, of which he was vice chairman, the New York Public Library
, New York University
and the Woodrow Wilson Foundation. Gilpatric was also a longtime member of the Council on Foreign Relations
. He retired as partner with Cravath, Swaine & Moore
, where he served as presiding partner from 1966 to 1977.
Gilpatric had many clients; they included the Graham family of The Washington Post Company, on whose board of directors he sat. Gilpatric was also a lecturer at Yale Law School
, and a member of Yale University Council from 1957 to 1962.
in Manhattan
. An avid tennis player and sailor, Gilpatric had three children. He was married five times. At his death, he was married to Miriam Thorne Gilpatric, the widow of diplomat Landon Ketchum Thorne, Jr., father of Julia Thorne
, first wife of United States Senator John F. Kerry.
Gilpatric died of prostate cancer on March 15, 1996, in New York City, and was buried in Somesville, Mount Desert Island
, Maine
, where he had a summer home. Gilpatric's papers during his government service are part of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library.
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
corporate attorney and government official who served as Deputy Secretary of Defense
United States Deputy Secretary of Defense
The Deputy Secretary of Defense is the second-highest ranking official in the Department of Defense of the United States of America. The Deputy Secretary of Defense is appointed by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate...
from 1961–64, when he played a pivotal role in the high-stake strategies of the Cuban Missile Crisis
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis was a confrontation among the Soviet Union, Cuba and the United States in October 1962, during the Cold War...
, advising President 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....
as well as Robert McNamara
Robert McNamara
Robert Strange McNamara was an American business executive and the eighth Secretary of Defense, serving under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson from 1961 to 1968, during which time he played a large role in escalating the United States involvement in the Vietnam War...
and McGeorge Bundy
McGeorge Bundy
McGeorge "Mac" Bundy was United States National Security Advisor to Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson from 1961 through 1966, and president of the Ford Foundation from 1966 through 1979...
on dealing with the Russian nuclear
Nuclear weapon
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. Both reactions release vast quantities of energy from relatively small amounts of matter. The first fission bomb test released the same amount...
missile threat. Gilpatric later served as Chairman of the Task Force on Nuclear Proliferation in 1964.
Early life and career
Gilpatric was born in 1906 in BrooklynBrooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, the son of Wall Street
Wall Street
Wall Street refers to the financial district of New York City, named after and centered on the eight-block-long street running from Broadway to South Street on the East River in Lower Manhattan. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, or...
attorney Walter Hodges Gilpatric, an Amherst College
Amherst College
Amherst College is a private liberal arts college located in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Amherst is an exclusively undergraduate four-year institution and enrolled 1,744 students in the fall of 2009...
graduate born in Warren, Rhode Island
Warren, Rhode Island
Warren is a town in Bristol County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 10,611 at the 2010 census.-History:Warren was the site of the Indian village of Sowams on the peninsula called Pokanoket , and was first explored by Europeans in 1621, by Edward Winslow and Stephen Hopkins...
, and the former Charlotte Elizabeth Leavitt, a graduate of Mount Holyoke College
Mount Holyoke College
Mount Holyoke College is a liberal arts college for women in South Hadley, Massachusetts. It was the first member of the Seven Sisters colleges, and served as a model for some of the others...
born to American missionary parents in Osaka
Osaka
is a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. Charlotte Leavitt was a college classmate and lifelong friend of Frances Perkins
Frances Perkins
Frances Perkins , born Fannie Coralie Perkins, was the U.S. Secretary of Labor from 1933 to 1945, and the first woman appointed to the U.S. Cabinet. As a loyal supporter of her friend, Franklin D. Roosevelt, she helped pull the labor movement into the New Deal coalition...
, the first woman appointed to a Presidential Cabinet. On his mother's side Roswell Gilpatric was related to Harvard College
Harvard College
Harvard College, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of two schools within Harvard University granting undergraduate degrees...
astronomer Henrietta Swan Leavitt
Henrietta Swan Leavitt
Henrietta Swan Leavitt was an American astronomer. A graduate of Radcliffe College, Leavitt went to work in 1893 at the Harvard College Observatory in a menial capacity as a "computer", assigned to count images on photographic plates...
