Basic Information
Name: Charles Eustis Bohlen
Nickname: Chip. Seriously. Also, he was one of "The Wise Men."
Born: August 30, 1904
Died: January 1, 1974
Nationality: American
Hometown: Clayton, New York
WORK & EDUCATION
Occupation: State Department, United States Ambassador to France, United States Ambassador to the Philippines, United States Ambassador to the Soviet Union
Education: Harvard
FAMILY & FRIENDS
Parents: Charles Bohlen, Celestine Eustis Bohlen
Siblings: Three
Spouse: Avis Howard Thayer
Children: Avis, Charles, Jr., Celestine
Friends: George C. Marshall, FDR, Dwight Eisenhower
Foes: Senator Joe McCarthy
Analysis
Did you think Marshall touched pen to paper and wrote the Marshall Plan speech? Sorry to burst that bubble: the man who wrote it was actually lifelong diplomat Charles E. Bohlen.
Bohlen was descended from American aristocracy, and was a relative of Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach, of the primary arms maker for Germany in World War II. Small world, right? Bohlen's family relations don't really factor into this story, but they're kind of weird.
Bohlen worked his way up through the State Department, and due to his focus on the Soviet Union, served as FDR's interpreter at both the Tehran and Yalta Conferences. Those were pretty big. Bohlen believed that dealing with the Soviet Union required some sort of accommodation, basically ceding Eastern Europe to them. While this didn't make him popular with red-baiters like Joe McCarthy, it did prove at least temporarily effective.
Bohlen was tapped to write the speech because he was one of the architects behind U.S. foreign policy after the war. No word as to whether or not he resented it not being the "Bohlen Plan." We think he was probably cool with it.