Arthur Bliss Lane (16 June 1894 – 12 August 1956) was a

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diplomat who served in Latin America and Europe. During his diplomatic career he dealt with the rise of a dictatorship in

Nicaragua Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...

in the 1930s,

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and its aftermath in Europe, and the rise of the

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

-installed

communist regime A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state in which the totality of the power belongs to a party adhering to some form of Marxism–Leninism, a branch of the communist ideology. Marxism–Leninism was ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

Biography

Lane was born in Bay Ridge,

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on June 16, 1894, and attended Yale University. After graduating in 1916, he became private secretary to the U.S. Ambassador to Italy in Rome. In 1919-1920 he was 2nd secretary in the U.S. embassy to Poland. In 1921-1922, he was 2nd secretary in London. During this time he was secretary to the U.S. delegation to the 1921

Conference of Ambassadors A conference is a meeting, often lasting a few days, which is organized on a particular subject, or to bring together people who have a common interest. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always d ...

in Paris. He then went to Berne, Switzerland in 1922. From 1923 to 1925 he worked at the U.S. State Department in Washington, D.C. Lane then worked in the embassy in

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

from 1925 to 1933. He was appointed U.S. Minister to

(1933–1936). While serving there he met with General

Somoza The Somoza family () is a political family which ruled Nicaragua under a dictatorship over a period of forty-three years, from 1936 to 1979. Founder, Anastasio Somoza García – who served as the President of Nicaragua from 1937 until 1956 – ...

while the President of Nicaragua Sacasa held talks with rebel leader

Augusto César Sandino Augusto César Sandino (; 18 May 1895 21 February 1934), full name Augusto Nicolás Calderón Sandino, was a Nicaraguan revolutionary, founder of the militant group EDSN, and leader of a rebellion between 1927 and 1933 against the United Sta ...

. Sandino called for the National Guard run by Somoza to be disbanded, as it had been founded by the U.S. as they withdrew their Marines from the country. Sandino was murdered by Guardsmen after the talks. The U.S. claimed that Lane had counseled Somoza to be patient, but Somoza (and later the Sandinistas) claimed that Lane gave Somoza permission for the assassination. Lane spent the next two years trying to reconcile Somoza and Sacasa, leaving the country before the next election as the U.S. adopted a more non-interventionist policy. He was next U.S. minister to

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

, and

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

from 1936 to 1937; the

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(from 1937 to 1941, until the German invasion); and

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in 1941–1942. He was then appointed

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(1942–1944), and subsequently to Poland from 1944 to 1947, first to the Polish government in exile in London and later in Warsaw to the post-war government. Lane in Warsaw

While in Poland, Lane resigned his post on February 24, 1947, in protest of the takeover of the country by the Communist puppet regime, and wrote a book detailing what he considered to be the failure of the United States and Britain to keep their promise that the Poles would have a free election after the war. In that book he described what he considered the betrayal of Poland by the Western Allies, hence the title, '' I Saw Poland Betrayed''. The book was translated into Polish and published in the United States, and later disseminated by an underground

samizdat Samizdat (, , ) was a form of dissident activity across the Eastern Bloc in which individuals reproduced censored and underground makeshift publications, often by hand, and passed the documents from reader to reader. The practice of manual rep ...

publishing house in Poland in the 1980s. According to Lane, the U.S. and Britain at the

Tehran Conference The Tehran Conference (codenamed Eureka) was a strategy meeting of the Allies of World War II, held between Joseph Stalin, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Winston Churchill from 28 November to 1 December 1943. It was the first of the Allied World Wa ...

agreed to the dismemberment of eastern Poland. He considered this act a treacherous breach of the

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, since Roosevelt never reported his decision to the

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. The

Yalta Conference The Yalta Conference (), held 4–11 February 1945, was the World War II meeting of the heads of government of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union to discuss the postwar reorganization of Germany and Europe. The three sta ...

was the final death blow to Poland's hopes for independence and for a democratic form of government, according to Lane. Following his career at the State Department, Lane was active in investigating the

Katyn Massacre The Katyn massacre was a series of mass killings under Communist regimes, mass executions of nearly 22,000 Polish people, Polish military officer, military and police officers, border guards, and intelligentsia prisoners of war carried out by t ...

and also active in several anti-Communist organizations, such as the

National Committee for a Free Europe The National Committee for a Free Europe, later known as Free Europe Committee, was an anti-communist Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) front organization, founded on June 1, 1949, in New York City, which worked for the spreading of NATO influence ...

. He would also later campaign for Republican

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionar ...

in the 1952 presidential election. After his death, Lane's papers were archived in

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

Sterling Memorial Library Sterling Memorial Library (SML) is the main library, library building of the Yale University Library system in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Opened in 1931, the library was designed by James Gamble Rogers as the centerpiece of Yale's Go ...

.Guide to the Arthur Bliss Lane Papers MS 5
Yale University Library

References

External links

* * Arthur Bliss Lane papers (MS 5). Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library. {{DEFAULTSORT:Lane, Arthur Bliss 1894 births 1956 deaths People from Bay Ridge, Brooklyn Ambassadors of the United States to Nicaragua Cold War diplomats Ambassadors of the United States to Poland Ambassadors of the United States to Estonia Ambassadors of the United States to Latvia Ambassadors of the United States to Yugoslavia 20th-century American diplomats Ambassadors of the United States to Costa Rica Ambassadors of the United States to Colombia New York (state) Republicans American anti-communists