, whose father was the Congregational minister George Roswell Leavitt.
Gilpatric attended Poly Preparatory Country Day School from 1917 to 1920, when the family moved to White Plains
White Plains, New York
White Plains is a city and the county seat of Westchester County, New York, United States. It is located in south-central Westchester, about east of the Hudson River and northwest of Long Island Sound...
, where he attended high school for two years before transferring to the Hotchkiss School
Hotchkiss School
The Hotchkiss School is an independent, coeducational American college preparatory boarding school located in Lakeville, Connecticut. Founded in 1891, the school enrolls students in grades 9 through 12 and a small number of postgraduates...
, graduating in 1924. His duties as a scholarship boy, which included waiting on tables and cleaning rooms, kept down his participation in extracurricular activities at Hotchkiss, but he was a member of the Cum Laude Society
Cum Laude Society
The Cum Laude Society is an organization that honors scholastic achievement at secondary institutions, similar to the Phi Beta Kappa Society, which honors scholastic achievements at the university level. It was founded in 1906 as the Alpha Delta Tau fraternity and changed its name in the 1950s...
.
He graduated from Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
in 1928, Phi Beta Kappa; and then from Yale Law School in 1931, where he was an editor of the Yale Law Journal
Yale Law Journal
The Yale Law Journal is a student-run law review affiliated with the Yale Law School. Published continuously since 1891, it is the most widely known of the eight law reviews published by students at Yale Law School...
. Following his graduation, Gilpatric went to work for the New York City law firm of Cravath, Swaine & Moore
Cravath, Swaine & Moore
Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP is a prominent American law firm based in New York City, with an additional office in London. The second oldest firm in the country, Cravath was founded in 1819 and consistently ranks first among the world's most prestigious law firms according to a survey of partners,...
, where he became a partner and where he practiced when not serving in government. Gilpatric owed much of his political cachet to his special relationship with the celebrated lawyer, diplomat and investment banker Robert A. Lovett
Robert A. Lovett
Robert Abercrombie Lovett was the fourth United States Secretary of Defense, serving in the cabinet of President Harry S. Truman from 1951 to 1953 and in this capacity, directed the Korean War. Promoted to the position from deputy secretary of defense Domhoff described Lovett as a "Cold War...
, to whom Gilpatric was a protégé.
Gilpatric served as Under Secretary of the Air Force
United States Under Secretary of the Air Force
The Under Secretary of the Air Force is the second-highest ranking civilian official in the Department of the Air Force of the United States of America, serving directly under the Secretary of the Air Force...
from 1951-1953. During 1956 and 1957, Gilpatric was a member of the Rockefeller Brothers'
Rockefeller Brothers Fund
The Rockefeller Brothers Fund , , is an international philanthropic organisation created and run by members of the Rockefeller family. It was set up in New York City in 1940 as the primary philanthropic vehicle of the five famous Rockefeller brothers: John D...
Special Studies Project
Special Studies Project
The Special Studies Project was a study funded by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and conceived by its then president, Nelson Rockefeller, to 'define the major problems and opportunities facing the U.S. and clarify national purposes and objectives, and to develop principles which could serve as the...
. Gilpatric was a childhood friend of Governor Nelson Rockefeller
Nelson Rockefeller
Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller was the 41st Vice President of the United States , serving under President Gerald Ford, and the 49th Governor of New York , as well as serving the Roosevelt, Truman and Eisenhower administrations in a variety of positions...
.
Deputy Secretary of Defense
United States Secretary of Defense
The Secretary of Defense is the head and chief executive officer of the Department of Defense of the United States of America. This position corresponds to what is generally known as a Defense Minister in other countries...
