William Harding Jackson
Encyclopedia
William Harding Jackson ( March 25, 1901 – September 28, 1971) was a U.S. civilian administrator
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, New York lawyer, and investment banker who served as Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency
Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency
The Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency is a senior United States government official in the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency...

. Jackson also served briefly under President Dwight D. Eisenhower as United States National Security Advisor in 1956 while in his role as 'Special Assistant for National Security Affairs' from 1956-1957

Education

Jackson attended the Fay School
Fay School
Fay School is an independent, coeducational day and boarding school, located on a campus some from Boston in Southborough, Massachusetts. It has 465 students enrolled from Pre-Kindergarten through grade 9; the boarding program enrolls 100 students from throughout the United States and more than...

 in Boston and St. Mark's School
St. Mark's School
St. Mark’s School is a coeducational, Episcopal, preparatory school, situated on in Southborough, Massachusetts, from Boston. It was founded in 1865 as an all-boys' school by Joseph Burnett, a wealthy native of Southborough who developed and marketed the world-famous Burnett Vanilla Extract . ...

, an Episcopal Preparatory school in Southborough, MA. He received his undergraduate Bachelor of Arts degree (B.A.) from Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....

 (1924) and his LL.B. from Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...

 (1928).

Early life

Born William Harding Jackson (II), March 25, 1901 on the Belle Meade Plantation
Belle Meade Plantation
Belle Meade Plantation, located in Belle Meade, Tennessee, is an historic plantation mansion whose grounds now function as a museum.-History:...

, in Nashville, Tennessee to parents William Harding Jackson (I) and wife, Anne Davis (Richardson) Jackson (later remarried to Stevenson).



Much confusion surrounds Bill Jackson's name (perhaps convenient by design, given his importance in U.S. national security affairs). Bill Jackson's grand-father, a U.S. Military Academy at West Point graduate (1856) and former Confederate States Army General, was named William Hicks Jackson
William Hicks Jackson
William Hicks "Red" Jackson was a cotton planter, horse breeder, and general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War.-Early life and career:...

 (more commonly known during his lifetime as 'General Red Jackson'); Bill Jackson's father was named William H. (Harding) Jackson and one of Bill Jackson's sons was named William H. Jackson, Jr., as well. All four men are known as 'William H. Jackson' making it difficult to distinguish one from another.



To further confuse the issue, Bill Jackson's paternal grand-father, General Red Jackson, died at age 67 of natural causes—and young Bill's father, William Harding Jackson (I), died of complications from typhoid fever at age 29—both within four-months of each other—during the Spring-Summer of 1903 when young Jackson was only two-years old.



All three of these men were heirs to the world famous Belle Meade Plantation
Belle Meade Plantation
Belle Meade Plantation, located in Belle Meade, Tennessee, is an historic plantation mansion whose grounds now function as a museum.-History:...

 near Nashville, Tennessee, during their life times.

Belle Meade Plantation

Bill Jackson's great-great-grandfather, John Harding
John Harding
John Harding may refer to:*John Harding *J. Eugene Harding , U.S. Representative from Ohio*John Harding, 1st Baron Harding of Petherton , British General of World War II and Colonial Governor of Cyprus...

 of Virginia, moved to Tennessee in 1807 and acquired the initial 250 acres (1 km²) along the Natchez Trace (Old Natchez Road) and Richland Creek at "McSpadden's Bend" near Nashville; then known as the "McSpadden's Bend Farm". John Harding continued to acquire surrounding land that he would later rename Belle Meade.



John Harding's son, Confederate Army General William Giles Harding
William Giles Harding
William Giles Harding was an American naturalist and livestock breeder who attained the rank of Brigadier General in the Tennessee State Militia prior to the American Civil War , and headed the Military and Financial Board of Tennessee at the beginning of the Civil War, until his arrest by Union...

 was Bill Jackson's great-grandfather; he built the Belle Meade Mansion in 1853. William Giles Harding had a son he named 'John' by his first wife, Mary Selena McNairy (she died in 1837). Giles Harding remarried and had two daughters, Selene Harding (Bill Jackson's grandmother) and Mary Elizabeth Harding (Bill Jackson's aunt), by Giles Harding's second wife, Elizabeth McGavock.



The eldest daughter, Selene Harding (1846–1892), married Jackson County, TN resident General William Hicks Jackson
William Hicks Jackson
William Hicks "Red" Jackson was a cotton planter, horse breeder, and general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War.-Early life and career:...

 on December 15, 1868 after the Civil War ended, and they moved to Belle Meade where Red Jackson co-managed the business affairs of the Belle Meade Estate with his new father-in-law, General William Giles Harding; the two men expanded the estate into a world class thoroughbred horse farm. The marriage resulted in one daughter named Selene Harding Jackson (1876–1913) who later married William Robert Elliston, and took the name Selene Elliston.



