Editing Ellsworth Bunker

{{Short description|American diplomat (1894–1984)}}
{{Infobox Ambassador
| name                = Ellsworth Bunker
| image               = Ellsworth Bunker.jpg
| imagesize           = 
| caption             = Bunker in 1965
| country5            = Argentina
| ambassador_from5    = United States
| predecessor5        = [[Stanton Griffis]]
| successor5          = [[Albert F. Nufer]]
| president5          = [[Harry S. Truman]]
| term_start5         = March 13, 1951
| term_end5           = March 12, 1952
| country4            = Italy
| ambassador_from4    = United States
| predecessor4        = [[James Clement Dunn]]
| successor4          = [[Clare Boothe Luce]]
| president4          = [[Harry S. Truman]]<br>[[Dwight D. Eisenhower]]
| term_start4         = May 7, 1952
| term_end4           = April 3, 1953
| country3            = India
| ambassador_from3    = United States
| predecessor3        = [[John Sherman Cooper]]
| successor3          = [[John Kenneth Galbraith]]
| president3          = [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]]<br>[[John F. Kennedy]]
| term_start3         = November 28, 1956
| term_end3           = March 23, 1961
| country2            = the Organization of American States
| ambassador_from2    = United States
| predecessor2        = [[deLesseps Story Morrison]]
| successor2          = [[Sol Linowitz]]
| president2          = [[Lyndon B. Johnson]]
| term_start2         = January 29, 1964
| term_end2           = November 7, 1966
| country1            = South Vietnam
| ambassador_from1    = United States
| term_start1         = April 5, 1967
| term_end1           = May 11, 1973
| predecessor1        = [[Henry Cabot Lodge Jr.]]
| successor1          = [[Graham Martin]]
| president1          = [[Lyndon Johnson]] <br /> [[Richard Nixon]]
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1894|05|11}}
| birth_place         = [[Yonkers, New York]], U.S.
| death_date          = {{death date and age|1984|09|27|1894|05|11}}
| death_place         = [[Brattleboro, Vermont]], U.S.
| nationality         = 
| party               = 
| spouse              = {{plainlist|
* {{Marriage|Harriet Allen Butler|1920|1964|end=died}}
* {{Marriage|[[Carol C. Laise|Carol Laise]]|1967}}
}}
| relations           = 
| children            = 
| residence           = 
| alma_mater          = [[Yale University]]
| occupation          = 
| profession          = Businessman and diplomat
| footnotes           = 
| awards              = [[File:Presidential Medal of Freedom with Distinction (ribbon).svg|border|23px]] [[Presidential Medal of Freedom]] with Distinction (1963, 1967)<br>[[File:President's Award for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service.png|24px]] [[President's Award for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service]] (1979)
| order2              = 5th
| order5              = 31st
}}
'''Ellsworth F. Bunker''' (May 11, 1894 – September 27, 1984) was an American businessman and diplomat who served as ambassador to Argentina, Italy, India, Nepal and South Vietnam. He is perhaps best known for being a [[War Hawk|hawk]] on the war in [[Vietnam War|Vietnam and Southeast Asia]] during the 1960s and 1970s. {{As of|February 2024}}, Bunker is one of only two people to have been awarded the [[Presidential Medal of Freedom]] twice, and the only person to receive both awards With Distinction.

==Early life and education==
Ellsworth Bunker was born on May 11, 1894, in [[Yonkers, New York]].<ref name=NolanCJ-p48>{{cite book |last=Nolan |first=Cathal J. |title=Notable U.S. Ambassadors Since 1775: A Biographical Dictionary |year=1997 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-313-29195-1 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/notableusambassa00west/page/48 48] |url=https://archive.org/details/notableusambassa00west/page/48 }}</ref> He was the eldest of three children of George Raymond Bunker and Jeanie Polhemus (''née'' Cobb), whose family descended from prominent early Dutch settlers including the [[List_of_United_States_political_families_(E)#The_Evertsons_and_Smiths|Evertson]] family (of the [[Great Nine Partners Patent|Great Nine Partners]]) and the [[Schuyler family]]. His great-grandmother Eliza Brodhead Polhemus ''née'' Heyer was a niece of [[Stephen Whitney]], reputedly the wealthiest American of his time after [[John Jacob Astor]], while her first cousin Charles Suydam was the brother-in-law of Astor's grandson [[William Backhouse Astor Jr.]] and his wife [[Caroline Schermerhorn Astor]].<ref name=NolanCJ-p48/><ref name=RobertH-GreensfelderNS>{{cite book |last=Roberts | first= Harry Jr. |author2=Nelson Sutro Greensfelder |title=The Explosives Engineer: Volumes 27-29 |year=1949 |publisher=Hercules Powder Co. |page=4 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Institute for Research in Biography |title=Who's Who in Commerce and Industry, Volume 10|year=1957 |publisher=Marquis Who's Who |location=New York, N.Y. |pages=167 }}</ref> 

