Leo Pasvolsky
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Leo Pasvolsky (August 22, 1893 – May 5, 1953) was a journalist, economist, state department official and special assistant to Secretary of State
Cordell Hull Cordell Hull (October 2, 1871July 23, 1955) was an American politician from Tennessee and the longest-serving U.S. Secretary of State, holding the position for 11 years (1933–1944) in the administration of President Franklin Delano Roosevel ...
. He was one of the United States government's main planners for the post
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 ...
world and "probably the foremost author of the
UN Charter The Charter of the United Nations is the foundational treaty of the United Nations (UN). It establishes the purposes, governing structure, and overall framework of the United Nations System, UN system, including its United Nations System#Six ...
." Thomas Connally said in his memoirs "Certainly he had more to do with writing the framework of the charter than anyone else."Schlesinger, p.44, citing Connally, p.279 His ''
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' obituary is subtitled "Wrote Charter of World Organization." A short, rotund, mustachioed pipe smoker with a very large and round head, he joked that he might find it easier to roll than to walk. An aide compared him to the third little pig in the
Three Little Pigs "The Three Little Pigs" is a fable about three pigs who build their houses of different materials. A Big Bad Wolf blows down the first two pigs' houses which are made of straw and sticks respectively, but is unable to destroy the third pig's ho ...
, Hull called him "
Friar Tuck Friar Tuck is one of the Merry Men, the band of heroic outlaws in the folklore of Robin Hood. History The figure of the jovial friar was common in the May Games festivals of England and Scotland during the 15th to 17th centuries. He appears ...
". A hardworking "one-man think tank" for Hull, he preferred to stay invisible, in the background.Schlesinger, pp.33–35 In the words of
Richard Holbrooke Richard Charles Albert Holbrooke (April 24, 1941 – December 13, 2010) was an American diplomat and author. He was the only person to have held the position of Assistant Secretary of State for two different regions of the world (Asia from 1977 ...
, he "was one of those figures peculiar to Washington – a tenacious bureaucrat who, fixed on a single goal, left behind a huge legacy while virtually disappearing from history."


Early life

Pasvolsky was born in a
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 ...
family in Pavlograd in 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 ...
in 1893. His parents were anti-czarists and the family fled to the United States in 1905. After graduating from the
City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a Public university, public research university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York ...
in 1916 he studied political science at
Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...
and also attended the
University of Geneva The University of Geneva (French: ''Université de Genève'') is a public university, public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded in 1559 by French theologian John Calvin as a Theology, theological seminary. It rema ...
. He then edited periodicals, the monthl
The Russian Review
and Amerikansky Viestnik, and the daily newspaper ''Russkoye Slovo''. Engaged in the tempestuous political climate of the emigres in New York, he debated
Leon Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky,; ; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky'' was a Russian revolutionary, Soviet politician, and political theorist. He was a key figure ...
during his visit to New York in 1916. He was at first optimistic about the
Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...
, and worked as the secretary of
Boris Bakhmeteff Boris Alexandrovich Bakhmeteff () (also spelled Bakhmetieff or Bakhmetev) (May 14, 1880 – July 21, 1951) was an engineer, businessman, professor of civil engineering at Columbia University and the only ambassador of the Russian Provisional Gove ...
, the last Ambassador to the US of the Kerensky government, but became embittered and anti-communist after
Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...
's
October Revolution The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Historiography in the Soviet Union, Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of Russian Revolution, two r ...
. In 1919 he covered the
Paris Peace Conference Agreements and declarations resulting from meetings in Paris include: Listed by name Paris Accords may refer to: * Paris Accords, the agreements reached at the end of the London and Paris Conferences in 1954 concerning the post-war status of Germ ...
for the
New York Tribune The ''New-York Tribune'' (from 1914: ''New York Tribune'') was an American newspaper founded in 1841 by editor Horace Greeley. It bore the moniker ''New-York Daily Tribune'' from 1842 to 1866 before returning to its original name. From the 1840s ...
, the
Brooklyn Eagle The ''Brooklyn Eagle'' (originally joint name ''The Brooklyn Eagle'' and ''Kings County Democrat'', later ''The Brooklyn Daily Eagle'' before shortening title further to ''Brooklyn Eagle'') was an afternoon daily newspaper published in the city ...
and other newspapers, and in 1921 he covered the Washington Arms Conference for the
Baltimore Sun ''The Baltimore Sun'' is the largest general-circulation daily newspaper based in the U.S. state of Maryland and provides coverage of local, regional, national, and international news. Founded in 1837, the newspaper was owned by Tribune Publish ...
. During this period he became a Wilsonian internationalist and softened his stance toward the
Soviet Union 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 ...
, arguing for its
recognition Recognition may refer to: Machine learning *Pattern recognition, a branch of machine learning which encompasses the meanings below Biometric * Recognition of human individuals, or biometrics, used as a form of identification and access control ...
by the US and its admission into the
League of Nations The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...
.


