Roger Hilsman
Roger Hilsman Jr. | |
---|---|
Thomas Lowe Hughes | |
Personal details | |
Born | Manhattan, New York Lyme, Connecticut | November 23, 1919
Education | United States Military Academy Yale University |
Profession | Soldier, statesman, scholar, author |
Roger Hilsman Jr. (November 23, 1919 – February 23, 2014) was an American soldier, government official, political scientist, and author. He saw action in the
There, Hilsman was a key and controversial figure in the development of U.S. policies in
Early life
Hilsman was born on November 23, 1919, in
After spending a year at Millard's Preparatory School in Washington, DC,[6] and another traveling around Europe, including a visit to Nazi Germany,[5] Hilsman attended the United States Military Academy and graduated in 1943[1] with a B.S. degree and as a second lieutenant.[6]
World War II
Following U.S. entry into World War II, Hilsman's father, a colonel, fought under General
After leaving West Point the younger Hilsman was immediately posted to the
After recovering in army field hospitals, Hilsman joined the
There, he developed an interest in guerrilla tactics and personally found them to be preferable to being part of infantry assaults.[4][8] By early 1945, Hilsman was considered, as Detachment 101 commander William R. Peers later stated, to be one of a number of the guerillas' "good... junior officers, every one outstanding and experienced."[11] Hilsman's group made hit-and-run attacks on Japanese forces and kept a Japanese regiment ten times its size occupied far from the front lines,[4] all while waging its own battle with the ever-present leeches and other insects and various diseases.[8] In one particular engagement in May 1945, Hilsman led a mixed company of Kachins, Burmese, and Karens in staging successful raids in the area between Lawksawk and Taunggyi that culminated in a carefully-orchestrated ambush that caused a hundred casualties among the Japanese at no cost to the guerillas.[11] Hilsman wanted to deploy his unit farther south into the Inle Lake area but was constrained by orders to help hold the road between Taunggyi and Kengtung.[11]
Soon after the Japanese surrender in 1945, Hilsman was part of an OSS group that staged a parachute mission into
Returning from the war, Hilsman served in the OSS as assistant chief of Far East intelligence operations in 1945 to 1946, and once the Central Intelligence Agency had been created, he served in it in the role of special assistant to executive officer in 1946 to 1947[2] (he belonged to the Central Intelligence Group during the interim period between the two organizations).
Student, lecturer and researcher
Hilsman married Eleanor Willis Hoyt in 1946.[2] They raised four children together.[2][3] Sponsored by the Army, Hilsman attended Yale University,[14] earning a master's degree in 1950 and a Ph.D. in 1951 in political science.[2][4] He specialized in international relations[6] and he studied under noted professors Arnold Wolfers and William T. R. Fox.[15][16]
By 1951, Hilsman had risen to the rank of
Hilsman turned to academia and became a research associate and lecturer in international politics at the
He was the chief of the foreign affairs division of the Congressional Research Service within the Library of Congress in 1956 to 1958 and then deputy director for research for them in 1958 to 1961.[2][3] There, he met Senator John F. Kennedy and other members of Congress interested in foreign affairs.[4]
Kennedy administration
During staffing of the incoming
His background in guerrilla warfare led him in 1961, together with
Hilsman became one of the main architects of
In 1962, reports from American journalists in South Vietnam about the progress of the conflict with the Viet Cong, and the characteristics of the South Vietnamese government under President
In March 1963, the White House announced that Hilsman would become
On August 24, 1963, in the wake of
On November 1, the
Hilsman was one of the academics and intellectuals in the administration who were later grouped by the author David Halberstam in his book as The Best and the Brightest for the misguided foreign policy that they crafted and its disastrous consequences. Hilsman's role has been variously interpreted. Mark Moyar's 2006 book Triumph Forsaken: The Vietnam War, 1954–1965 paints Hilsman as one of the key Americans who shortsightedly and arrogantly pushed out Diệm when, Moyar says, the struggle against the communists was being won.[26] Guenter Lewy portrays Hilsman as being "farsighted and correct" in his perspective from 1964 and on, while the scholar Howard Jones views the coup against Diệm that Hilsman acted in favor of as "a tragically misguided move."[22]