Bunker's father was one of the founders and chairman of the board of National Sugar Refining Company. His younger brother, Arthur Hugh Bunker (July 29, 1895 – May 19, 1964), was also a noted businessman, chairman of the executive committee of the [[War Production Board]] (1941–1945) during World War II, and president and then board chairman of American Metal Climax (AMAX). He was married to actress and writer [[Isabel Leighton]].<ref name=RobertH-GreensfelderNS/><ref>{{cite news |title=Arthur H. Bunker Dead at 68 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=May 20, 1964 }}</ref> His first cousin Dorothy Penrose Cobb was married to historian [[Frederick Lewis Allen]].{{Citation needed|date=January 2022}}

Ellsworth Bunker was enrolled at [[Yale University]] in 1912 and graduated in 1916 with a major in economics and a minor in history.<ref name=NolanCJ-p48/><ref>{{cite book |last=Schaffer |first=Howard B.|title=Ellsworth Bunker: Global Troubleshooter, Vietnam Hawk |url=https://archive.org/details/ellsworthbunkerg00scha |url-access=limited |year=2003 |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |isbn=978-0-8078-2825-0 |page=7]}}</ref>

==Career==
[[File:Ellsworth Bunker with Indonesian President Soekarno.jpg|left|thumb|222x222px|Ellsworth Bunker with [[President of Indonesia|Indonesian President]] [[Sukarno]] at [[Merdeka Palace]] during a visit to [[Jakarta]], [[Indonesia]] March 1965.]]
[[File:Advisors meeting at Camp David - NARA - 192569.tif|left|thumb|222x222px|Ellsworth Bunker with [[President of the United States|President]] [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] and [[United States Secretary of Defense|Secretary of Defense]] [[Clark Clifford]] at [[Camp David|Camp David, Maryland]] April 1968.]]

Bunker first worked in his father's company, National Sugar Refining Company,<ref name=NolanCJ-p48/> eventually becoming the company's president, succeeding Horace Havemeyer Sr., in 1942. During World War II he served as chairman of the War Production Board's cane sugar advisory committee.<ref>{{cite news|title=WPB Official Testifies Sugar Imports Are Cut 50 Per Cent|newspaper=[[Chicago Tribune]]|date=March 24, 1942}}</ref> He retired as an active executive in 1951 and purchased a 600-acre dairy farm in [[Putney, Vermont]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Determined Diplomat|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=August 1, 1962}}</ref> He remained a member of the board of National Sugar until 1966.<ref>{{cite book|last=International Publications Service|title=International Who's Who, 1983-84: Volume 47|year=1983|publisher=Europa Publications|isbn=978-0-905118-86-4|pages=192}}</ref>

