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| William Henry Draper Jr. | |
 U.S. army officer, banker, and diplomat
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| Born | August 10, 1894 Harlem, Manhattan New York, United States |
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| Died | December 26, 1974 (aged 80) |
William Henry Draper Jr. (August 10, 1894 — December 26, 1974) was a U.S. army officer, banker, and diplomat.
Draper was born in Harlem, New York City, and received a B.A. and M.A. in economics at New York University.
He joined the United States Army soon after finishing college and served during World War I as a major in the infantry. After the war he stayed in the Army Reserves working his way up to chief of staff of the 77th Division (1936–1940), while going to work in New York City for National City Bank (1919–1921), Bankers Trust Company (1923–1927), and then Dillon, Read & Co. (1927–1953). In 1937, he was made a vice president of Dillon Read, an investment bank that had underwritten millions of dollars of German industrial bonds in the United States between the world wars.
A supporter of eugenics, Draper sponsored the third "International Conference on Eugenics" was held in New York's American Museum of Natural History under the supervision of the International Federation of Eugenics Societies.[1]
At the invitation of George Marshall, he moved to Washington, D.C. to serve on the President's Advisory Committee for Selective Service, and was promoted to colonel (May 15, 1940).
At the start of World War II he took command of the 136th Infantry, 33rd Division, National Guard (1942–1944). At the end of the war, he was promoted to brigadier-general (January 1, 1945) and was posted to Berlin to serve as chief of the Economics Division, Allied Control Council for Germany (1945–1947). He opposed the Morgenthau Plan, which was designed to prevent a resurgence of German economic and military power, and strongly supported measures to expedite Germany's economic recovery, even if that meant leaving former Nazi supporters in high positions in industry.[2]
After a promotion to major-general, Draper was asked by the new Secretary of War Kenneth C. Royall to become his under secretary of War (August 29, 1947). With the transition of the Department of War to the Department of the Army, Draper became the first under secretary of the Army (September 18, 1947 — February 28, 1949)
After leaving the army in 1949, he served as Long Island Rail Road trustee from 1950 to 1951. He served as the first U.S. Ambassador to NATO in Paris (April 1953 - June 1953).
After retiring from public service a second time, he traveled to Mexico to serve as chairman of the Mexican Light and Power Company (1954–1959).
Returning to the US in 1959, he formed the first West Coast venture capital firm, Draper, Gaither and Anderson, in California.
In 1967 he retired from Draper Gaither, moved to Washington, D.C. and joined Combustion Engineering in New York as chairman, retiring a few years later to become the U.S. delegate to the United Nations Population Commission (1969–1971). He also co-founded the Population Crisis Committee in 1965 and chaired the Draper Committee.
References
External links
- Oral History Interview with General William H. Draper Jr.
- Time Magazine Topside Teammates Jan. 28, 1952
| Business positions | ||
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| Preceded by David E. Smucker and H.L. Delatour |
President of Long Island Rail Road 1950 – 1951 |
Succeeded by William Wyer |