Johnson administration
Following Kennedy's assassination on November 22, 1963, Hilsman stayed in his position under the new president, Lyndon B. Johnson. But Johnson sought a narrower range of opinion on foreign policy matters than Kennedy had and Hilsman, along with a number of other formerly influential State Department figures, was now not being listened to.[24] Furthermore, by this time, in the words of Halberstam, "[Hilsman] had probably made more enemies than anyone else in the upper levels of government."[27] Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara and the Joint Chiefs of Staff disliked Hilsman for his constant questioning of military estimates and forthrightness, Secretary of State Dean Rusk had been angered by Hilsman's tendency to circumvent proper channels and by the friction Hilsman caused with the military, and as vice president, Johnson had not liked Hilsman's brashness or his policies.[27] Kennedy as Hilsman's protector was gone, and Johnson determined that he wanted Hilsman out.[27]
At the same time, Hilsman disagreed with Johnson's approach to the Vietnam War, viewing the new president as primarily seeking a military solution there rather than a political one.[28] Not liking anyone to quit outright, the president offered the position of Ambassador to the Philippines, but Hilsman declined.[27][29] And while Hilsman would later say that he had initiated the resignation, Rusk later stated: "I fired him".[30]
In any case, on February 25, 1964, the White House announced that Hilsman had resigned; the statement was front-page news in The New York Times with Hilsman claiming he had no policy quarrels with the current administration.[31] As his tenure ended, Hilsman argued in favor of continued perseverance in the conflict using a pacification-based counter-insurgency strategy,[32] but against increased military action against North Vietnam, saying that until the counter-insurgency efforts had demonstrated improvement in the South, action against the North would have no effect on the Communists.[25] His stance lost out within the administration to those who advocated the virtues of air power.[25] Hilsman's last day in office was March 15, 1964. He was replaced at the Bureau of Far Eastern Affairs by William Bundy.
Professor and political candidate
In his resignation letter, Hilsman had said that he considered university teaching his "basic profession".[31] Hilsman became a professor at Columbia University in 1964,[17] joining the Department of Public Law and Government within its School of International Affairs.[6] The course he gave on foreign policy decision-making became known for the anecdotes he told about the famous figures in the Kennedy administration and for the political theory he introduced in explanation.[33][34] Indeed, Hilsman became known as one of the expansive "Kennedy network",[35] and his office at Columbia was adorned with Kennedy-era momentos.[36]
He also became part of the university's
Hilsman was one of the institute's most prolific book authors.[16] Of particular note was his 1967 work To Move a Nation: The Politics of Foreign Policy in the Administration of John F. Kennedy, which combined a theoretical political science approach with a personal memoir.[28] It was the first book by a maker of policy to dissent on the course of the Vietnam War.[29] The New York Times Book Review called it a "highly informative study of the internal and external forces that shaped much of American foreign policy" and said that "Hilsman makes many wise and perceptive comments on the politics of policy-making."[28] To Move a Nation became a National Book Award finalist[40] and has been viewed as influential.[5] His 1971 volume, Politics of Policy Making in Defense and Foreign Affairs: Conceptual Models and Bureaucratic Politics, was used as the textbook for his class[34] and went through three editions.
Hilsman continued to speak publicly, in print and on television, regarding what he thought should be done in Vietnam, such as in August 1964, when he warned against over-militarizing the conflict,
Hilsman later tried his own hand at electoral politics: In the
Hilsman retired from Columbia in 1990 upon reaching the then-mandatory retirement age of 70.[34] Reflecting upon his life, he said, "I've been doing the same thing in the military, on Capital Hill, and at Columbia. The content is the same. ... Of all my careers, I think university teaching is the most satisfying."[34] He and his course, "The Politics of Policy Making", were not directly replaced.[34]
Later years
In 1994, President
Hilsman remained active in local politics, where he was a member of the Democratic Town Committee in Lyme for over two decades.