Robert S. McNamara, was known as a whiz kid, a Midwestern industrial production wunderkind. But Kennedy sensed McNamara would need a strong lieutenant savvy in the ways of Washington.
Kennedy chose Gilpatric as the Pentagon's number two, passing over Paul Nitze
Paul Nitze
Paul Henry Nitze was a high-ranking United States government official who helped shape Cold War defense policy over the course of numerous presidential administrations.-Early life, education, and family:...
, Gilpatric's old classmate from Hotchkiss
Hotchkiss School
The Hotchkiss School is an independent, coeducational American college preparatory boarding school located in Lakeville, Connecticut. Founded in 1891, the school enrolls students in grades 9 through 12 and a small number of postgraduates...
, who had wanted the job. It was a propitious appointment: within a few months, the dashing Eastern lawyer and his Midwestern boss were finishing each other's sentences. McNamara frequently started out with the expression: "Ros and I...."
As the Cuban crisis began to unfold, Gilpatric was appointed to the EXCOMM
ExComm
The Executive Committee of the National Security Council was a body of United States government officials that convened to advise President John F. Kennedy during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962...
team, the top-level working group appointed by President Kennedy to assess the Russian missile threat in Cuba. At one point during the tense standoff of the Cuban Missile Crisis
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis was a confrontation among the Soviet Union, Cuba and the United States in October 1962, during the Cold War...
, McGeorge Bundy
McGeorge Bundy
McGeorge "Mac" Bundy was United States National Security Advisor to Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson from 1961 through 1966, and president of the Ford Foundation from 1966 through 1979...
was arguing for United States bombing of Cuba to eliminate the threat of a Russian nuclear attack. McNamara countered, arguing that there should be no bombing because the Russian response was unpredictable.
It was at this critical moment that Gilpatric stepped in to settle the argument. "Essentially, Mr. President," Gilpatric was recorded telling Kennedy, "this is a choice between limited action and unlimited action, and most of us think it is better to start with limited action." It was Gilpatric's intervention that changed the direction of the discussion, according to Harvard professor and former Department of Defense
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
official Graham T. Allison
Graham T. Allison
Graham Tillett Allison, Jr. is an American political scientist and professor at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. He is renowned for his contribution in the late 1960s and early 1970s to the bureaucratic analysis of decision making, especially during times of crisis...
, who authored a book, Essence of Decision
Essence of Decision
Essence of Decision: Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis is an analysis, by political scientist Graham T. Allison, of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Allison used the crisis as a case study for future studies into governmental decision-making. The book became the founding study of the John F...
, about the crisis. Proposing the blockade was McNamara and Gilpatric's solution to providing President Kennedy with a strong response – but short of the airstrike that McGeorge Bundy and others were pushing. By crafting their solution, and with the normally reticent Gilpatric speaking up forcefully for it, the two managed to change the thrust of policy.
(The exchange between Gilpatric and Kennedy at the 506th meeting of the National Security Council
United States National Security Council
The White House National Security Council in the United States is the principal forum used by the President of the United States for considering national security and foreign policy matters with his senior national security advisors and Cabinet officials and is part of the Executive Office of the...
in Washington DC, October 21, 1962, from 2:30-4:50 p.m., was recorded and has been released to the public. The minutes of that meeting may be read online at the Yale Law School Avalon Project).
Gilpatric was not always so dovish. He often took a hard line against the Communist threat, and was not above using force in other matters of international security. In the Eisenhower administration, Gilpatric headed a secret task force charged with "preventing Communist domination of Vietnam." Gilpatric argued forcefully for U.S. commitment to halt the Communist threat in South Vietnam
South Vietnam
South Vietnam was a state which governed southern Vietnam until 1975. It received international recognition in 1950 as the "State of Vietnam" and later as the "Republic of Vietnam" . Its capital was Saigon...
