Charles E. Bohlen

Charles Eustis “Chip” Bohlen (August 30, 1904 – January 1, 1974) was a United States diplomat from 1929 to 1969 and Soviet expert, serving in Moscow before and during World War II, succeeding George F. Kennan as United States Ambassador to the Soviet Union (1953–1957), then ambassador to the Philippines (1957–1959), and to France (1962–1968). He became an exemplar of the nonpartisan foreign policy coterie known as "The Wise Men."

Early life

Bohlen was born at Clayton, New York to Charles Bohlen, a "gentleman of leisure," and Celestine Eustis Bohlen. The second of three Bohlen children, he acquired an interest in foreign countries while traveling Europe as a boy.Charles E. Bohlen, Witness to History, 1929-1969, New York: Norton, 1973, p.4.

Bohlen was graduated from Harvard College in 1927.

Diplomatic career

Bohlen joined the State Department in 1929, learned Russian and became a Soviet specialist, working first in Riga, Latvia. In 1934, aged 30, he joined the staff of the embassy in Moscow.

On the morning of August 24, 1939, he visited the Third Reich diplomat Hans von Herwarth and received the full content of the secret protocol to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, signed the day before.Charles Bohlen, Witness to History: 1929-1969 Norton, 1973, ISBN 0393074765 The secret protocol contained an understanding between Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin to split Central Europe, the...
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