Hilsman died at the age of 94 on February 23, 2014,[48][49] at his home in Ithaca due to complications from several strokes.[5][12] He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery on August 28, 2014, with full honors.[49]
Books
Hilsman wrote a number books about 20th century American foreign policy as well as a few on other topics. His works include:
- Strategic Intelligence and National Decisions (Free Press, 1956; reprinted by Greenwood Press, 1981)
- Foreign Policy in the Sixties: The Issues and the Instruments (Johns Hopkins Press, 1965) [co-editor with Robert C. Good]
- To Move a Nation: The Politics of Foreign Policy in the Administration of John F. Kennedy (Doubleday, 1967)
- Politics of Policy Making in Defense and Foreign Affairs: Conceptual Models and Bureaucratic Politics (Harper & Row, 1971; Second Edition Prentice-Hall, 1987; Third Edition Prentice Hall, 1993 [with Laura Gaughran and Patricia A. Weitsman])
- The Crouching Future: International Politics and U.S. Foreign Policy – A Forecast (Doubleday, 1975)
- To Govern America (Harper & Row, 1979)
- The Politics of Governing America (Prentice Hall, 1985)
- American Guerrilla: My War Behind Japanese Lines (Brassey's, 1990; republished by Potomac Books, 2005)
- George Bush vs. Saddam Hussein: Military Success! Political Failure? (Presidio, 1992)
- The Cuban Missile Crisis: The Struggle Over Policy (Praeger, 1996)
- From Nuclear Military Strategy to a World Without War: A History and a Proposal (Praeger, 1999)
- A Layman's Guide to the Universe, The Earth, Life on Earth, and the Migrations of Humankind (Publishing Works, 2003)
- Classical Chinese Cooking: For the Occasional and Amateur Chef (Publishing Works, 2005)
See also
- Krulak Mendenhall mission
- McNamara Taylor mission
- Reaction to the 1963 South Vietnamese coup
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Mangrum, Robert G. (2011). "Hilsman, Roger". In Tucker, Spencer C. (ed.). The Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War: A Political, Social, and Military History (2nd ed.). Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. pp. 487–488.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Who's Who in America 1984–1985 Volume 1 (43rd ed.). Chicago: Marquis Who's Who. 1984. p. 1501.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Man in the News: Roger Hilsman Jr.: Prepared for Crises" (PDF). The New York Times. August 30, 1963.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Dean, Robert D. (2001). Imperial Brotherhood: Gender and the Making of Cold War Foreign Policy. Amherst, Massachusetts: University of Massachusetts Press. pp. 52–62.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Schudel, Matt (March 8, 2014). "Roger Hilsman, foreign policy adviser to JFK, dies at 94". The Washington Post.
- ^ Current Biography Yearbook 1964. New York: H. W. Wilson Company. pp. 194–196.
- ^ a b "700 Against 25,000 Were Odds in Davao" (PDF). The New York Times. October 12, 1942.
- ^ a b c d e f Woodside, Christine (August 13, 1990). "A guerrilla's life in brutal Burma during WW II". The Day. New London. pp. A1, A12.
- ^ "Sacramento High School – Review Yearbook (Sacramento, CA) – Class of 1937". e-yearbook.com. pp. 61, 90. Retrieved January 31, 2014.
- ^ "Led by Colonel Hilsman" (PDF). The New York Times. United Press International. December 21, 1941.
- ^ a b c d Peers, William R.; Brelis, Dean (1963). Behind the Burma Road: The Story of America's Most Successful Guerrilla Force. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. pp. 199 (illus.), 205, 206–207.
- ^ a b c d Martin, Douglas (March 11, 2014). "Roger Hilsman, 94, Adviser to Kennedy on Vietnam". The New York Times. p. B15.
- ^ A Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy in the White House. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. pp. 151–152, 211–212, 826, 828, 983–984.
- ^ a b c d "O.S.S. Man". Princeton Alumni Weekly. April 16, 1954. p. 19.
- ^ Hilsman, Roger; Good, Robert C. (1965). "Introduction". In Hilsman, Roger; Good, Robert C. (eds.). Foreign Policy in the Sixties: The Issues and the Instruments: Essays in Honor of Arnold Wolfers. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press. pp. ix–xii.
- ^ a b c d e Fox, Annette Baker (2001). "The Institute of War and Peace Studies: The First Thirty-Five Years" (PDF). Columbia University.
- ^ a b c "Hilsman Appointed to Post at Columbia" (PDF). The New York Times. March 5, 1964.
- ^ Hilsman, Roger, To Move a Nation, p. 440.
- ^ a b c d e Mangrum, Robert G. (2011). "Hilsman–Forrestal Report". In Tucker, Spencer C. (ed.). The Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War: A Political, Social, and Military History (2nd ed.). Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. p. 488.
