David K. Niles (November 23, 1888 – September 28, 1952;

Boston, Massachusetts Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

) was an American political advisor who worked in the White House from 1942 to 1951 for the administrations of

Franklin Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

and

Harry Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. As the 34th vice president in 1945, he assumed the presidency upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt that year. Subsequen ...

. Niles was one of only two Roosevelt aides retained by Truman upon his assumption of the presidency.

Childhood

Born in Boston's North End and raised in Boston's South End, Niles was the eldest of seven children, six of whom survived to adulthood. His parents were

Ashkenazi Ashkenazi Jews ( ; also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim) form a distinct subgroup of the Jewish diaspora, that Ethnogenesis, emerged in the Holy Roman Empire around the end of the first millennium Common era, CE. They traditionally spe ...

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

immigrants from the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

, Asher K. Neyhus and Sophie Berlin (Berlinski). He and his father kept the middle initial "K" to honor their heritage as

kohanim Kohen (, ; , ، Arabic كاهن , Kahen) is the Hebrew word for "priest", used in reference to the Aaronic priesthood, also called Aaronites or Aaronides. They are traditionally believed, and halakhically required, to be of direct patriline ...

. His father worked as a tailor to support the family. While in attendance at Brimmer Grammar School, Niles became acquainted with author

Edward Everett Hale Edward Everett Hale (April 3, 1822 – June 10, 1909) was an American author, historian, and Unitarian minister, best known for his writings such as " The Man Without a Country", published in ''Atlantic Monthly'', in support of the Union ...

, who became a mentor to Niles as he "supplied the boy with reading material and urged him in his ambition to acquire knowledge".

Entry into politics

While in high school, he

Anglicized Anglicisation or anglicization is a form of cultural assimilation whereby something non-English becomes assimilated into or influenced by the culture of England. It can be sociocultural, in which a non-English place adopts the English language ...

his surname Neyhus to Niles, reportedly inspired by his classmate, figure skater Nathaniel Niles. He graduated from the prestigious

Boston Latin School The Boston Latin School is a Magnet school, magnet Latin schools, Latin Grammar schools, grammar State school, state school in Boston, Massachusetts. It has been in continuous operation since it was established on April 23, 1635. It is the old ...

in 1906, but went to work at a department store to support his family. Through attending lectures at Boston's

Ford Hall Forum The Ford Hall Forum is the oldest free public lecture series in the United States. Founded in 1908, it continues to host open lectures and discussions in the Greater Boston area. Some of the more well-known past speakers include Maya Angelou, Isa ...

, he caught the eye of its head, Republican George W. Coleman, who took the young Niles under his wing. During World War I, Coleman took Niles with him to

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

to work in the

US Department of Labor The United States Department of Labor (DOL) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is responsible for the administration of federal laws governing occupational safety and health, wage and hour standards, unemp ...

's Information Office. Upon his return to Boston after the war, Coleman promoted Niles to the position of assistant director of the

, where he would later himself become director (1921–1952). Through his position at the Ford Hall Forum, Niles was asked by

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

Senator

Robert La Follette Robert Marion La Follette Sr. (June 14, 1855June 18, 1925), nicknamed "Fighting Bob," was an American lawyer and politician. He represented Wisconsin in both chambers of Congress and served as the 20th governor of Wisconsin from 1901 to 1906. ...

and

Montana Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...

Senator Burton Wheeler to aid their bid for presidency and vice presidency of the United States with the Progressive Party in 1924. He headed the speakers' bureau, and though the campaign failed abysmally, he was able to gain political insight from the experience. In the aftermath of the La Follette presidential campaign, he attracted the attention of Harvard lawyer

Felix Frankfurter Felix Frankfurter (November 15, 1882 – February 22, 1965) was an American jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1939 until 1962, advocating judicial restraint. Born in Vienna, Frankfurter im ...

, who was then defense counsel for the Sacco-Vanzetti trial, and the two began to work together, forming a lifelong friendship.

Roosevelt Administration

Through his work on the presidential campaign of New York Governor Al Smith in 1928, Niles met

Harry Hopkins Harold Lloyd Hopkins (August 17, 1890 – January 29, 1946) was an American statesman, public administrator, and presidential advisor. A trusted deputy to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Hopkins directed New Deal relief programs before ser ...

, a vital political contact who would later become one of the chief architects of the

New Deal The New Deal was a series of wide-reaching economic, social, and political reforms enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1938, in response to the Great Depression in the United States, Great Depressi ...

and would bring Niles into the Roosevelt administration. Niles would serve as the Director of the American Business Census in

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

(1933–1934), a consultant, director, and assistant administrator of the

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; from 1935 to 1939, then known as the Work Projects Administration from 1939 to 1943) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to car ...

