A pragmatic architect of the postwar U.S. international order
Khrushchev warned that the U.S. military buildup threatened war.
John J. McCloy was an American lawyer, security official, diplomat, and banker who connected wartime administration with the construction of the postwar international order. His record included responsibility for Japanese-American internment and consequential decisions on German war criminals, exposing both the reach and contradictions of U.S. power. In 1961, as John F. Kennedy’s arms-control adviser, he pursued test-ban and disarmament talks with the Soviet Union and confronted the military tensions surrounding Berlin in his July meeting with Khrushchev.
Career Timeline
- 1917–1919U.S. Army artillery officer, service in France
- 1921–1940New York lawyer and Wall Street attorney
- 1941–1945Assistant Secretary of War, wartime mobilization, intelligence, and security policy
- 1947–1949Second President of the World Bank
- 1949–1952U.S. High Commissioner for Germany
- 1953–1960Chairman of Chase Manhattan Bank
- 1953–1970Chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations
- 1961President Kennedy’s arms-control adviser