Sidney Souers

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Sidney Souers
Sidney W. Souers.jpg
Director of Central Intelligence
In office
January 23, 1946 – June 10, 1946
PresidentHarry Truman
DeputyKingman Douglass
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded byHoyt Vandenberg
Personal details
Born(1892-03-30)March 30, 1892
Dayton, Ohio, U.S.
DiedJanuary 14, 1973(1973-01-14) (aged 80)
St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
EducationPurdue University, West Lafayette
Miami University (BA)

Sidney William Souers (March 30, 1892 – January 14, 1973) was an American admiral and intelligence expert.

Rear Admiral Souers was appointed as the first Director of Central Intelligence on January 23, 1946 by President Harry S. Truman, where he would be in charge of the new Central Intelligence Group (CIG).[1] Prior to this, as Deputy Director of Naval Intelligence, Souers had been one of the architects of the system that came into being with the President's directive. He had written the intelligence chapter of the Eberstadt Report, which advocated a unified intelligence system. Toward the end of 1945, when the competing plans for a national intelligence system were deadlocked, Souers' views had come to the attention of the President, and he seems to have played a role in breaking the impasse.[citation needed]

Souers subsequently became executive secretary of the United States National Security Council.[2] In this role he saw President Truman daily,[2] and was the person Truman talked to most regarding national security issues.[3] It was through Souers that Truman first learned of the possible existence of the hydrogen bomb, and Souers coordinated some of the work being done by different departments during the U.S. government's debate regarding whether to go forward with the development of that weapon.[2]

Timeline[]

1911–1912 Student at Purdue University
1914 A.B., Miami University, member of the Kappa chapter of Delta Kappa Epsilon
1920–1925 President, Mortgage & Securities Company, New Orleans
1922–1928 President and founder, First Joint Stock Land Bank
1925–1926 Executive, Piggly Wiggly Stores, Memphis
1925–1930 Executive vice president, Canal Bank & Trust Company, New Orleans
1927–1930 Member, New Orleans Port Authority
1929 (April 29) Appointed lieutenant commander, U.S. Naval Reserve
1929–1934 Member, board of directors, Aviation Corporation
1930–1933 Vice president, Missouri State Life Insurance Company, St. Louis
1932–1940 U.S. Naval Reserve, intelligence officer, inactive status
1933–1973 Executive, General American Life Insurance Company
1940 (July 22) Called to active duty
1944 (July 24) Became assistant director of the Office of Naval Intelligence, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Navy Department
1945 (November 8) Designated deputy chief of Naval Intelligence, with the rank of rear admiral
1946 (January 23) Appointed Director of Central Intelligence, Central Intelligence Group
1946 (July 22) Relieved of active duty
1947–1950 Executive secretary, National Security Council
1950–1953 Special consultant to the President on military and foreign affairs

References[]

  1. ^ Prados, John (2006). Safe for Democracy: The Secret Wars of the CIA. Ivan R. Dee. p. 34. ISBN 9781615780112.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c Young, Ken; Schilling, Warner R. (2019). Super Bomb: Organizational Conflict and the Development of the Hydrogen Bomb. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press. pp. 42, 59.
  3. ^ Bundy, McGeorge (1988). Danger and Survival: Choices About the Bomb in the First Fifty Years. New York: Random House. p. 204.

External links[]

Government offices
New office Director of Central Intelligence
1946
Succeeded by
Hoyt Vandenberg
Retrieved from ""