Poland and the Coming of the Second World War: The Diplomatic Papers of A.J. Drexel Biddle, Jr., United States Ambassador to Poland, 1937-1939
(In the years that immediately preceded the beginning of t...)
In the years that immediately preceded the beginning of the Second World War and during the initial phase of the conflict itself, Poland was to play a central role in the tense drama of international affairs. Uncertain diplomats speculated on the policies the beleaguered nation would likely adopt once the full pressure of Hitler's Germany had been felt in Warsaw, where an ambivalent government was seen to vacillate between allegiance to the Western democracies and an apparent disposition to enter into partnership with the Third Reich. Alarmed political observers in Europe and elsewhere expressed deep concern and grave misgiving over the ability of the Polish political system, economy, and social structure to withstand the tremendous stress of supporting a major war effort. The selection of Anthony J. Drexel Biddle, Jr., as the ambassador of the United States to Poland signaled a significant increase in official American concern over the impending crisis. Although he was not a career diplomat, Biddle had been an extremely successful businessman, a leading personality in high social circles, and a close personal friend and political ally of the president. He served in Warsaw from the summer of 1937 until the outbreak of the war between Germany and Poland, when he accompanied the government on its flight into exile through Romania into France and finally to London...
Anthony Joseph Drexel Biddle Jr. was an American businessman and diplomat. He served in the United States Army during World War I and after World War II.
Background
Anthony Biddle was born on December 17, 1896, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, the son of Anthony Joseph Drexel Biddle and Cordelia Rundell Bradley. The family was part of the wealthy Drexel-Biddle complex that was prominent in the pages of the Social Register no less than in industry and banking. Biddle's father, who was at home in the boxing ring, where he was known as "Tim O'Biddle, " brought pugilism into association with religion through a movement that he called Athletic Christianity. A humorous, highly individualistic man, he was the subject of Kyle Crichton's Broadway play The Happiest Millionaire in 1956-1957.
Education
Young Biddle was senior class president and captain of both the football team and the crew at St. Paul's School, Concord, New Hampshire. He did not go to college.
Career
Volunteering for military service in 1917, Biddle was assigned to the Squadron A Cavalry, in which he attained the rank of captain. During the 1920's and early 1930's, Biddle combined shipping and mining businesses with various sports and society activities. His business ventures included the Central Park Casino in New York City, criticized as a private club on public property. For a time he contended with legal proceedings after the bankruptcy of the Sonora Products Company, of which he was a director.
In the 1930's Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Biddle minister to Norway in 1935 and two years later named him ambassador to Poland. Biddle's tenure in Norway was uneventful, and in 1936 he was back in Philadelphia serving as assistant secretary at the Democratic National Convention that renominated Roosevelt. But his Warsaw post soon caught him up in the maneuvers of Hitler that led to the German invasion of Poland and to World War II. In 1939, after the invasion, Biddle followed the fleeing Polish government to a succession of temporary capitals. Holding on as long as he could, he barely escaped with his wife to Bucharest, Rumania. His next base was at Angers, France.
In 1940 Biddle was named deputy ambassador to France, based at Tours and later at Bordeaux. By 1941, European governments in exile were numerous. One after another they became Biddle's diplomatic responsibility. From 1941 to 1944 he served, chiefly in London, as the United States ambassador extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to the refugee governments of Poland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway, Greece, Yugoslavia, and Czechoslovakia. He was also minister to Luxembourg. He was of inestimable help to General Dwight D. Eisenhower in the crucial months leading to the invasion of Normandy.
In 1944, Biddle went on active duty with the army as a lieutenant colonel. He served as deputy chief of the European Allied Contact Section of Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force, moving after the German surrender in 1945 to U. S. Forces, European Theater, where he was chief of the Allied Contact Division. He continued on European assignment until 1948. After returning to the United States, Biddle was foreign liaison officer in the Department of the Army from 1950 to 1951. This post brought him the rank of brigadier general in 1951. His experience in diplomatic and military matters won him an influential place as special assistant to the army's chief of staff, General Matthew B. Ridgway (1953 - 1955). After going on inactive army status in 1955, Biddle was appointed adjutant general of Pennsylvania, with the rank of major general.
Concurrently Biddle was chairman of the Pennsylvania Aeronautics Commission and of the State Governmental Reorganization Commission. In July of 1961, when seriously ill, he was promoted to lieutenant general in the Pennsylvania National Guard, his highest rank. Biddle returned to diplomacy in March 1961, when he accepted appointment by President John F. Kennedy as ambassador to Spain, a post he held until being stricken by lung cancer. He died in Washington, D. C.
(In the years that immediately preceded the beginning of t...)
Politics
In the early 1930's Biddle entered Democratic politics, campaigning in Pennsylvania for George H. Earle for governor and nationally for Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Membership
Anthony Biddle was president of the Association of the United States Army from 1958 to 1959.
Personality
Biddle was known for being always elegantly dressed. He combined gracious hospitality, reassuring counsel, and skill at handling many of the wants of dispossessed royalty in a way that made him ideal for his many-sided, difficult task.
Quotes from others about the person
"As soldier and diplomat in two wars and in other times of crisis, he won the affection and admiration of the international community of free men. " - President Kennedy
Interests
Sport & Clubs
Biddle was good at sports. He emulated his father in boxing and relished polo, skiing, fencing, and his special interest, tennis. In the last he was skilled enough to be on the American teams that competed in England for the Bathurst Cup in 1932-1934, and to win the French court championship in 1933.
Connections
In 1915 Biddle married Mary L. Duke, heiress to a tobacco fortune. They had two children and were divorced in 1931. In 1931, Biddle married Margaret Thompson Schulze, heiress to a Montana copper fortune. They had no children and were divorced. In July 1946 Biddle married Margaret Atkinson Loughborough, a Canadian on General Eisenhower's staff. They had two children.