. In his position with the Kennedy administration, Gilpatric later signed off on the overthrow of the Diem
Diem
Diem may refer to several different people or phrases:*Ngo Dinh Diem was the leader of the Republic of Vietnam who was assassinated in a military coup in 1963.*Ryan Diem, player in the NFL*Carl Diem, originator of the Olympic torch relay...
government. Gilpatric was also a member of a special task force which hatched "Operation Mongoose"
Cuban Project
The Cuban Project was a program of Central Intelligence Agency covert operations developed during the early years of the administration of President of the United States John F. Kennedy...
, a dirty tricks campaign aimed at destabilizing the government of Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...
in Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
.
At the same time, Gilpatric showed that he could be intellectually flexible on occasion. When it came to the admission of China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
into the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
, for instance, Gilpatric argued forcefully in a letter to The New York Times, written during his Eisenhower years, that the United States should stop trying to block the Communist country's admission into the international governing body. "By no longer trying to block Communist China's admission to the United Nations the United States might be able to bring about a reduction in tensions in southeast Asia that would lessen the chances of further Communist 'nibbling' or 'brush-fire' type of aggression."
Gilpatric did not always face an easy task while acting as go-between for the Pentagon generals and the White House. President Kennedy developed such an intense dislike, for instance, of General Curtis Lemay
Curtis LeMay
Curtis Emerson LeMay was a general in the United States Air Force and the vice presidential running mate of American Independent Party candidate George Wallace in 1968....
that every time his name came up, Kennedy went ballistic. "I mean he just would be frantic at the end of a session with LeMay", Gilpatric recalled, "because, you know, LeMay couldn't listen or wouldn't take in, and he would make what Kennedy considered ... outrageous proposals that bore no relation to the state of affairs in the 1960s. And the President never saw him unless at some ceremonial affair, or where he felt he had to make a record of having listened to LeMay, as he did on the whole question of an air strike against Cuba. And he had to sit there. I saw the President right afterwards. He was just choleric."
It was Gilpatric's calm demeanor and good judgment, wrote Robert F. Kennedy
Robert F. Kennedy
Robert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy , also referred to by his initials RFK, was an American politician, a Democratic senator from New York, and a noted civil rights activist. An icon of modern American liberalism and member of the Kennedy family, he was a younger brother of President John F...
, that led his brother the President to rely on Gilpatric, especially in times of crisis. When Robert McNamara
Robert McNamara
Robert Strange McNamara was an American business executive and the eighth Secretary of Defense, serving under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson from 1961 to 1968, during which time he played a large role in escalating the United States involvement in the Vietnam War...
met the Brooklyn-born lawyer at Kennedy's suggestion, according to historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr., he found Gilpatric "easy, resourceful and intelligent, and the partnership was immediately sealed." Gilpatric made himself an "indispensable" figure in the Kennedy administration, wrote longtime JFK aide Ted Sorensen
Ted Sorensen
Theodore Chaikin "Ted" Sorensen was an American presidential advisor, lawyer and writer, best known as President John F. Kennedy’s special counsel, adviser and legendary speechwriter. President Kennedy once called him his “intellectual blood bank.”-Early life:Sorensen was born in Nebraska, the son...
.
As an attorney, Gilpatric represented aviation inventor and high-tech pioneer Sherman Fairchild
Sherman Fairchild
Sherman Mills Fairchild was an inventor and serial entrepreneur who founded over 70 companies namely Fairchild Aircraft, Fairchild Industries, Fairchild Aviation Corporation and Fairchild Camera and Instrument. Fairchild made significant contributions to the aviation industry and was inducted into...
, who left Gilpatric a bequest in his will. Gilpatric was awarded an honorary degree by Bowdoin College
Bowdoin College
Bowdoin College , founded in 1794, is an elite private liberal arts college located in the coastal Maine town of Brunswick, Maine. As of 2011, U.S. News and World Report ranks Bowdoin 6th among liberal arts colleges in the United States. At times, it was ranked as high as 4th in the country. It is...
in Brunswick, Maine
Brunswick, Maine
Brunswick is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States. The population was 20,278 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Portland-South Portland-Biddeford metropolitan area. Brunswick is home to Bowdoin College, the Bowdoin College Museum of Art, the Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum, , and the...