Brookings

In 1922 he became an economist on the staff of the
Brookings Institution The Brookings Institution, often stylized as Brookings, is an American think tank that conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in economics (and tax policy), metropolitan policy, governance, foreign policy, global econo ...
, from which he received a Ph.D. in 1936, and which was his institutional base until his death in 1953. In November 1926, he married Clara Christine McCormick of
Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...
. In his writings in the 1920s, he argued that the Soviet Union's 1918–1921
war communism War communism or military communism (, ''Vojenný kommunizm'') was the economic and political system that existed in Soviet Russia during the Russian Civil War from 1918 to 1921. War communism began in June 1918, enforced by the Supreme Economi ...
was an ideologically based attempt to realize Marx's vision of socialism or communism, rather than a short-term wartime expedient with no lasting significance. He also wrote critically about
Proletkult Proletkult ( rus, Пролетку́льт, p=prəlʲɪtˈkulʲt), a portmanteau of the Russian words "proletarskaya kultura" ( proletarian culture), was an experimental Soviet artistic institution that arose in conjunction with the Russian Revol ...
, principally citing ''The Cultural Aims of the Working Class'' () text originally published by
Anatoly Lunacharsky Anatoly Vasilyevich Lunacharsky (, born ''Anatoly Aleksandrovich Antonov''; – 26 December 1933) was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and the first Soviet People's Commissariat for Education, People's Commissar (minister) of Education, as well ...
in 1917 by ''
Novaya Zhizn ''Novaya Zhizn'' () was the first legal Bolshevik daily newspaper. It was founded by Alexander Bogdanov and its first editor was Nikolai Minsky. It was first published in October 1905 in Petersburg, under the guidance of Lenin. It was publishe ...
''. Pasvolsky claimed the texts gathered into a pamphlet were required reading for every member of Proletkult. He then gives an account that developed that its chief characteristic was pretentious artificiality. With the foundation of
Kultintern Kultintern was an international organization set up to enable the Russian Proletkult organization to work with an international network of contacts alongside the Comintern. Its goal was to spread "proletarian culture". It was first proposed in an is ...
he claimed this would reduce the Proletkult movement "not primarily, but exclusively" to a weapon to promote the
Bolshevik The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...
view of
communism Communism () is a political sociology, sociopolitical, political philosophy, philosophical, and economic ideology, economic ideology within the history of socialism, socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a ...
. Pasvolsky's book on Bulgaria and others from this period are still regarded as useful surveys by specialists.


