| Archibald B. Roosevelt, Jr | |
|---|---|
| Personal details | |
| Birth name | Archibald Bulloch Roosevelt Jr. |
| Born | 18 February 1918 Boston, Massachusetts |
| Died | 31 May 1990 |
| Nativity | United States |
| Religion | Protestant |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Branch |  United States Army |
| ASN | 0885630 |
| Rank | Colonel |
| Rank at Ritchie | Second Lieutenant |
| Camp Ritchie | Class 2 (24 August – 17 October 1942) |
{{Needs source}}, or explain disagreements on talk. Baseline import notes: About the data.
Archibald Bulloch Roosevelt Jr. (February 18, 1918 – May 31, 1990), a grandson of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, was a soldier, scholar, polyglot, authority on the Middle East, and career CIA officer. He served as chief of the Central Intelligence Agency's stations in Istanbul, Madrid and London. Roosevelt had a speaking or reading knowledge of at least twenty languages.
Biography
Archibald Bulloch Roosevelt Jr. (February 18, 1918 – May 31, 1990), a grandson of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, was a soldier, scholar, polyglot, authority on the Middle East, and career CIA officer. He served as chief of the Central Intelligence Agency's stations in Istanbul, Madrid and London. Roosevelt had a speaking or reading knowledge of at least twenty languages.
Archibald Bulloch Roosevelt Jr. was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on February 18, 1918, the son of Grace Lockwood and Archibald Bulloch Roosevelt. He graduated from the Groton School and then went to Harvard University, where he graduated in the class of 1940. He was selected as a Rhodes Scholar as an undergraduate, but he was not able to accept the post due to the outbreak of World War II in Europe. Roosevelt first worked for a newspaper in Seattle, Washington.
During the war, he became an Army intelligence officer. He served as a "Ritchie Boy" secret unit specially trained at Fort Ritchie, Maryland. He accompanied U.S. troops in their landing in North Africa in 1942 and soon began to form views on the French colonial administration and the beginnings of Arab nationalism. Later in the war he was a military attaché in Iraq and Iran.
In 1947, Roosevelt joined the Central Intelligence Group, the immediate forerunner of the CIA. From 1947 to 1949, he served in Beirut. On that and on all of his subsequent assignments abroad, he was listed in official registers as a State Department official.
From 1949 to 1951, he was in New York as head of the Near East section of the Voice of America. From 1951 to 1953, he was station chief in Istanbul. From 1953 to 1958, he had several jobs at CIA headquarters in Washington, D.C. In 1958, he was made CIA station chief in Spain. From 1962 to 1966 he held the same job in London. He finished his CIA career in Washington, D.C., where he retired in 1974. Roosevelt was involved in coup plots in Syria and Iraq, but he was unable to replicate his cousin Kim's success in Iran.
Roosevelt met with National Security Council member Wilbur Crane Eveland and former Syrian minister Michail Bey Ilyan in Damascus on 1 July 1956 to discuss a US-backed 'anticommunist' takeover of Syria. They made a plan, scheduled for enactment on 25 October 1956, in which the military would
take control of Damascus, Aleppo, Homs, and Hamah. The frontier posts with Jordan, Iraq, and Lebanon would also be captured in order to seal Syria's borders until the radio stations announced that a new government had taken over under Colonel Kabbani, who would place armored units at key positions throughout Damascus. Once control had been established, Ilyan would inform the civilians he'd selected that they were to form a new government, but in order to avoid leaks none of them would be told until just a week before the coup.
The CIA backed this plan (known as "Operation Straggle") with 500,000 Syrian pounds (worth about $167,000) and the promise to support the new government. Although Secretary of State John Foster Dulles publicly opposed a coup, privately he had consulted with the CIA and recommended the plan to President Eisenhower.
The plan was postponed for five days, during which time Israel invaded Egypt. Ilyan told Eveland he could not succeed in overthrowing the Syrian government during a war of Israeli aggression.
In mid-1962, the Kennedy administration tasked Roosevelt with making preparations for a military coup against Iraqi Prime Minister Abd al-Karim Qasim, whose expropriation of the concessionary holdings of the British- and American-owned Iraq Petroleum Company and threats to invade Kuwait were considered a threat to U.S. interests in the Persian Gulf. While the CIA had cultivated assets within the Iraqi Ba'ath Party, a former CIA colleague of Roosevelt's has denied any CIA role in the February 1963 Ba'athist coup that saw Qasim assassinated, stating instead that the CIA's efforts against Qasim were still in the planning stages at the time.
Roosevelt died on May 31, 1990, of congestive heart failure. He is buried in the Roosevelt family plot at Youngs Memorial Cemetery, Oyster Bay, New York.
The timeline research also records 1936-1939 Harvard University (BA, Languages, History). Worked as newspaper reporter (local news). 1947 Retired as Captain. He served as CIA Station Chief in Istanbul, Madrid and London. Joined Central Intelligence Group (later CIA). Roosevelt was proud of his work with the CIA and proud to keep the oath he took not to reveal facts about the CIA.
Research notes
- Cairo; Silver Star; CIA
- to Capt
Gallery
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Technical record
| Field | Imported value |
|---|---|
| Approx Age at Death | 72 |
| Class_Name | Roosevelt, Archibald B. |
| match_method | unique_name_no_asn |
| row_source | both |
Timeline
- 2/18/1918 Born in Boston (NYC?) grandson of Theodore Roosevelt. Protestant.
- 6/11/1943 Served with PWB in Tunis.
- 10/5/1943 Transfer of Roosevelt (and Siblini) to OSS-MO to Cairo approved.
- 10/30/1943 Started Class 13 (French).
- 1947 Retired as Captain (Lt.Col)?. Joined Central Intelligence Group (later CIA).
- 8/1942 Commissioned Second Lieutenant (ASN: 0885630).
Sources
- Wikipedia: Archibald Roosevelt Jr.
- Camp Ritchie Museum, Inc. (The Ritchie History Museum), Classes 1–31 roster data
- Dan Gross research spreadsheets, including original Excel timeline/roster work, combined with other research and records
- NARA World War II Army enlistment records (where a NARA ASN is present)
- 1940 U.S. Census (where a census match is present)
- Dan Gross, Timeline of Archibald B. Jr Roosevelt for Camp Ritchie (private research document; 2 source documents reviewed)
- Dan Gross, Timeline of Roosevelt, Archibald B. Jr for Camp Ritchie (private research files; selected non-private narrative findings; 2 source files: ARCHIBALD B.ROOSEVELT JR (2021).doc, ARCHIBALD B.ROOSEVELT JR.doc)