, citing his years of government service, as well as his parttime residency in Maine.
Alleged lover of Jackie Kennedy
Gilpatric sometimes attracted the attention of the press in his personal life, and he was often linked romantically to former First Lady Jackie Kennedy. A fellow Wall Street attorney offered for sale in the 1970s a trove of personal letters between Gilpatric and the former First Lady. The correspondence spanned five years. The controversial airing of his private correspondence with the former First Lady so annoyed Gilpatric that he formally requested that four letters written to him by the wife of Aristotle OnassisAristotle Onassis
Aristotle Sokratis Onassis , commonly called Ari or Aristo Onassis, was a prominent Greek shipping magnate.- Early life :Onassis was born in Karatass, a suburb of Smyrna to Socrates and Penelope Onassis...
be withdrawn for sale by the auction house as they had been stolen from his New York City law office at Cravath.
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
Jacqueline Lee Bouvier "Jackie" Kennedy Onassis was the wife of the 35th President of the United States, John F. Kennedy, and served as First Lady of the United States during his presidency from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. Five years later she married Greek shipping magnate Aristotle...
." Between marriages, Gilpatric had frequently accompanied the former First Lady to Palm Beach, Florida
Palm Beach, Florida
The Town of Palm Beach is an incorporated town in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The Intracoastal Waterway separates it from the neighboring cities of West Palm Beach and Lake Worth...
, where Gilpatric had a home.
Other Activities
Another strange twist involved Gilpatric after his death, when a 2008 book by former acting director of the FBIFederal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
L. Patrick Gray
L. Patrick Gray
Louis Patrick Gray III was acting Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation from May 2, 1972 to April 27, 1973. During this time, the FBI was in charge of the initial investigation into the burglaries that sparked the Watergate scandal, which eventually led to the resignation of President...
alleged that Gilpatric, back in private practice and with TIME
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine as a client at the time of the Watergate break-in, learned from sources at the magazine that a senior official at the FBI was leaking to Sandy Smith, one of its reporters. Outraged by such behavior, Gilpatric tipped off Nixon administration officials to the identity of the official, Gray claimed.
In Gray's version of events, Gilpatric called his acquaintance Attorney General
Attorney General
In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general, or attorney-general, is the main legal advisor to the government, and in some jurisdictions he or she may also have executive responsibility for law enforcement or responsibility for public prosecutions.The term is used to refer to any person...
John Mitchell
John N. Mitchell
John Newton Mitchell was the Attorney General of the United States from 1969 to 1972 under President Richard Nixon...
and told Mitchell that the informer was, in fact, FBI official W. Mark Felt
W. Mark Felt
William Mark Felt, Sr. was an agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation , who retired in 1973 as the Bureau's Associate Director...
, the same official later identified by other sources to be Deep Throat
Deep Throat
Deep Throat is the pseudonym given to the secret informant who provided information to Bob Woodward of The Washington Post in 1972 about the involvement of United States President Richard Nixon's administration in what came to be known as the Watergate scandal...
. Mitchell in turn, Gray claimed, urged then-Attorney General
Attorney General
In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general, or attorney-general, is the main legal advisor to the government, and in some jurisdictions he or she may also have executive responsibility for law enforcement or responsibility for public prosecutions.The term is used to refer to any person...
Richard G. Kleindienst to pressure Gray to fire Felt. Was it true? In early 2008, Gilpatric's son John threw cold water on the claim. Roswell Gilpatric had never mentioned knowing John Mitchell, his son told The New York Times.
But as recorded by the then-secret Nixon White House taping system, Nixon, Gray and chief domestic adviser John Ehrlichman
John Ehrlichman
John Daniel Ehrlichman was counsel and Assistant to the President for Domestic Affairs under President Richard Nixon. He was a key figure in events leading to the Watergate first break-in and the ensuing Watergate scandal, for which he was convicted of conspiracy, obstruction of justice and perjury...
appear to confirm Gray's version in a conversation recorded on February 16, 1973 as the three discussed the alleged press leaks by Mark Felt. During the discussion, Nixon suggested that they bring in Felt's accuser:
President: Well, why don't you get in the fellow that's made the charge, then.