(1936–1939), Special Assistant to the Secretary of Commerce (1939–1940), as well as a consultant and advisor to the

Office of Production Management The Office of Production Management was a United States government agency that existed from January 1941 and was led by the Danish William S. Knudsen, William Knudsen. The agency was established to centralize direction of the federal procurement p ...

and

War Production Board The War Production Board (WPB) was an agency of the United States government that supervised war production during World War II. President Franklin D. Roosevelt established it in January 1942, with Executive Order 9024. The WPB replaced the Su ...

before becoming a presidential advisor to

Communist allegations

In 1943, Congressman Fred Bradley accused Niles of having

Communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

connections while involved with the

. Allegedly based on information regarding Niles' past that had been provided by his childhood classmate at

, Joseph Kennedy, these accusations are thought to have been largely motivated by

antisemitism Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

. More recent allegations of Communist connections to Niles have arisen: A

Venona The Venona project was a United States counterintelligence program initiated during World War II by the United States Army's Signal Intelligence Service and later absorbed by the National Security Agency (NSA), that ran from February 1, 1943, u ...

decrypted message from New York to Moscow reported on a plan to send a husband and wife team of

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...

'illegals' to Mexico. The message reads:

Through CAPITAN'S (Roosevelt's) advisor David Niles –will take 3-4 days, will cost 500 dollars.... ound Niles there is a group of his friends who will arrange anything for a bribe. Through them TENOR (Michael W. Burd) obtains priorities and has already paid them as much as 6000 dollars. Whether NILES takes a bribe himself is not known for certain.

Burd was a Soviet agent and an officer of the Midland Export Corporation in New York City.

Truman Administration

Following Roosevelt's death, Niles remained in the presidential cabinet as an advisor to President

. Niles was instrumental in convincing the President to admit 100,000 refugees into the United States from the

displaced persons camps in post–World War II Europe Displaced persons camps in post–World War II Europe were established in Germany, Austria, and Italy, primarily for refugees from Eastern Europe and for the former inmates of the Nazi German concentration camps. A "displaced persons camp" is a t ...

. In 1947, President Truman awarded him the

Medal for Merit The Medal for Merit was the highest civilian decoration of the United States in the gift of the president. Created during World War II, it was awarded by the president of the United States to civilians who "distinguished themselves by exceptiona ...

. At the time, Niles was the longest serving aide in White House history. Entrusted with minority affairs, Niles was one of the key forces behind the desegregation of the United States Armed Forces.

Niles and Israel

Niles was a committed

Zionist Zionism is an Ethnic nationalism, ethnocultural nationalist movement that emerged in History of Europe#From revolution to imperialism (1789–1914), Europe in the late 19th century that aimed to establish and maintain a national home for the ...

and was important in providing access to the White House for American Zionists. Niles' efforts on behalf of Jewish statehood earned him the support and praise of such figures as

Chaim Weizmann Chaim Azriel Weizmann ( ; 27 November 1874 – 9 November 1952) was a Russian-born Israeli statesman, biochemist, and Zionist leader who served as president of the World Zionist Organization, Zionist Organization and later as the first pre ...

and

Moshe Sharett Moshe Sharett (; born Moshe Chertok (); 15 October 1894 – 7 July 1965) was the second prime minister of Israel and the country’s first foreign minister. He signed the Israeli Declaration of Independence and was a principal negotiator in th ...

. Upon the establishment of the State of Israel and the opening of an Israeli embassy in Washington, Niles became close with Ambassador Eliahu Eilat as well as his successor

Abba Eban Abba Solomon Meir Eban (; ; born Aubrey Solomon Meir Eban; 2 February 1915 – 17 November 2002) was a History of the Jews in South Africa, South African-born Israeli diplomat and politician, and a scholar of the Arabic and Hebrew languages. D ...

. Niles was active in American Jewish communal politics. Along with his involvement in the United Jewish Appeal, he also maintained friendships with influential Jewish leaders such as Rabbi Stephen S. Wise and Abram L. Sachar, along with Jewish supreme court justices

Louis D. Brandeis Louis may refer to: People * Louis (given name), origin and several individuals with this name * Louis (surname) * Louis (singer), Serbian singer Other uses * Louis (coin), a French coin * HMS ''Louis'', two ships of the Royal Navy See also * ...

and

Death

Niles never married, and died in Beth Israel Hospital in Boston on 28 September 1952, two months shy of his 64th birthday.