Bureaucrat

Early in the first Roosevelt administration, he was hired by
Cordell Hull Cordell Hull (October 2, 1871July 23, 1955) was an American politician from Tennessee and the longest-serving U.S. Secretary of State, holding the position for 11 years (1933–1944) in the administration of President Franklin Delano Roosevel ...
as his personal assistant but returned to Brookings after two years. Later, he worked in the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce of the Department of Commerce (1934–35) and in the Division of Trade Agreements 1935–36 and later in various capacities in the State Department from 1935 to 1946.Domhoff, p. 119 During the 1930s and 1940s, frequently with Harold G. Moulton, his closest ally and collaborator since the 1920s at Brookings, he envisioned a stable, open world economy based on international political cooperation involving a successor to the League of Nations, wider than an alliance of democracies, and with international police powers. Earlier Brookings studies of the 1920s and 1930s focused on the importance of worldwide demand to the American economy, but by 1941 Paslovsky and Moulton underscored the ever-growing dependence of the American economy on foreign raw materials binding the US more tightly to the world economy. "Even before America entered the war, Pasvolsky was thinking about the postwar world."Goodwin, p. 92 He joined the
Council on Foreign Relations The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an American think tank focused on Foreign policy of the United States, U.S. foreign policy and international relations. Founded in 1921, it is an independent and nonpartisan 501(c)(3) nonprofit organi ...
in 1938. Along with Norman Davis, Pasvolsky, nicknamed "Pazzy" by some council members, became the main liaison between the Council and the State Department, and regularly attended the council's Economic and Financial Group meetings in New York.Shoup & Minter, p. 124 As Hull's assistant, he was on the same level as the six assistant secretaries of state. In September 1939, Hull assigned Pasvolsky to planning for the postwar peace, and at Pasvolsky's suggestion, set up the Advisory Committee on Problems of Foreign Relations. After this became moribund, Hull appointed Pasvolsky the first director of the
State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs o ...
's new Division of Special Research in February 1941. During 1942 diplomat
Charles W. Yost Charles Woodruff Yost (November 6, 1907 – May 21, 1981) was a career U.S. Ambassador who was assigned as his country's representative to the United Nations from 1969 to 1971. Early life and education Yost was born in Watertown, New York. ...
served as Assistant Chief. The two would work together at the Dumbarton Oaks conference, drafting the UN Charter. When the division was split in January 1943 into a Division of Political Studies and a Division of Economic Studies, Pasvolsky continued to supervise them. He was executive officer of the secretive
Advisory Committee on Postwar Foreign Policy The Advisory Committee on Postwar Foreign Policy was a secretive committee created on February 12, 1942, to prepare recommendations for President Franklin D. Roosevelt on post World War II foreign policy. Predecessors included the similar Advisory C ...
, which superseded the Division, returning to the broadly based Advisory Committee concept.Schlesinger, pp.39