Ehrlichman: Well, maybe that's (unintelligible)
President: Of course he's, of course he's, he's not a newsman, on the other hand.
Ehrlichman: No.
President: He's a lawyer...
Ehrlichman: That's right.
President: ...for Time.
Gray: I know who he is, Mr. President.
Gilpatric served as chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York
Federal Reserve Bank of New York
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York is one of the 12 Federal Reserve Banks of the United States. It is located at 33 Liberty Street, New York, NY. It is responsible for the Second District of the Federal Reserve System, which encompasses New York state, the 12 northern counties of New Jersey,...
, and was a longtime trustee of the Metropolitan Museum, of which he was vice chairman, the New York Public Library
New York Public Library
The New York Public Library is the largest public library in North America and is one of the United States' most significant research libraries...
, New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
and the Woodrow Wilson Foundation. Gilpatric was also a longtime member of the Council on Foreign Relations
Council on Foreign Relations
The Council on Foreign Relations is an American nonprofit nonpartisan membership organization, publisher, and think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy and international affairs...
. He retired as partner with Cravath, Swaine & Moore
Cravath, Swaine & Moore
Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP is a prominent American law firm based in New York City, with an additional office in London. The second oldest firm in the country, Cravath was founded in 1819 and consistently ranks first among the world's most prestigious law firms according to a survey of partners,...
, where he served as presiding partner from 1966 to 1977.
Gilpatric had many clients; they included the Graham family of The Washington Post Company, on whose board of directors he sat. Gilpatric was also a lecturer at Yale Law School
Yale Law School
Yale Law School, or YLS, is the law school of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Established in 1824, it offers the J.D., LL.M., J.S.D. and M.S.L. degrees in law. It also hosts visiting scholars, visiting researchers and a number of legal research centers...
, and a member of Yale University Council from 1957 to 1962.
Private Life
For much of his life he lived on Sutton PlaceSutton Place, Manhattan
Sutton Place is the name given to one of the most affluent streets in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, New York, United States, situated on the border between the Midtown and Upper East Side neighborhoods...
in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
. An avid tennis player and sailor, Gilpatric had three children. He was married five times. At his death, he was married to Miriam Thorne Gilpatric, the widow of diplomat Landon Ketchum Thorne, Jr., father of Julia Thorne
Julia Thorne
Julia Stimson Thorne was a writer and the first wife of U.S. Senator John Kerry.-Early life:Thorne was born in New York City. She was the daughter of Alice Smith Barry and Landon Ketchum Thorne, Jr. Her brothers are Landon Ketchum Thorne III of Beaufort, South Carolina and her twin brother David...
, first wife of United States Senator John F. Kerry.
Gilpatric died of prostate cancer on March 15, 1996, in New York City, and was buried in Somesville, Mount Desert Island
Mount Desert Island
Mount Desert Island , in Hancock County, Maine, is the largest island off the coast of Maine. With an area of it is the 6th largest island in the contiguous United States. Though it is often claimed to be the third largest island on the eastern seaboard of the United States, it is actually second...
, Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
, where he had a summer home. Gilpatric's papers during his government service are part of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library.
Further reading
- The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made: Acheson, Bohlen, Harriman, Kennan, Lovett, McCloy, (1986). Walter Isaacson, Evan Thomas, Simon and Schuster, New York, ISBN 0684837714, 9780684837710
- Allison, Graham (1971). Essence of Decision: Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis, 1ed. Little Brown. ISBN 0-673-39412-3.
- Allison, Graham and Zelikow, Philip (1999). Essence of Decision: Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis, 2ed. Longman. ISBN 0-321-01349-2. Subscription needed.