He then moved to government during the [[Harry S. Truman]] administration, when Truman appointed him [[United States Ambassador to Argentina|ambassador to Argentina]] in April 1951.<ref>{{cite news|title=Ambassador Bunker Sails|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=April 6, 1951}}</ref> Next he was [[United States Ambassador to Italy|ambassador to Italy]] in February 1952.<ref>{{cite news|title=Two Ambassadors Named By Truman|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=February 22, 1952}}</ref> From November 1953 until November 1956 he was president of the [[American Red Cross]].<ref>{{cite news|title=New President Is Named By American Red Cross|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=November 17, 1953}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Gruenther Named Head Of Red Cross|newspaper=[[The Register-Guard|Eugene Register-Guard]]|date=November 13, 1956}}</ref> In November 1956 he was appointed [[United States Ambassador to India|ambassador to India]] and [[United States Ambassador to Nepal|Nepal]] by [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]],<ref>{{cite web |title=U.S. Ambassadors to India - U.S. Embassy New Delhi, India |url=http://newdelhi.usembassy.gov/ambassadorlist.html |access-date=2007-05-29 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070528035111/http://newdelhi.usembassy.gov/ambassadorlist.html |archive-date=2007-05-28 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Nehru Backs Links to Commonwealth|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=December 8, 1956}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=A New Envoy to India|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=November 17, 1956}}</ref> and sworn in December 1956,<ref>{{cite news|title=A New Ambassador|newspaper=[[The Baltimore Sun]]|date=December 8, 1956}}</ref> where he played a crucial role in the covert alliance between the two powers against [[China]].{{Citation needed|date=November 2023}} He was replaced by [[John Kenneth Galbraith]] in 1961. During 1962 he acted as U.S. mediator in the [[New York Agreement]] over [[Western New Guinea]].

After a period back in [[Washington, D.C.]], he was made [[Ambassadors from the United States|U.S. ambassador]] to the [[Organization of American States]], 1964–1966. President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] appointed him U.S. ambassador to [[South Vietnam]], 1967–1973.<ref>{{cite web |last=Gillette |first=Michael L. |date=December 9, 1980 |title=Transcript, Ellsworth Bunker Oral History Interview I, 12/9/80 |publisher=LBJ Library |url=http://www.lbjlib.utexas.edu/Johnson/archives.hom/oralhistory.hom/BUNKER-E/bunker1.pdf |access-date=2007-05-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070714061839/http://www.lbjlib.utexas.edu/johnson/archives.hom/oralhistory.hom/BUNKER-E/bunker1.pdf |archive-date=July 14, 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Once in [[Saigon]], he strongly supported the war efforts of Presidents Johnson and [[Richard Nixon]], and applauded US incursions into [[Laos]] and [[Cambodia]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Sorley |first=Lewis |year=1999 |title=A Better War: The Unexamined Victories and Final Tragedy of America's Last Years in Vietnam |url=https://archive.org/details/betterwarunexam00sorl/page/265 |url-access=registration |publisher=Harcourt |pages=[https://archive.org/details/betterwarunexam00sorl/page/265 265–266] |isbn=978-0-15-100266-5}}</ref> Following the conclusion of the [[Vietnam War]], Bunker headed the US team involved in the drawing up of the 1977 [[Torrijos-Carter Treaties]].

He was awarded the [[Presidential Medal of Freedom]] with Distinction twice—the first time by [[John F. Kennedy]] in 1963 (though the ceremony took place during [[Lyndon B Johnson]]'s term) and the second time by [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] in 1967. He is one of only two persons (the other being [[Colin Powell]]) who received the award twice, and the only person to receive it both times with distinction.

==Personal life==
Bunker married a neighbor, Harriet Allen Butler, daughter of Ellen Mudge and George Prentiss Butler, in [[Yonkers, New York]] on April 24, 1920.<ref>{{cite news |title=Marriage Announcement: Bunker-Butler |date=April 26, 1920
|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1920/04/26/98586050.pdf
|newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=2008-07-03 }}</ref> Harriet had made friends with Bunkers' sister Katherine when the two girls attended [[Miss Porter's School]] in Farmington, Connecticut.<ref name=SchafferHB-p16>{{cite book |last=Schaffer |first=Howard B.|title=Ellsworth Bunker: Global Troubleshooter, Vietnam Hawk |url=https://archive.org/details/ellsworthbunkerg00scha |url-access=limited |year=2003 |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |isbn=978-0-8078-2825-0 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/ellsworthbunkerg00scha/page/n32 16]}}</ref> They had three children, John Birkbeck, Samuel Emmet, and Ellen Mudge.<ref>Schaffer. p.16.</ref> She died in 1964.<ref>{{cite news |title=New Envoy to Saigon; Ellsworth Bunker |date=March 16, 1967 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1967/03/16/archives/new-envoy-to-saigon-ellsworth-bunker.html |format=fee |work=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=2008-07-03}}</ref>

