Anthony Joseph Drexel Biddle, Jr.

Anthony Joseph Drexel Biddle, Jr.
United States Ambassador to Norway
In office
March 20, 1941 – December 1, 1943
President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Preceded by Florence Jaffray Harriman
Succeeded by Lithgow Osborne
United States Ambassador to Poland
In office
June 2, 1937 – December 1, 1943
President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Preceded by John Cudahy
Succeeded by Arthur Bliss Lane
United States Ambassador to Czechoslovakia
In office
September 17, 1941 – December 1, 1943
President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Preceded by Wilbur J. Carr
Succeeded by Laurence A. Steinhardt
Personal details
Born (1897 -12-17)December 17, 1897
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Died November 13, 1961 (1961 -11-13) (aged 63)
Washington, D.C.
Resting place Arlington National Cemetery
Nationality United States of America
Spouse(s) Mary Lillian Duke
Margaret Thompson Schulze
Margaret Atkinson Loughborough
Children Mary Duke Biddle
Margaret Biddle
Nicholas Duke Biddle (originally Anthony Joseph Drexel Biddle III)
Anthony Joseph Drexel Biddle III (b. 1948)
Parents Anthony Joseph Drexel Biddle, Sr.
Occupation U.S. Army general, diplomat

Anthony Joseph Drexel Biddle, Jr. (1897–1961), also known as A. J. Drexel Biddle, Jr. or Tony Biddle, was a wealthy socialite who became a diplomat of the United States, and served in the United States Army during World War I and after World War II, reaching the rank of major general.

Biography

Biddle was the son of millionaire Anthony Joseph Drexel Biddle, Sr. (1874–1948), and Cordelia Rundell Bradley (1873–1947). He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on December 17, 1897. His father, grandson of banker Anthony Joseph Drexel and great-grandson of banker Nicholas Biddle, was an eccentric boxing fan. When he was ten years old, the younger Biddle was in an exhibition match with Bob Fitzsimmons, who of course knocked him into a wall with a punch traveling about two inches.[1] He graduated from St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire but never attended college.[2]

Biddle married Mary Lillian Duke, a tobacco heiress, on June 16, 1915.[3] They divorced in 1931 after having two children: Mary Duke Biddle Trent Semans (1920-2012) and Nicholas Duke Biddle (1921–2004), who was initially named Anthony Joseph Drexel Biddle III, only to have his mother change his name following the divorce.[4] His second wife, whom he married in 1931 (later divorced), was Margaret Thompson Schulze, the only child of mining magnate William Boyce Thompson; by this marriage he had two stepchildren, (Margaret) Boyce Schulze and Theodore Schulze Jr, as well as a son, given the name Anthony Joseph Drexel Biddle III, who died at birth.[5] He married as his third wife, in 1946, Margaret Atkinson Loughborough, the former wife of William Ellery Loughborough and had two children, Margaret Biddle and Anthony Biddle III; after Biddle's death, she married, as her fourth husband, Colonel Edwinston Robbins.

In World War I he first enlisted as a private, and was promoted to rank of captain. In the 1920s he engaged in several business ventures, which were known as social successes but financial failures. For example, he managed Belgian boxer René deVos, and invested in the St. Regis Hotel. A party he held for the boxer at the hotel was marked by the loss of many bottles of fine champagne (at great expense due to prohibition in the United States). "Guests" even tried to wheel out the piano before it was retrieved.[2]

Biddle also made a deal to rent part of Central Park in New York City and open an expensive nightclub called The Casino.[6] After the Wall Street Crash of 1929 many of his investments failed. The Casino was raided and shut down. In 1931 he and other directors of the bankrupt Sonora Products Corporation of America (formerly Acoustic Products Company, in the phonograph and radio business) were sued by the Irving Trust Company. The directors were accused of diverting profits from stock sales into their own accounts. A district court dismissed the claims against the defendants, but the dismissal of Biddle and several others was reversed on appeal.[7][8]