UN planning

The work of the Advisory Committee led to the drafting of an outline for a "preliminary UN" by Undersecretary
Sumner Welles Benjamin Sumner Welles (October 14, 1892September 24, 1961) was an American government official and diplomat. He was a major foreign policy adviser to President Franklin D. Roosevelt and served as Under Secretary of State from 1936 to 1943, dur ...
, based on the design of the
League of Nations The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...
. Pasvolsky and Hull eventually opposed Welles' draft as being too hastily written. The major split was over whether the organization would have a "regional" nature, perhaps with local councils, in which each great power would have most of the responsibility for its region, or would have more centralized structure. Welles, as well as
Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...
(and later,
Nelson Rockefeller Nelson Aldrich "Rocky" Rockefeller (July 8, 1908 – January 26, 1979) was the 41st vice president of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977 under President Gerald Ford. He was also the 49th governor of New York, serving from 1959 to 197 ...
) favored "regionalism," while Pasvolsky and Hull favored a unitary global body. Roosevelt wavered between the two sides. Throughout 1942, Welles took the lead on planning for the UN and in January 1943 discussed a new and full draft charter with Roosevelt. It incorporated Roosevelt's four power "global policemen" but gave them less than absolute veto powers on an Executive Council with "regional" members too. Welles continued to work on the draft, but after a period of political infighting with Hull, he was forced to resign in August 1943. Subsequently, Hull took charge of UN planning, and appointed Pasvolsky to put together a draft charter, which he produced in August. It retained the Security Council, General Assembly and Secretariat, which Welles and Pasvolsky had agreed on, but downplayed regionalism. With the absence of Welles or any other figure with comparable influence, interest and expertise Pasvolsky's ideas and phrasing dominated the drafting henceforward. Before Hull departed for the
Moscow Conference (1943) The Third Moscow Conference between the major Allies of WWII, Allies of World War II took place during October 18 to November 11, 1943, at the Moscow Kremlin and Spiridonovka Palace. It was composed of major diplomats, ministers and generals, who ...
, Pasvolsky advised him that
economic reconstruction Economic reconstruction is a process for creating a proactive vision of economic change. The most basic idea is that problems in the economy, such as deindustrialization, environmental decay, outsourcing, industrial incompetence, poverty and a ...
, especially in the USSR, should be a prioritized, while
Isaiah Bowman Isaiah Bowman, AB, Ph. D. (December 26, 1878 – January 6, 1950), was an American geographer and President of the Johns Hopkins University, 1935–1948, controversial for his antisemitism and inaction in Jewish resettlement during World War ...
insisted on territorial agreements restricting Soviet expansion.Smith, p.387 By February 3, 1944, Roosevelt had approved Pasvolsky's latest draft. It incorporated two major departures "that modulated at least the naked appearance of Big Four dominance". Unlike the League of Nations, it entrusted security matters exclusively to the Security Council. However, it widened the Security Council into an 11-member entity, reducing the dominance of the four big powers that Roosevelt had long envisioned.Hoopes & Brinkley, pp. 114–115 In 1943 Pasvolsky was placed in charge of International Organization and Security Affairs in the State Department with responsibility for drafting the United Nations Charter; he was present at Bretton Woods and
Dumbarton Oaks Dumbarton Oaks, formally the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, is a historic estate in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. It was the residence and gardens of wealthy U.S. diplomat Robert Woods Bliss and his wife ...
. He became chairman of the Coordination Committee at the San Francisco
United Nations Conference on International Organization The United Nations Conference on International Organization (UNCIO), commonly known as the San Francisco Conference, was a convention of delegates from 50 Allies of World War II, Allied nations that took place from 25 April 1945 to 26 June 194 ...
, where the charter was negotiated and signed. Secretary Hull depended heavily on Pasvolsky to explain the plans and proposals for the UN to President Roosevelt. Craufurd Goodwin writes "It is striking how close a resemblance Pasvolsky's statement of objectives for the new international organization bears to the positions he had taken with Moulton throughout the previous decade."Goodwin, p. 93 Another important innovation at Dumbarton Oaks was the Economic and Social Council. Pasvolsky and the new Secretary of State Edward Stettinius Jr. managed to persuade Roosevelt to drop his idea of adding Brazil as a sixth member of the Security Council. Pasvolsky opposed an absolute veto by permanent members on all Security Council discussions and resolutions as giving these big states too much power, while Hull and the Soviets supported it. His persistence on this issue persuaded Hull and eventually the Soviets to limit the veto to substantive matters only – not allowing it on procedural ones including discussions.Schlesinger, pp.49–55


Other postwar planning

The British Foreign Research and Press Service, directed by
Arnold J. Toynbee Arnold Joseph Toynbee (; 14 April 1889 – 22 October 1975) was an English historian, a philosopher of history, an author of numerous books and a research professor of international history at the London School of Economics and King's Coll ...
, also worked on plans for postwar reconstruction and political and economic arrangements and collaborated closely with the
Advisory Committee ''Advisory Committee'' is Mirah's second full-length album. It was released on K Records on March 19, 2002, and produced by both Mirah and Phil Elvrum. Production ''Advisory Committee'' was recorded over a one-year period, starting on Septembe ...
. Toynbee and Pasvolsky "met on many occasions to discuss in detail ideas about the shape of a world order under Anglo-Saxon leadership." Pasvolsky, reflecting the thought of the State Department, the British, led by Lord Keynes and even the Soviets, envisioned the "eventual integration of Germany into the world economy." This lenience towards Germany in a 1944 State department memorandum by Pasvolsky inspired Treasury Secretary
Morgenthau Morgenthau is a German surname meaning "morning dew". Notable people with the surname include: * Elinor Morgenthau (1891–1949), American Democratic party activist *Hans Morgenthau (1904–1980), German-American international relations theorist * ...
's opposed
Morgenthau plan The Morgenthau Plan was a proposal to weaken Germany following World War II by eliminating its arms industry and removing or destroying other key industries basic to military strength. This included the removal or destruction of all industria ...
, but while the Morgenthau plan won tentative approval, the more lenient policies were eventually carried out. Similarly, Pasvolsky, concerned about the strain on occupation forces, favored not insisting on the removal of the Japanese emperor, opposing
Dean Acheson Dean Gooderham Acheson ( ; April 11, 1893October 12, 1971) was an American politician and lawyer. As the 51st United States Secretary of State, U.S. Secretary of State, he set the foreign policy of the Harry S. Truman administration from 1949 to ...
and
Archibald MacLeish Archibald MacLeish (May 7, 1892 – April 20, 1982) was an American poet and writer, who was associated with the modernist school of poetry. MacLeish studied English at Yale University and law at Harvard University. He enlisted in and saw action ...


