Ellsworth F. Bunker (May 11, 1894[1] – September 27, 1984)[2] was an American businessman and diplomat (including being the ambassador to Argentina, Italy, India, Nepal and South Vietnam). He is perhaps best known for being a hawk on the war in Vietnam and Southeast Asia during the 1960s and 1970s. As of February 2024[update], 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.
Born in Yonkers, New York, 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 Evertson family (of the 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.[1][3][4]
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.[3][5] His first cousin Dorothy Penrose Cobb was married to historian Frederick Lewis Allen.[citation needed]
Ellsworth Bunker studied to be a lawyer, and graduated from Yale University with the class of 1916.[1] During World War II he served as chairman of the War Production Board's cane sugar advisory committee.[6]
Careeredit
Bunker first worked in his father's company, National Sugar Refining Company,[1] eventually becoming the company's president, succeeding Horace Havemeyer Sr., in 1942. He retired as an active executive in 1951 and purchased a 600-acre dairy farm in Putney, Vermont.[7] He remained a member of the board of National Sugar until 1966.[8]
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 lifeedit
Bunker married a neighbor, Harriet Allen Butler, daughter of Ellen Mudge and George Prentiss Butler, in Yonkers, New York on April 24, 1920.[19] Harriet had made friends with Bunkers' sister Katherine when the two girls attended Miss Porter's School in Farmington, Connecticut.[20] They had three children, John Birkbeck, Samuel Emmet, and Ellen Mudge.[21] She died in 1964.[22]
Bunker died on his dairy farm in Putney, Vermont.[26] 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.[27]
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.[28][29][30]
In a 1978 Doonesbury cartoon, a New York tailor fitting 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 Helios machine gunning children at play?"[31]
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!"
Referencesedit
^ abcdNolan, Cathal J. (1997). Notable U.S. Ambassadors Since 1775: A Biographical Dictionary. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 48. ISBN 978-0-313-29195-1.
^"Ellsworth Bunker Is Buried Near His Home in Vermont". The New York Times. October 4, 1984. Retrieved 2007-05-29.
^ abRoberts, Harry Jr.; Nelson Sutro Greensfelder (1949). The Explosives Engineer: Volumes 27-29. Hercules Powder Co. p. 4.
^Institute for Research in Biography (1957). Who's Who in Commerce and Industry, Volume 10. New York, N.Y.: Marquis Who's Who. p. 167.
^Gillette, Michael L. (December 9, 1980). "Transcript, Ellsworth Bunker Oral History Interview I, 12/9/80" (PDF). LBJ Library. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 14, 2007. Retrieved 2007-05-29.
^Sorley, Lewis (1999). A Better War: The Unexamined Victories and Final Tragedy of America's Last Years in Vietnam. Harcourt. pp. 265–266. ISBN 978-0-15-100266-5.
^"Marriage Announcement: Bunker-Butler" (PDF). The New York Times. April 26, 1920. Retrieved 2008-07-03.
^Schaffer, Howard B. (2003). Ellsworth Bunker: Global Troubleshooter, Vietnam Hawk. University of North Carolina Press. pp. 16. ISBN 978-0-8078-2825-0.
^"New Envoy to Saigon; Ellsworth Bunker" (fee). The New York Times. March 16, 1967. Retrieved 2008-07-03.
^"In Brief". Lewiston Evening Journal. Associated Press. January 4, 1967.
^"U.S. Ambassadors Wed in Nepal; Carol C. Laise, Envoy in Katmandu, and Bunker Married: Two U.S. Envoys Are Wed In Nepal". The New York Times. January 4, 1967. Retrieved 2008-07-02.
^Cook, Joan (July 26, 1991). "Carol Laise, 73, Ex-Ambassador and High State Dept. Aide, Dies". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-07-03.
^"Ellsworth Bunker, Longtime Diplomat". Chicago Tribune. September 28, 1984.
^"George Aiken, Former Senator Dies". Record-Journal. United Press International. November 20, 1984.
"Ambassador Bunker meeting the press; Saigon.", photograph; "Bunker with Zorthian; Saigon" as Bunker speaks to reporters, photograph; "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. Zorthian was press media advisor to the ambassador.