From business to diplomacy

After Biddle was appointed Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Norway on July 22, 1935, he settled the Irving case out of court to avoid a bond required before leaving the country to assume the post.[9] He presented his credentials on September 7, 1935. It was widely suspected he was a political appointee resulting from his support of the Democratic Party and George Howard Earle III, its 1934 successful candidate for Governor of Pennsylvania. However, his social skills made him and his wife ideally suited to being a diplomat.[2][10]

On May 4, 1937 he was promoted to Ambassador to Poland and presented his credentials in Warsaw, Poland on June 2, 1937.[11] In September 1939 Germany invaded Poland, which was a major cause of World War II. After Biddle's house was hit with bomb fragments, his family and embassy staff fled to various temporary quarters.[12] After the escape, he joined the Polish government in exile in France until June 1940, when he returned to the US after France was invaded. On February 11, 1941 he also commissioned to the governments-in-exile of Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Greece, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, and Yugoslavia. Biddle arrived in London on March 14, 1941, and continued as ambassador through 1943.[11]

In January 1944 Biddle resigned from the state department and joined the Army as lieutenant colonel to serve on the staff of Dwight Eisenhower. His contacts with "underground" moverments and free military units in occupied nations provided intelligence for the planning of operation Overlord, the allied invasion.[13] He continued on Eisenhower's staff supervising European reconstruction after the war ended. In 1955 he resigned from the Army to become Adjutant General of the Pennsylvania National Guard.[14]

Biddle was known for being elegantly dressed. On October 4, 1943, he appeared on the cover of Life magazine.[15] The one published picture of Biddle without his impeccable suit was when he had to pack in a hurry to escape German bombers in Poland via Romania.[12] He was recognized in 1960 by George Frazier as one of the best dressed men in the US, on a short list with such stars as Fred Astaire. He was noted for his small number of fine custom-made suits[16] and his starched, horizontally-striped Charvet shirts.[17]

He died November 13, 1961, in Washington, D.C. at the Walter Reed Army Hospital.[18] He was interred at Arlington National Cemetery. His cenotaph is at The Woodlands Cemetery in Philadelphia.[19]

Legacy

His sister Cordelia Drexel Biddle wrote a book with Kyle Crichton about the family, focusing on her marriage with Angier Buchanan Duke who was the brother of Anthony's first wife. It was made into a play and the 1967 musical film The Happiest Millionaire. He was portrayed by Paul Petersen in the film.[20] His nephew Angier Biddle Duke (1915–1995) also became a diplomat.[21][22]