- ^ "Memorandum From the Director of the Bureau of Intelligence and Research (Hilsman) and Michael V. Forrestal of the National Security Council Staff to the President". United States Department of State. January 25, 1963.
- ^ Hunter, Marjorie (March 14, 1963). "M'Ghee Is Chosen As Envoy to Bonn" (PDF). The New York Times.
- ^ a b c d e Jones, Howard (2003). Death of a Generation: How the Assassinations of Diem and JFK Prolonged the Vietnam War. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 9, 316, 321, 421, 425.
- ISBN 9780671648794.
- ^ Center for the Study of Intelligence, Central Intelligence Agency. pp. 29–33, 40–41.
- ^ a b c d Lewy, Guenter. America in Vietnam. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 27–28, 30.
- ^ Moyar, Mark (2006). Triumph Forsaken: The Vietnam War, 1954–1965. New York: Cambridge University Press. pp. 218–228, 236–243, 279.
- ^ a b c d Halberstam, David (1972). The Best and the Brightest. Random House. pp. 374–375.
- ^ a b c Johnson, Walter (August 13, 1967). "Policy Politics" (PDF). The New York Times Book Review.
- ^ a b Langguth, A. J. (2000). Our Vietnam: The War 1954–1975. New York: Simon & Schuster. p. 463.
- ^ Evans, Rowland; Novak, Robert (October 13, 1967). "Intellectuals' War Criticism Roils Rusk". The Milwaukee Sentinel. p. 16.
- ^ a b "Hilsman Resigns Key Policy Post" (PDF). The New York Times. February 26, 1964. pp. 1, 3.
- ISBN 9780815730729.
- ^ "Tables Are Turned on Teachers at Columbia as Student Guide Grades Them" (PDF). The New York Times. September 20, 1969.
- ^ a b c d e Lemm, Kristi (March 12, 1990). "American policy expert, Hilsman retires from CU". Columbia Daily Spectator. pp. 1, 7.
- Honan, William H. (November 11, 1979). "The Kennedy Network"(PDF). The New York Times Magazine. p. SM10.
- ^ a b c "Candidate Hilsman Attacks Nixon". Columbia Daily Spectator. October 3, 1972. pp. 1, 3.
- ^ Filler, Martin (November 1, 1967). "Trick or Treat With the Faculty". Columbia Daily Spectator. p. 4.
- ^ a b "Hilsman to Seek House Seat" (PDF). The New York Times. April 11, 1972.
- ^ a b c d Drelich, Kimberly (March 5, 2014). "Former Lyme resident Roger Hilsman remembered as author, statesman, with strong local involvement". The Day. New London.
- ^ Raymont, Henry (March 5, 1968). "Wilder's 'Eighth Day' Tops Styron's 'Nat Turner' and Three Other Novels for National Book Award" (PDF). The New York Times. p. 33.
- ^ "Hilsman Assails Bombing Policy" (PDF). The New York Times. June 5, 1967.
- ^ Roberts, Steven V. (April 28, 1968). "125 Experts Furnish Kennedy With Ideas on Campaign Issues" (PDF). The New York Times. p. 50.
- ^ Herbers, John (May 26, 1968). "Big Kennedy Team at Work on Coast" (PDF). The New York Times. p. 52.
- ^ "Aah, a Candidate". The Day. New London. January 29, 1972. p. 10.
- ^ "After the Vote". The Day. New London. November 11, 1972. p. 10.
- ^ "Nominations Submitted to the Senate". The White House. October 8, 1999.
- ^ "Roger Hilsman". Columbia University, Department of Political Science. Archived from the original on December 11, 2013. Retrieved October 29, 2013.
- Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies. February 23, 2014.
- ^ a b "Roger Hilsman Obituary (Paid death notice)". The Day. New London. March 4, 2014.
External links
- Official page at Department of State Office of the Historian
- Hilsman–Forrestal Report of January 25, 1963
- Interview with Roger Hilsman on the U.S. involvement in Vietnam, 1981
- Roger Hilsman Personal Papers, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum
- Roger Hilsman interview part of Frontline Diplomacy: The Foreign Affairs Oral History Collection of the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training, a site at the Library of Congress
- Appearances on C-SPAN