Thomas S. Gates, Jr.
Former United States Secretary of Defense
Education
- Honorary degree of an LL.D - University of Pennsylvania
Overview
Thomas Sovereign Gates Jr. was an American politician and diplomat who served as Secretary of Defense from 1959 to 1961 and Secretary of the Navy from 1957 to 1959, both under President Dwight D. Eisenhower. During his tenure as Secretary of Defense, he established a task force to set nuclear target priorities. He also authorized U-2 reconnaissance flights, including the flight of Francis Gary Powers.
Later in his career, he served as the Chief of the U.S. Liaison Office in Beijing, appointed by President Gerald Ford.
Political career :
President Eisenhower appointed Gates Under Secretary of the Navy in October 1953 and Secretary on 1 April 1957, positions in which he earned the president's approval. It was a foregone conclusion when Gates became Defense Secretary Neil McElroy's deputy on 8 June 1959 that he would succeed him. He entered office with an impressive background of active military experience and more than six years in the Department of Defense.
As a top-level DoD official since 1953, Gates was familiar with the 1953 and 1958 Defense Department reorganizations. Believing that the Secretary of Defense had all the authority he needed and that time should be allowed for evaluation of the long range effects of the 1958 amendments, he discouraged efforts to further revamp the department. As a former Secretary of the Navy who had observed the gradual downgrading of service secretary positions, he felt that the service secretaries should play a more important role, and he encouraged them to do so.
Early Life
Gates Born April 10, 1906 in Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Gates was the son of Thomas S. Gates Sr., an investment banker and lawyer who was president of the University of Pennsylvania from 1930 to 1944, and his wife, Marie (née Rogers) Gates. Gates graduated from Chestnut Hill Academy, an all-male private preparatory school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1924. He was then accepted into the University of Pennsylvania, where his father was serving on the university's board of trustees. At Penn, Gates managed the Penn Quakers football team and was a member of the school's basketball team, where in March 1928, he was arrested along with 16 other students with charges of inciting a riot after Penn defeated Princeton to become Intercollegiate League champions. A member of Zeta Psi fraternity, and the Phi Beta Kappa Society, Gates graduated with his Bachelor of Arts in English in 1928.
Gates married the former Millicent Anne Brengle on September 29, 1928. They had one son and three daughters. After graduating, he joined his father's Philadelphia-based investment banking firm, Drexel and Company. In the early to mid-1930s he worked as a bond salesman at Drexel, and later moved to New York City for two years where he was an apprentice for J.P. Morgan & Company. Gates became a full partner at Drexel and Company in 1940.
During World War II he served in the Navy, rose to the rank of lieutenant commander, and participated in campaigns in the Pacific and Mediterranean areas. He was released from active duty in October 1945.
Career
- United States - Former Secretary of Defense