Red and Selene Jackson also had a son. According to the records of the Tennessee State Library and Archives, Red Jackson sent a letter to his father-in-law, General Harding, announcing the birth of a son he named 'William Harding Jackson' (I) on September 15, 1874.



It should be noted that General Red Jackson had a rather famous brother, Howell Edmunds Jackson
Howell Edmunds Jackson
Howell Edmunds Jackson was an American jurist and politician. He served on the United States Supreme Court, in the U.S. Senate, United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and the Tennessee House of Representatives. He authored notable opinions on the Interstate Commerce Act and the...

 (1832–1895), also from Jackson, Tennessee. He was a judge and former U.S. Senator (1881–86) who was eventually appointed a United States Supreme Court Justice (1893–95). After the death of Howell Jackson's first wife in 1873 (Sophia Malloy of Jackson, Tennessee), Howell Edmunds Jackson married General Harding's youngest daughter, Mary Elizabeth Harding. The two harding sisters and the two Jackson brothers would become the foundation for the Harding-Jackson family dynasty of Nashville, TN.



In 1887, Red Jackson's son, William Harding Jackson (I), married Anne (Davis) Richardson (young Bill Jackson's mother) who was the daughter of James B. Richardson, the eventual Executor of the Belle Meade estate.



When General William Giles Harding died in 1886, he left the Belle Meade estate (one-third) to General "Red" Jackson and his wife (General Harding's eldest daughter Selene Harding), (one-third) to his son and Selene Harding's half-brother, John Harding, and (one-third) to Howell Edmunds Jackson (1832–1895) and his wife (General Harding's youngest daughter, Mary Elizabeth Harding).



Subsequently, when General Red Jackson died in March, 1903, his portion of the Belle Meade estate was left to his son, William Harding Jackson (I) who, in turn, died just 4 months later in July, 1903; leaving the estate to Selene Elliston, the Catholic Church and his son, William Harding "Bill" Jackson (II), (then age 2) -- all of which was to be administered by James B. Richardson, Executor.



Upon the deaths of both father and grand-father in the same year, Bill Jackson had become an instant heir to the sprawling, world renowned Belle Meade Estate. He was only two-years old.



James B. Richardson (Bill's maternal grand-father) made the decision, along with Bill's mother, Anne (Davis) Richardson Jackson, to liquidate the huge property, reportedly near 5400 acres (21.9 km²) in 1903, all the horses and livestock, outbuildings, equipment, and the Belle Meade Mansion built in 1853 by General Harding.



By 1907, and within four years of Bill Jackson's inheritance, the entire 5400 acres (21.9 km²) Estate and the Belle Meade Mansion had been auctioned off and sold by Richardson.



After the sale of Belle Meade in 1907, Bill Jackson's mother sent young Jackson to Boston to the Fay School
Fay School
Fay School is an independent, coeducational day and boarding school, located on a campus some from Boston in Southborough, Massachusetts. It has 465 students enrolled from Pre-Kindergarten through grade 9; the boarding program enrolls 100 students from throughout the United States and more than...

 preparatory school for boys, prior to his attending the nearby co-educational St. Mark's School
St. Mark's School
St. Mark’s School is a coeducational, Episcopal, preparatory school, situated on in Southborough, Massachusetts, from Boston. It was founded in 1865 as an all-boys' school by Joseph Burnett, a wealthy native of Southborough who developed and marketed the world-famous Burnett Vanilla Extract . ...

 in Southborough, Massachusetts
Southborough, Massachusetts
Southborough is an affluent town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. It incorporates the smaller villages of Cordaville, Fayville, and Southville. Its name is often informally shortened to Southboro, a usage seen on many area signs and maps. Its population was 9,767 at the 2010...

.



Belle Meade Mansion is still located at 5025 Harding Pike, Nashville, TN 37205. On 25 Mar 1953, it was resold to the State of Tennessee and turned over to the APTA (Association for the Preservation of Tennessee Antiquities) "...as a monument to the Old South...". It was listed on 30 Dec 1969 in the National Register of Historic Places (#69000177).

Professional life

After graduation from Harvard Law School in 1928, Bill Jackson joined the New York law firm of Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft. In 1930, he moved to the business and financial interest law firm of Carter, Ledyard & Milburn, where he became a full 'partner' in 1934. "During these prewar years he was an active polo player and also an active pilot of light private aircraft" according to CIA Historian, Ludwell Lee Montegue's account.