Return to Brookings and death

He resigned from the State Department in March 1946. In 1946–53 he was director of international studies at the Brookings Institution, and at the time of his death, he was working on a study of the origin and history of the United Nations. He died of a heart attack on May 5, 1953, in Washington, DC, survived by his wife Christine McCormick Pasvolsky, two sisters (Elaine Elnett and Clara Pasvolsky) and two brothers (Valentine and Elias). His incomplete manuscript on the history of the UN was the basis of his assistant Ruth Russell's 1961 ''History of the United Nations Charter'', the standard work on the subject.Schlesinger, p.281


Critics

Pasvolsky had his share of enemies at the State Department.
Isaiah Bowman Isaiah Bowman, AB, Ph. D. (December 26, 1878 – January 6, 1950), was an American geographer and President of the Johns Hopkins University, 1935–1948, controversial for his antisemitism and inaction in Jewish resettlement during World War ...
, one of the leading advisers of the State Department, took an instant dislike to Pasvolsky. Bowman, Welles and Pasvolsky engaged in a power struggle over the direction of the
Advisory Committee ''Advisory Committee'' is Mirah's second full-length album. It was released on K Records on March 19, 2002, and produced by both Mirah and Phil Elvrum. Production ''Advisory Committee'' was recorded over a one-year period, starting on Septembe ...
in late 1942.Smith, p.385 Bowman's differences with Pasvolsky erupted at San Francisco, where he wrote that he was "dangerous to American interests" and that it was "a mistake to put one man with his background into a key position." Pasvolsky resented Bowman equally, and wrote him out of subsequent histories of the UN's founding.Smith, p.404 I F Stone called Pasvolsky "
Kerensky Alexander Fyodorovich Kerensky ( – 11 June 1970) was a Russian lawyer and revolutionary who led the Russian Provisional Government and the short-lived Russian Republic for three months from late July to early November 1917 (New Style, N.S.). ...
's gift to American foreign policy and political science" and considered that the widely used Brookings publications on US foreign policy prepared under his direction reflected "an ultra-right point of view".Stone pp. 154-156 Some considered Pasvolsky's Brookings ideas for the world's economic problems simple-minded.
Dean Acheson Dean Gooderham Acheson ( ; April 11, 1893October 12, 1971) was an American politician and lawyer. As the 51st United States Secretary of State, U.S. Secretary of State, he set the foreign policy of the Harry S. Truman administration from 1949 to ...
referred disparagingly to the "Hull-Pasvolsky establishment" and wrote that "Leo Pasvolsky was Mr. Hull's principal speech writer. Or one might say, he wrote Mr. Hull's principal speech: for whatever the occasion or title, the speech was apt to turn into a dissertation on the benefits of unhampered international trade and the true road to it through agreements reducing tariffs."Acheson pp. 55, 64 Acheson belittled Pasvolsky's postwar planning: In a 1967 letter, Acheson criticized American moralism in international affairs, which he saw as culminating in "that little rat Leo Pasvolsky's United Nations."


Works

* * * * * * * *


Notes


References

* * * * * * * * * * * Inderjeet Parmar, Think Tanks and Power in Foreign Policy: a comparative study of The role and influence of the CFR and RIIA, 1939-1945 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2004)


Further reading

* * * * *


External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pasvolsky, Leo Bretton Woods Conference delegates United States Department of State officials American male journalists 20th-century American journalists 20th-century American economists Columbia University alumni City College of New York alumni American officials of the United Nations 1893 births 1953 deaths