On January 3, 1967 he married fellow ambassador [[Carol Laise|Caroline Clendening "Carol" Laise]] in [[Katmandu, Nepal]].<ref>{{cite news|agency=[[Associated Press]] |title=In Brief|newspaper=Lewiston Evening Journal|date=January 4, 1967}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=U.S. Ambassadors Wed in Nepal; Carol C. Laise, Envoy in Katmandu, and Bunker Married: Two U.S. Envoys Are Wed In Nepal |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1967/01/04/archives/us-ambassadors-wed-in-nepal-carol-claiseenvoy-in-katmandu-and.html |url-access=subscription |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=January 4, 1967 |access-date=2008-07-02 }}</ref> Their marriage was the first between two American Ambassadors on active duty.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |title=Ambassadors Laise and Bunker Are Married |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112108168839&seq=23 |journal=State Department Newsletter |pages=15 |via=Hathitrust}}</ref> Later that year, Bunker was named ambassador to [[South Vietnam]] and for nearly the first six years of their marriage they only saw each other monthly, via a special government flight offered by President Johnson as enticement for Bunker to accept the post.<ref>{{cite web |last=Gillette |first=Michael L. |date=December 9, 1980 |title=Transcript, Ellsworth Bunker Oral History Interview I, 12/9/80 |url=http://memory.loc.gov/service/mss/mssmisc/mfdip/2005%20txt%20files/2004bun01.txt |accessdate=2011-02-20 |publisher=LBJ Library}}</ref> Laise died in 1991. Ambassador Laise was a friend of the first Mrs. Bunker.<ref>{{cite news |first=Joan |last=Cook |date=July 26, 1991 |title=Carol Laise, 73, Ex-Ambassador and High State Dept. Aide, Dies |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CEED81739F935A15754C0A967958260 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=2008-07-03 }}</ref>

Bunker died on September 27, 1984, at his dairy farm in [[Putney, Vermont]].<ref>{{cite news |date=October 4, 1984 |title=Ellsworth Bunker Is Buried Near His Home in Vermont |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]
|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9504EEDD123BF931A35753C1A962948260 |access-date=2007-05-29 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Ellsworth Bunker, Longtime Diplomat|newspaper=[[Chicago Tribune]]|date=September 28, 1984}}</ref> The funeral was attended by his good friend and neighbor former senator [[George Aiken]] and former president [[Richard M. Nixon]]. Aiken died two months later.<ref>{{cite news |agency=United Press International|title=George Aiken, Former Senator Dies|newspaper=[[Record-Journal]]|date=November 20, 1984}}</ref>

His middle child, John Birkbeck Bunker (March 8, 1926 – May 26, 2005), a first lieutenant in World War II, died of cancer at his home in [[Wheatland, Wyoming]] at age 79.<ref>{{citation |title=Obituaries |newspaper=[[Brattleboro Reformer]] |date=June 4, 2005 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=Death Notice |newspaper=[[The Philadelphia Inquirer]] |date=June 5, 2005 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |author=Culver, Virginia |date=June 7, 2005 |title=A Colorado Life: Sugar exec let others get in on his sweet life |newspaper=[[The Denver Post]] |page=C-13 }}</ref>

==In popular culture==
* In a 1977 ''[[Doonesbury]]'' cartoon, one of the supposed terms of the [[Torrijos–Carter Treaties]] was that "We get to keep Ellsworth Bunker."
* In a 1978 ''Doonesbury ''cartoon, a New York tailor fitting [[Phred (Doonesbury)|Phred]] with a very old-fashioned suit says "Ellsworth Bunker used to get everything from me". 
* Bunker is mentioned in [[Allen Ginsberg]]'s poem "September on Jessore Road", which includes the line "Where is Ambassador Bunker today? Are his [[Helio Courier|Helios]] machine gunning children at play?"<ref>{{cite news |date=December 17, 1971 |title=Books: On Jessore Road by Allen Ginsberg |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/01/04/08/specials/ginsberg-jessore.html |access-date=2017-04-30}}</ref>
* In chapter 7 of [[John Irving]]'s 1989 novel ''[[A Prayer for Owen Meany]]'': "And whom did Ellsworth Bunker replace? Remember that? Of course you don't!"