After WW-II, Jackson became an investment banker and the 'Managing Partner' (1947) for J. H. Whitney & Co. in New York.

Military service

During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, Bill Jackson (II) served in the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...

 (1942–1945) as an intelligence officer
Intelligence officer
An intelligence officer is a person employed by an organization to collect, compile and/or analyze information which is of use to that organization...

 on the staff of General Omar Bradley
Omar Bradley
Omar Nelson Bradley was a senior U.S. Army field commander in North Africa and Europe during World War II, and a General of the Army in the United States Army...

 in 1944-45. At the urging of Tommy Hitchcock, a friend and famous polo player, Bill Jackson had entered military service as a commissioned 'Captain' in the Army-Air Corps working in air intelligence. After graduating from Air Intelligence School at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Jackson was assigned to the headquarters of the Army Air Force Anti-Submarine Command which operated under the control of the Navy's Eastern Sea Frontier.



According to Montague's World War Two historical account "...Captain Jackson had the temerity to produce an analysis of the effectiveness of anti-submarine warfare as it was then being conducted off the U.S. East Coast. He showed that it was a dismal failure and urged that the Army units involved be sent to reinforce the Royal Air Force Coastal Command for a concerted attack on the German submarines at their source in the Bay of Biscay. Captain Jackson's paper infuriated the U.S. Navy, from Admirial King on down, but it delighted the Army Air Force. Jackson was reassigned to be Assistant Military Air Attache in London, in liaison with the Costal Command. His recommendation was eventually carried out, although it took the personal intervention of the Secretary of War to over come the bitter opposition of the Navy."



Jackson achieved the rank of full 'Colonel' in the Army Air Force and served as 'Deputy G-2' under Brigadier General Edwin Sibert ('G-2') at Headquarters, 12th Army Group, SHAEF (Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Forces) on General Bradley's staff.

Marriage to Mary P. Keating

According to Montague, "...Jackson was in intimate contact with General Bradley's office; he married the General's secretary." The lady was Mary Pitcairn, better known today as Mary P. Keating. She was born Mary Leet Pitcairn in Pittsburgh, PA and raised in St. Louis, MO, where her father, Norman B. Pitcairn was a former President of the Wabash Railroad.



Mary did a lot of volunteer work during the World War Two years as a nurse for the Red Cross. She was one of the first Red Cross nurses to attend to allied troops immediately after the invasion of France in June, 1944 (she reportedly landed at 'Utah Beach' just six weeks after D-Day). She later became secretary to General Omar Bradly of the 12th Army (SHAEF), where she met her husband to be, Bill Jackson. They had two sons together. Bill Jackson was actively involved as DDCI and Special Advisor to the DCI, Central Intelligence Agency, as well as, Special Advisor in National Security matters to both President's Truman and Eisenhower, during those years (1950–1957)



After her divorce from Bill Jackson, she remarried to another New York lawyer, Wendell Davis, who died in 1972; she subsequently remarried a third time to U.S. Senator and former Ambassador to Israel, Kenneth Keating
Kenneth Keating
Kenneth Barnard Keating , was a United States Representative and a U.S. Senator from New York, and in later life, an appellate judge and a diplomat representing the United States as ambassador to India and later to Israel.-Life:...

; thus, becoming Mary (Pitcairn) Jackson Davis Keating.



Mary P. Keating was active as a volunteer in the Princeton University Museum of Art, the Asia Society of New York, and Princeton Symphony Orchestra. She died on January 19, 2009 at the age of 88 "after a long illness"



The Princeton 'Town Topics' obituary indicates
"...The family moved to Princeton in the early 1950's where her two stepsons, William H. Jackson, Jr (the fourth 'William H. Jackson' in the family) and Richard L. Jackson, were attending college. ....She is survived by two sons, Bruce P. Jackson of Washington, DC and Howell E. Jackson of Newton, MA, two grandchildren; nine stepchildren; fifteen step-grandchildren; and numerous step-great-grandchildren."

CIA - Deputy Director, Central Intelligence (DDCI)

Bill Jackson was the first Deputy Director of Central Intelligence at CIA to serve under former Ambassador to the Soviet Union (1946) and former World War Two four-star General, Walter Bedell Smith
Walter Bedell Smith
Walter Bedell "Beetle" Smith was a senior United States Army general who served as General Dwight D. Eisenhower's chief of staff at Allied Forces Headquarters during the Tunisia Campaign and the Allied invasion of Italy...

 (DCI), known affectionately as "Beatle".



