20 Facts About Paul Nitze

1.

Paul Henry Nitze was an American politician who served as United States Deputy Secretary of Defense, US Secretary of the Navy, and Director of Policy Planning for the US State Department.

2.

Paul Nitze is best known for being the principal author of NSC 68 and the co-founder of Team B Paul Nitze helped shape Cold War defense policy over the course of numerous presidential administrations.

3.

Paul Nitze's ancestors came from the region of Magdeburg in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany.

4.

Paul Nitze attended The Hotchkiss School, where he was a member of the class of 1924 and the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools.

5.

Paul Nitze graduated from Harvard University in 1928 and entered the field of investment banking.

6.

Paul Nitze returned to Dillon, Read as Vice-President from 1939 through to 1941.

7.

Paul Nitze was married to Elisabeth Scott Porter from 1993 until his death in 2004.

8.

Paul Nitze continued to ski in Aspen until well into his 80s.

9.

From 1944 to 1946, Nitze served as director and then as Vice Chairman of the Strategic Bombing Survey for which President Harry S Truman awarded him the Legion of Merit.

10.

Paul Nitze was the principal author in 1950 of the highly influential but secret National Security Council policy paper, NSC 68, which provided the strategic outline for increased US expenditures to counter the perceived threat of Soviet armament.

11.

From 1953 to 1961, Paul Nitze served as president of the Foreign Service Educational Foundation while concurrently serving as associate of the Washington Center of Foreign Policy Research and the School of Advanced International Studies of the Johns Hopkins University.

12.

Paul Nitze co-founded the School of Advanced International Studies with Christian Herter in 1943 and the world-renowned graduate school, based in Washington, DC, is named in his honor.

13.

In 1963, Paul Nitze became the Secretary of the Navy, serving until 1967.

14.

Paul Nitze lengthened commanding officer tours and raised command responsibility pay.

15.

Paul Nitze was President Ronald Reagan's chief negotiator of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.

16.

In 1984, Paul Nitze was named Special Advisor to the President and Secretary of State on Arms Control.

17.

For more than forty years, Paul Nitze was one of the chief architects of US policy toward the Soviet Union.

18.

In 1989, Paul Nitze received the US Senator John Heinz Award for Greatest Public Service by an Elected or Appointed Official, an award given out annually by Jefferson Awards.

19.

In 1997, Paul Nitze was awarded the Naval Heritage Award by the US Navy Memorial Foundation for his support of the US Navy while he was Secretary of the Navy.

20.

Paul Nitze died in Washington, DC, at age 97 in October 2004.