C. Douglas Dillon

Clarence Douglas Dillon
57th United States Secretary of the Treasury
In office January 21, 1961 – April 1, 1965
President	John F. Kennedy Lyndon B. Johnson
Preceded by	Robert B. Anderson
Succeeded by	Henry H. Fowler
21st Under Secretary of State
In office June 12, 1959 – January 4, 1961
President	Dwight D. Eisenhower
Preceded by	Christian Herter
Succeeded by	Chester Bowles
Personal details
Born	August 21, 1909 Geneva
Died	January 10, 2003 (aged 93) New York-Presbyterian Hospital New York City, New York
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Phyllis Chess Ellsworth, 1931–1982 (widowed) Susan Sage, 1983
Children	2
Profession	Financier, Businessman, Diplomat
Signature
Military service
Service/branch	United States Navy
Battles/wars	World War II
[1]

Clarence Douglas Dillon (born Clarence Douglass Dillon in Geneva, August 21, 1909 – New York City, New York, January 10, 2003) was an American diplomat and politician, who served as U.S. Ambassador to France (1953–1957) and as the 57th Secretary of the Treasury (1961–1965). He was also a member of the Executive Committee of the National Security Council (ExComm) during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Life

Although Dillon grew up as a patrician, his paternal grandfather, Samuel Lapowski, was a poor Jewish immigrant from Poland. After leaving Poland, his grandfather settled in Texas after the American Civil War. Dillon's father Clarence later changed his family name to Dillon, after his grandmother's maiden name.^[2] Dillon's mother, Anne Douglass, is descended from Grahams Lairds of Tamrawer Castle at Kilsyth, Stirling, Scotland.

Dillon began his education at Pine Lodge School in Lakehurst, Ocean County, New Jersey which he attended at the same time as the three Rockefeller brothers Nelson, Laurance, and John. He continued at the Groton School in Massachusetts, then at Harvard University, A.B. magna cum laude 1931 in American history and literature.^[2][3]

In 1938 be became Vice-President and Director of Dillon, Read & Co., a firm that bore his father's name (Clarence Dillon). After his World War II service on Guam, on Saipan, and in the Philippines, he left the United States Navy as Lieutenant Commander decorated with the Legion of Merit and Air Medal. In 1946 he became chairman of Dillon, Read; by 1952 he had doubled the firm's investments.^[1]

Dillon had been active in Republican politics since 1934. He worked for John Foster Dulles in Thomas E. Dewey's 1948 presidential campaign. In 1951 he organized the New Jersey effort to secure the 1952 Republican nomination for Dwight D. Eisenhower. He was also a major contributor to Eisenhower's general election campaign in 1952.^[1]

President Eisenhower appointed him United States Ambassador to France in 1953. Following that appointment he became Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs in 1958 before becoming Under Secretary of State the following year.^[4]

In 1961 President John F. Kennedy, a Democrat, appointed Republican, Dillon Treasury Secretary. Dillon remained Treasury Secretary under President Lyndon B. Johnson until 1965.

Dillon proposed the fifth round of tariff negotiations under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), conducted in Geneva 1960–1962; it came to be called the "Dillon Round", and led to substantial tariff reduction. Dillon was important in securing presidential power for reciprocal tariff reductions under the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. He also played a role in crafting the Revenue Act of 1962 that established a 7 percent investment credit to spur industrial growth. He supervised revision of depreciation rules to benefit corporate investment.

A close friend of John D. Rockefeller III, he was chairman of the Rockefeller Foundation from 1972 to 1975. He also served alongside John Rockefeller on the 1973 Commission on Private Philanthropy and Public Needs, and under Nelson Rockefeller in the Rockefeller Commission to investigate CIA activities (along with Ronald Reagan). He had abeen president of Harvard Board of Overseers, chairman of the Brookings Institution, and vice chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations.^[2]

With his first wife, Dillon collected impressionist art. He was a long time trustee of the Metropolitan Museum, its President 1970–1977, and then chairman.^[2] He built up its Chinese galleries. He personally donated $20 million to the museum and led a fundraising campaign that raised an additional $100 million.

He received the Medal of Freedom in 1989.

First marriage and issue

In Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts, on 10 March 1931, Dillon married his first wife, the former Phyllis Chess Ellsworth (South Bend, St. Joseph County, Indiana, 3 August 1910 – New York City, New York, 20 June 1982), daughter of John Chess Ellsworth (South Bend, St. Joseph County, Indiana, 20 December 1874 – living 1957^[5]) and wife (m. Lowell, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, 14 October 1903) Alice Frances Chalifoux (Lowell, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, 9 August 1881 – New York City, New York, 27 January 1957), who bore him two daughters:

• Phyllis Ellsworth Dillon
• Joan Douglas Dillon (born New York City, New York, 31 January 1935). She married firstly in Paris on 1 August 1953, divorced in Washoe County, Nevada, on 12 December 1955 and annulled in Rome on 22 June 1963 James Brady Moseley (New York City, New York, 22 May 1931 – Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts, 9 April 1998), son of Frederick S. Moseley, Jr. and wife Jane H. Brady, they had one daughter: Joan Dillon Moseley born: February 6, 1954. She married secondly at St. Edward's, in Sutton Park, Guildford, Surrey, on 1 March 1967, H.R.H. Prince Charles of Luxembourg (1927–1977), and had one daughter and one son, H.R.H. Princess Charlotte born September 15, 1967 and H.R.H. Prince Robert born August 14, 1968. Widowed, she married thirdly in Isleboro, Maine, on 3 August 1978, Philippe-François-Armand-Marie, 7th duc de Mouchy, without issue.

Second marriage

In 1983 Dillon married his second wife, the former Susan Sage (born 1917).

See also

• List of U.S. political appointments that crossed party lines
• Rockefeller Foundation
• Rockefeller family
• Metropolitan Museum

References

Further reading

• Nelson Lichtenstein, ed., Political Profiles: The Johnson Years (1976)
• Eleanora W. Schoenebaum, ed., Political Profiles: The Eisenhower Years (1977)
• Bernard S. Katz and C. Daniel Vencill, Biographical Dictionary of the United States Secretaries of the Treasury, 1789–1995 (1996)
• Joseph M. Siracusa, ed., Presidential Profiles: The Kennedy Years (2004)
• Deane F. Heller, The Kennedy Cabinet: America’s Men of Destiny (1961)
• Robert Sobel, The Life and Times of Dillon Read (1991), a study of the investment bank
• Robert C. Perez and Edward F. Willett, Clarence Dillon: A Wall Street Enigma (1995), a biography of Dillon’s father.

External links

• Ancestry of Joan Douglas Dillon
• / obit

Diplomatic posts
Preceded by James Clement Dunn	U.S. Ambassador to France March 13, 1953 – January 28, 1957	Succeeded by Amory Houghton
Government offices
Preceded by William L. Clayton	Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs July 1, 1958 – June 11, 1959	Succeeded by George Wildman Ball
Preceded by Christian Herter	Under Secretary of State June 12, 1959 – January 4, 1961	Succeeded by Chester Bowles
Preceded by Robert B. Anderson	United States Secretary of the Treasury Served under: John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson January 21, 1961 – April 1, 1965	Succeeded by Henry H. Fowler