Beatle Smith's appointment by President Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...

 as DCI was announced on August 18, 1950. On the same date, Beatle Smith announced Jackson's appointment as his 'Deputy'. Jackson had been recommended by former Secretary of the Navy, Admiral Sidney W. Souers who had served as "Director Central Intelligence" prior to the enactment of the National Security Act of 1947. He knew of Bill Jackson's work in anti-submarine air warfare and his connection to Secretary of Defense, Admiral James Forrestal
James Forrestal
James Vincent Forrestal was the last Cabinet-level United States Secretary of the Navy and the first United States Secretary of Defense....

 from the days of the old Office of Strategic Services, disbanded in 1945.



Smith and Jackson officially assumed the duties of DCI and DDCI on October 7, 1950. Three months later, General Smith and Bill Jackson succeeded in bringing Allen Dulles to CIA. On January 2, 1951, Allen Welsh Dulles
Allen Welsh Dulles
Allen Welsh Dulles was an American diplomat, lawyer, banker, and public official who became the first civilian and the longest-serving Director of Central Intelligence and a member of the Warren Commission...

 was sworn in and took office as Deputy Director for Plans (DDP) in charge of covert activities. While many claim that Major General William Joseph Donovan
William Joseph Donovan
William Joseph Donovan was a United States soldier, lawyer and intelligence officer, best remembered as the wartime head of the Office of Strategic Services...

 (known as 'Wild Bill Donovan') was the "founder" of the CIA, official CIA history shows that these three men (Beatle Smith, Bill Jackson, and Allen Dulles) were the principals who actually put the CIA organization together as we know it, during its formative years from 1950-1961.



Bill Jackson's successful Wall Street investment banking career was interrupted by his reluctant tenure as Deputy Director of the CIA
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...

, which was originally to be for ...only six months..., by agreement with General Smith, but lasted until August 3, 1951, "...when he signed a personal services contract (WAE). He returned to private business but remained active in CIA affairs as the Special Assistant and Senior Consultant to the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) from August, 1951 to February, 1956. ...Allen Dulles succeeded Jackson as DDCI on 23 August 1951...." according to Montague.



When Bill Jackson resigned from CIA to return to Wall Street and, also, become Special Advisor in National Security affairs to General Smith (DCI) and Presidents Truman and Eisenhower (from 1951–1957), Allen Dulles was promoted to DDCI, serving from 23 August 1951 through 26 February 1953. When Beatle Smith retired in 1953, Allen Dulles then became DCI from 26 February 1953 to 29 November 1961. Those three men essentially guided the CIA for more than ten-years, through the Korean War period, and all were very close advisors to the White House.



During the Eisenhower Administration, Bill Jackson is listed by the 'White House Staff' publication and by the CIA as being a 'Special Assistant' and 'Senior Consultant to the Director of Central Intelligence' (from 1951–1957). Bill Jackson was the Chairman of President Eisenhower’s Committee on International Information Activities
Committee on International Information Activities
The U.S. President's Committee on International Information Activities was appointed on January 24, 1953 by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in order to survey and evaluate the government’s information and related policies and activities with particular reference to international relations and the...

, often known inside the Beltway as the 'Jackson Committee', during 1953 and 1954.



In February 1956 he was appointed special assistant to President Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...

 on psychological warfare
Psychological warfare
Psychological warfare , or the basic aspects of modern psychological operations , have been known by many other names or terms, including Psy Ops, Political Warfare, “Hearts and Minds,” and Propaganda...

, succeeding 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...

.



To the occasional amusement of many politicians and Washington, DC insiders, there was a George Jackson
George Jackson
- People :* George Jackson , American MLB player from 1911–1913* George Jackson , U.S. Black Panther, prisoner, and author* George Jackson , English botanist...

 at CIA serving on the National Board of Estimates Staff, and other members of the 'Jackson Committee' which included the Committee's Chief of Staff, Wayne Jackson
Wayne Jackson
Wayne Jackson is best known for his tenure as the CEO of the Australian Football League 1996 to 2003.- SANFL :Jackson played 71 games for West Torrens Football Club in the South Australian National Football League from 1965 to 1971 ....

, a former office-mate of Bill Jackson's at the law firm Carter, Ledyard & Milburn, and C. D. Jackson from the private sector Time-Life-Fortune magazine syndicate.



According to Montague's account, "...This multiplicy of CIA-related Jacksons occasioned some merriment."

Retirement years

Bill Jackson retired in Tucson, Arizona during the Vietnam War era. According to Ludwell Lee Montague's foot notes "Portraits of famous "Belle Meade" stallions adorn Jackson's living room in Tucson, Arizona", along with personally autographed pictures of Presidents Truman and Eisenhower, among other memorabilia.

William Harding "Bill" Jackson (II) died in Tucson at age 71 (September 28, 1971).
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