Whitney Hart Shepardson (October 30, 1890 – May 29, 1966) was an American businessman and foreign policy expert. He headed the

Secret Intelligence Branch The Secret Intelligence Branch of the United States' Office of Strategic Services was a wartime foreign intelligence service responsible for the collection of HUMINT, human intelligence from a network of field stations in Asia, Europe, and the M ...

of the

Office of Strategic Services The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was the first intelligence agency of the United States, formed during World War II. The OSS was formed as an agency of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) to coordinate espionage activities behind enemy lines ...

during

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 ...

. Shepardson was born in

Worcester, Massachusetts Worcester ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Massachusetts, second-most populous city in the U.S. state of Massachusetts and the list of United States cities by population, 113th most populous city in the United States. Named after Worcester ...

. He attended Colgate Academy, where his father was principal. He graduated from

Colgate University Colgate University is a Private university, private college in Hamilton, New York, United States. The Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college was founded in 1819 as the Baptist Education Society of the State of New York ...

before attending

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1263 by nobleman John I de Balliol, it has a claim to be the oldest college in Oxford and the English-speaking world. With a governing body of a master and aro ...

as a

Rhodes Scholar The Rhodes Scholarship is an international Postgraduate education, postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford in Oxford, United Kingdom. The scholarship is open to people from all backgrounds around the world. Esta ...

. He completed his education at

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...

. He would practice law only briefly, serving as an attorney for the

United States Shipping Board The United States Shipping Board (USSB) was a corporation established as an emergency agency by the 1916 Shipping Act (39 Stat. 729), on September 7, 1916. The United States Shipping Board's task was to increase the number of US ships supporting ...

between May 1917 and July 1918. Shepardson's involvement in international relations began when sent to the 1919

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 ...

by 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 ...

as an aide to

Edward M. House Edward Mandell House (July 26, 1858 – March 28, 1938) was an American diplomat, and an adviser to President Woodrow Wilson. He was known as Colonel House, although his title was honorary and he had performed no military service. He was a high ...

, where he became secretary to the commission responsible for drafting the

Covenant of the League of Nations The Covenant of the League of Nations was the charter of the League of Nations. It was signed on 28 June 1919 as Part I of the Treaty of Versailles, and became effective together with the rest of the Treaty on 10 January 1920. Creation Early ...

. He was secretary also to a group of Americans seeking to organize the international relations institute which would become 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 ...

. Shepardson was a founding member of the board. From 1920, he wrote for the ''

Round Table The Round Table (; ; ; ) is King Arthur's famed table (furniture), table in the Arthurian legend, around which he and his knights congregate. As its name suggests, it has no head, implying that everyone who sits there has equal status, unlike co ...

'', a British journal edited by former Beit Lecturer in Colonial History,

Lionel Curtis Lionel George Curtis (1872–1955) was a British internationalist and author. He was the inspiration for the foundation of Chatham House (The Royal Institute of International Affairs) as well as the US Council On Foreign Relations at the P ...

. Following the war, he worked in Vienna as European manager for American shipping agency P.N. Gray and Co. Between 1925 and 1927 he served as a director on

John D. Rockefeller John Davison Rockefeller Sr. (July 8, 1839 – May 23, 1937) was an American businessman and philanthropist. He was one of the List of richest Americans in history, wealthiest Americans of all time and one of the richest people in modern hist ...

General Education Board The General Education Board was a private organization which was used primarily to support higher education and medical schools in the United States, and to help rural white and black schools in the South, as well as modernize farming practices in ...

, specialising in the development of agricultural and biological research. He was a director of the

Woodrow Wilson Foundation The Woodrow Wilson Foundation was an educational non-profit created in 1921, organized under the laws of New York, for the "perpetuation of Wilson's ideals" via periodic grants to worthy groups and individuals. Franklin D. Roosevelt was the chai ...

. Shepardson was president of Bates International Bag Company from 1928 to 1930. He was vice-president of International Railways of Central America, a transport arm of the

United Fruit Company The United Fruit Company (later the United Brands Company) was an American multinational corporation that traded in tropical fruit (primarily bananas) grown on Latin American plantations and sold in the United States and Europe. The company was ...

, from 1931 until 1942. After the outbreak of war in Europe he was appointed to lead the political group of the CFR's '' War and Peace Studies'' project. Following the involvement of the United States in war, he served with the Office of Strategic Services in Washington and London. In London, he was special assistant to the U.S. ambassador, and became first London head of Secret Intelligence. He became head of the agency's Secret Intelligence Branch in 1943, staying with the organization which would ultimately become part of the

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

until 1946. Post-war, he became director of the

Carnegie Corporation The Carnegie Corporation of New York is a philanthropic fund established by Andrew Carnegie in 1911 to support education programs across the United States, and later the world. Since its founding, the Carnegie Corporation has endowed or othe ...

's British Dominions and Colonies Fund. From 1953 to 1956 Shepardson served as president of 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 ...

References

External links

* 1890 births 1966 deaths American business executives People of the Office of Strategic Services Harvard Law School alumni American Rhodes Scholars Businesspeople from Worcester, Massachusetts {{US-business-bio-1890s-stub 20th-century American businesspeople