Diplomatic posts

Lawsuit

References

  1. ↑ "Letters to the editor". Life magazine. October 25, 1943. p. 2. Retrieved March 21, 2011.
  2. 1 2 3 Noel F. Busch (October 4, 1943). "Ambassador Biddle: As multiple envoy to governments-in-exile, he is foremost U.S. expert on postwar plans and problems of Europe's courageous little nations". Life magazine. pp. 106–114, 117–120. Retrieved March 21, 2011.
  3. ↑ "Miss Duke's bridal party: Plans for Her Marriage to A. J. Drexel Biddle, Jr., on June 16" (PDF). New York Times. May 13, 1915. Retrieved March 20, 2011. Plans have been completed for the wedding of Miss Mary Lillian Duke, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin N. Duke, and A. J. Dexter Biddle, Jr., son of Mr. and Mrs. A. J. Dester Biddle of Philadelphia, which is to take place on Wednesday afternoon, June 16 at 3 o'clock.
  4. ↑ Douglas Martin (October 14, 2004). "Nicholas Duke Biddle, 83, Scion of Wealth Who Helped the Poor, Dies". New York Times. Retrieved March 16, 2011. Nicholas Duke Biddle, a scion of two prominent American families who helped refugees from Cuba and other Caribbean countries, died on Monday in Madrid. He was 83. The cause was a heart attack, his cousin Tony Duke said.
  5. ↑ "Mrs. J. Borden Harriman, Ex-Envoy, Dies at 97". New York Times. August 31, 1967.
  6. ↑ "The 1920s: The Casino". Central Park History web site. Retrieved March 21, 2011. Excerpt from The Park and the People: A History of Central Park, Roy Rosenzweig and Elizabeth Blackmar ISBN 978-0-8014-9751-3
  7. ↑ "Business & Finance: Suits". Time magazine. July 20, 1931. Retrieved March 21, 2011.
  8. ↑ "Irving Trust Co. v. Deutsch: Circuit Court of Appeals, Second Circuit, 1934 73 F.2d 121". Retrieved March 21, 2011.
  9. ↑ "Foreign Service: Athletic Christian". Time magazine. August 5, 1935. Retrieved March 20, 2011.
  10. ↑ "Do you know these U.S. Ambassadors?". Life magazine. November 28, 1938. p. 25. Retrieved March 21, 2011.
  11. 1 2 "Anthony Joseph Drexel Biddle (1897–1961)". Biography by office of the Historian. US Department of State. Archived from the original on 19 March 2011. Retrieved March 20, 2011.
  12. 1 2 "U.S. Ambassador Bidle flees Poland after a 250-mile race against death from low-flying German warplanes". Life magazine. November 28, 1938. p. 29. Retrieved March 21, 2011.
  13. ↑ "Biddle Resigns as Envoy to Exiles To Take Post With Invasion Army". New York Times. January 23, 1944. Retrieved March 20, 2011.
  14. ↑ Tony Leviero (April 14, 1955). "Biddle to Retire as Ridgway Aide: General, Former Ambassador, Slated to Head National Guard in Pennsylvania". New York Times. Retrieved March 20, 2011.
  15. ↑ Hans Wild (October 4, 1943). "Tony Biddle". Life. Front cover photo.
  16. ↑ George Frazier (September 1960). "The Art of Wearing Clothes". Esquire magazine. Retrieved March 20, 2011.
  17. ↑ "Icon, Icon A.J.". Easy and Elegant Life. June 22, 2009. Retrieved September 30, 2011.
  18. ↑ "Anthony J. Drexel Biddle Dead. Ambassador to Spain Was 64. Envoy and Officer in World War II. Tributes Paid by Kennedy and Eisenhower". New York Times. November 14, 1961. Retrieved April 10, 2010. Anthony J. Drexel Biddle, ambassador to Spain and for many years one of this country's most distinguished diplomats, died today at Walter Reed Army ...
  19. ↑ Anthony Joseph Drexel Biddle, Jr at Find a Grave (cenotaph)
  20. ↑ The Happiest Millionaire at the Internet Movie Database
  21. ↑ Richard Severo (May 1, 1995). "Angier Biddle Duke, 79, an Ambassador And Scion of Tobacco Family, Has Died". New York Times. Retrieved March 22, 2011.
  22. ↑ "A Washington Duke genealogy as it pertains to Duke University". Archived from the original on 5 March 2011. Retrieved March 22, 2011. Shirts, including the famous ones with horizontally striped, starched bosoms come from Charvet in Paris.

External links

Diplomatic posts
Preceded by
Hoffman Philip		 U.S. Ambassador to Norway
1935–1937 		Succeeded by
Florence Jaffray Harriman
Preceded by
John Cudahy		 U.S. Ambassador to Poland
1937–1943 		Succeeded by
Arthur Bliss Lane
Preceded by
Florence Jaffray Harriman		 U.S. Ambassador to Norway
1941–1943
To Norway government-in-exile in England.
Commissioned also to Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Greece, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, and Yugoslavia; resident at London. 		Succeeded by
Lithgow Osborne
Preceded by
John Lodge		 U.S. Ambassador to Spain
1961 		Succeeded by
Ellis O. Briggs


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