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* Oral History Interviews with Ellsworth Bunker, from the Rutherford Living History project at [[Duke University]].
** Part 1: [http://livinghistory.sanford.duke.edu/interviews/ellsworth-bunker-making-diplomat/ The Making of a Diplomat], with David Barber (February 26, 1979)
** Part 2: [http://livinghistory.sanford.duke.edu/interviews/ellsworth-bunker-vietnam/?search=Ellsworth Vietnam]{{Dead link|date=September 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, with [[Bruce R. Kuniholm|Bruce Kuniholm]] (February 26, 1979)
** Part 3: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caCJtMyv5nI India], with [[Ralph Braibanti]] (February 26, 1979)
** Part 4: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwXG7yKITXY Latin America], with [[Arturo Valenzuela]] (February 27, 1979)
** Part 5: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCdUrcKs_xM Lecture Follow-up], with Taylor Cole (February 28, 1979)
** Part 6: [http://livinghistory.sanford.duke.edu/interviews/ellsworth-bunker-europe/?search=Ellsworth Europe]{{Dead link|date=September 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, with [[Charles S. Maier|Charles Maier]] (February 28, 1979)
* {{Find a Grave|29815939}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120418054342/http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/sully-456-ambassador-bunker-meeting-the-press-saigon "Ambassador Bunker meeting the press; Saigon."], photograph; [https://archive.today/20130416050618/http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/sully-457-bunker-with-zorthian-saigon "Bunker with Zorthian; Saigon" as Bunker speaks to reporters], photograph; [https://web.archive.org/web/20120413051748/http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/sully-455-ambassador-ellsworth-bunker-arrival-in-saigon-top-u-s-officials-barry-zorthian-jack-steward-porter-c "Ambassador Ellsworth Bunker arrival in Saigon; Top U.S. officials: Barry Zorthian, Jack Steward, Porter Calhoun" (Bunker not pictured)], photograph; all "date covered" April 25, 1967 and credited to [[François Sully]]; all copyright Healey Library, [[UMass Boston]]; via openvault.wgbh.org. [[Barry Zorthian|Zorthian]] was press media advisor to the ambassador.

{{S-start}}
{{S-dip}}
{{Succession box
|title = [[United States Ambassador to Argentina]]
|before = [[Stanton Griffis]]
|after = [[Albert F. Nufer]]
|years = 1951 – 1952
}}
{{Succession box|title=[[United States Ambassador to Italy|U. S. Ambassador to Italy]]|before=[[James Clement Dunn]]|after=[[Clare Boothe Luce]]|years=1952–1953}}
{{Succession box|title=[[United States Ambassador to India|U.S. Ambassador to India]]|before=[[John Sherman Cooper]]|after=[[John Kenneth Galbraith]]|years=1956–1961}}
{{Succession box|title=[[United States Ambassador to South Vietnam|U.S. Ambassador to South Vietnam]]|before=[[Henry Cabot Lodge Jr.]]|after=[[Graham Martin]]|years=1967–1973}}
{{S-ach}}
{{Succession box
|before = [[Dean Rusk]]
|title =  [[Sylvanus Thayer Award|Sylvanus Thayer Award recipient]]
|years = 1970
|after = [[Neil Armstrong]]}}
{{S-end}}
{{US Ambassadors to Argentina}}
{{US Ambassador to India}}
{{US Ambassadors to Italy}}
{{US Ambassadors to Vietnam}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bunker, Ellsworth}}
[[Category:1894 births]]
[[Category:1984 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American diplomats]]
[[Category:Ambassadors of the United States to India]]
[[Category:Ambassadors of the United States to South Vietnam]]
[[Category:American people of Dutch descent]]
[[Category:Permanent representatives of the United States to the Organization of American States]]
[[Category:Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients]]
[[Category:Recipients of the President's Award for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service]]
[[Category:Schuyler family]]
[[Category:Woodhull family]]