Summary
Overview
circa 1950-2000 (mostly 1969-1999)
11.5 linear feet, 21 archival boxes, 1 oversize box
Abstract
The William P. Bundy Papers document Bundy's career in public service, including
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs; Assistant
Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs; Assistant Secretary of State
for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, and editor of Foreign
Affairs. Additionally, the collection consists of correspondence and subject
files for Bundy's 1998 book, A Tangled Web: The Making of Foreign
Policy in the Nixon Presidency.
Description
Description
The William P. Bundy Papers are arranged by form and consists of correspondence,
speeches, articles, memoranda, appointment books, and trip and book notes. A small
portion of the collection documents Bundy's career in public service including Deputy
Assistant Directory, Office of National Estimates, Central Intelligence Agency;
Deputy Assistant Secretary and Assistant Secretary of Defense, International Security
Affairs; and Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs. His
appointment books, diary highlights and memoranda reveal Bundy's involvement in
policy decisions made by the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, especially
concerning Vietnam.
A large portion of the collection relates to Bundy's 1998 book, A Tangled Web: The Making of Foreign Policy in the Nixon Presidency.
Included within are his reference material, chapter drafts, interviews, reviews and
correspondence with family, including brother McGeorge, and friends, such as Winston
Lord and Marshall Green, who offered constructive criticisms.
Collection Creator
Biography
William Putnam Bundy was born September 24, 1917 in Washington, D.C. to Harvey H. and
Katherine (Putnam) Bundy. He was educated at Groton School (1935), Yale College (1939),
Harvard Graduate School (1940) and Harvard Law School (1947). In 1943, he married Mary
Acheson, daughter of Dean Acheson, secretary of state under President Harry Truman.
Later, they had three children, two sons, Michael, and Christopher, and a daughter,
Carol. He served in the United State's Army from 1941 to 1946. During World War II, he
commanded an Army Signal Corps unit working with the British at Bletchley Park on the
ULTRA operation breaking high-level German Engima ciphers. He was awarded the Legion of
Merit and was made a member of the Order of the British Empire. After finishing law
school in 1947, he worked for four years with the Washington, D.C. firm of Covington and
Burling. In 1951, he joined the Central Intelligence Agency, Office of National
Estimates, working as the chief of staff and as a liaison to the National Security
Council staff. In 1960, Bundy served as staff director of the President's Commission on
National Goals.
Bundy served under President Kennedy and Johnson as a political appointee from
1961-1969. In 1961, he was appointed as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for
International Security Affairs (ISA), then from 1963 to 1964 as Assistant Secretary of
Defense, ISA. From 1964-1969, he served under the Department of State as the Assistant
Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs. During his time as Assistant Secretary,
Bundy participated in deliberations on such matters as the Bay of Pigs invasion and the
Cuban Missile Crisis. Later, he became a central figure in shaping Vietnam policy. Bundy
left government in May 1969 to teach at the Center for International Studies at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. From 1970 to 1972, he served as a part-time
columnist for Newsweek, rotating with George Ball and
Zbigniew Brzezinski in the international edition and briefly in the domestic
edition.
He edited Foreign Affairs from 1972 to 1984, contributing
several articles of his own. Later he served as a Visiting Professor at the Woodrow
Wilson School at Princeton University from 1985 to 1987. He was a Trustee of the
American Assembly from 1964 to 1984 and served on the Board of Directors of the Council
on Foreign Relations from 1964 to 1972. After 1987, he devoted his time to writing a
critical history of American foreign policy in the Nixon-Kissinger Era including the
later years of Vietnam. In 1998, he published A Tangled Web: the
Making of Foreign Policy in the Nixon Presidency. Bundy died from heart
trouble on October 6, 2000 at age 83.
Access and Use
Access Restrictions
Box 5 Folder 13 is closed until Henry Kissinger's death.
Use Restrictions
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. Permission to publish materials
from the collection must be requested from the Curator of the Public Policy Papers.
Researchers are responsible for determining any copyright questions.
Preferred Citation
William P. Bundy Papers; circa 1950-2000 (mostly 1969-1999), Public Policy Papers, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Princeton University Library.
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