Background
Elsey, George McKee was born on February 5, 1918 in Palo Alto, California, United States. Son of Howard McKee and Ethel May (Daniels) Elsey.
( An Unplanned Life is the scintillating memoir of George...)
An Unplanned Life is the scintillating memoir of George Elsey, a small-town kid from western Pennsylvania who, at age twenty-four, was assigned to Franklin Roosevelt’s top-secret intelligence and communications center in the White House. As an officer in the U.S. Naval Reserve, Elsey helped brief the president and his senior associates on war events. He and his map room colleagues acted as the secretariat for Roosevelt’s cabled exchanges with Winston Churchill, Joseph Stalin, and Chiang Kai-shek; filed records of “summit conferences”; and stored in safes plans for future operations. He also traveled with the president in order to code and decode the classified messages that flowed between the presidential train or ship and the White House. Elsey’s duties continued with Harry Truman’s succession to the presidency. He decoded the famous message from Secretary of War Henry Stimson reporting the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and carried it to President Truman. In 1947, he shed his Naval Reserve uniform and joined the White House’s civilian staff as assistant to the special counsel to the president. In 1949, he became administrative assistant to the president, and, in 1952, he became a member of the Mutual Security Agency staff. During those years, he grew very close to Harry Truman, and thus, a major portion of An Unplanned Life relates to his experiences then. In the first postwar winter, Elsey was frequently the only staff member who accompanied President Truman on the USS Williamsburg. In September 1946, Elsey submitted a report to Truman on U.S.-Soviet relations, which came to be well known as the “Clifford-Elsey Report.” Providing Truman with notes for some two hundred of his “back-of-the-train” informal talks, Elsey played a part in the best remembered feature of the “Whistle-Stop Campaign” that resulted in “the political upset of the century.” In addition to his years at the White House, Elsey also touches on his post–White House years—his time in private industry, his months with Clark Clifford when Clifford was trying unsuccessfully to extricate America from Vietnam, and his long association with the American Red Cross. An Unplanned Life is a fascinating look at the life of an extraordinary individual who played an important and unprecedented part in two different presidents’ decisions and affected the course of our nation. Anyone with an interest in history will find this memoir fascinating and invaluable.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0826216226/?tag=2022091-20
( An Unplanned Life is the scintillating memoir of George...)
An Unplanned Life is the scintillating memoir of George Elsey, a small-town kid from western Pennsylvania who, at age twenty-four, was assigned to Franklin Roosevelt’s top-secret intelligence and communications center in the White House. As an officer in the U.S. Naval Reserve, Elsey helped brief the president and his senior associates on war events. He and his map room colleagues acted as the secretariat for Roosevelt’s cabled exchanges with Winston Churchill, Joseph Stalin, and Chiang Kai-shek; filed records of “summit conferences”; and stored in safes plans for future operations. He also traveled with the president in order to code and decode the classified messages that flowed between the presidential train or ship and the White House. Elsey’s duties continued with Harry Truman’s succession to the presidency. He decoded the famous message from Secretary of War Henry Stimson reporting the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and carried it to President Truman. In 1947, he shed his Naval Reserve uniform and joined the White House’s civilian staff as assistant to the special counsel to the president. In 1949, he became administrative assistant to the president, and, in 1952, he became a member of the Mutual Security Agency staff. During those years, he grew very close to Harry Truman, and thus, a major portion of An Unplanned Life relates to his experiences then. In the first postwar winter, Elsey was frequently the only staff member who accompanied President Truman on the USS Williamsburg. In September 1946, Elsey submitted a report to Truman on U.S.-Soviet relations, which came to be well known as the “Clifford-Elsey Report.” Providing Truman with notes for some two hundred of his “back-of-the-train” informal talks, Elsey played a part in the best remembered feature of the “Whistle-Stop Campaign” that resulted in “the political upset of the century.” In addition to his years at the White House, Elsey also touches on his post–White House years—his time in private industry, his months with Clark Clifford when Clifford was trying unsuccessfully to extricate America from Vietnam, and his long association with the American Red Cross. An Unplanned Life is a fascinating look at the life of an extraordinary individual who played an important and unprecedented part in two different presidents’ decisions and affected the course of our nation. Anyone with an interest in history will find this memoir fascinating and invaluable.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/082622072X/?tag=2022091-20
Elsey, George McKee was born on February 5, 1918 in Palo Alto, California, United States. Son of Howard McKee and Ethel May (Daniels) Elsey.
Bachelor of Arts, Princeton University, 1939; A.M., Harvard University, 1940; Doctor of Humane Letters, American International College, 1982.
A commander in the United States. Naval Reserve, he was a duty officer in the White House Map Room, 1941-1946, accompanying Truman to the Potsdam Conference. Assistant to Clark Clifford, the Special Counsel to the President, 1947-1949. Administrative Assistant to the President, 1949-1951.
And Assistant to the Director, Mutual Security Agency, 1951-1953.
Having served as Vice-President of the organization between 1958 and 1961, Elsey became President of the American Red Cross in 1970, serving in that post until 1982. He died in Tustin, California on December 30, 2015.
He provided an oral history to the Truman Presidential Library in July 1969.
( An Unplanned Life is the scintillating memoir of George...)
( An Unplanned Life is the scintillating memoir of George...)
President Meridian House International, Washington, 1961-1966, vice chairman, 1967-1968, counselor, since 1971. Trustee Brookings Institution, 1971-1983, George C. Marshall Research Foundation, 1973-1983, Harry S. Truman Library. Institute, 1973-1995, honorary trustee, since 1996, PCC Charitable Foundation, 1997-2005.
Member National Archives Advisory Council, 1974-1979, member committee on presidential libraries, 1988-1995. Trustee emeritus National Trust History Preservation, since 1976. Finance chairman League Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Geneva, 1977-1987.
Member advisory board Nature's Best Foundation, since 1999. Board directors United States Capitol History Society, 1993-1995. Commander United States Naval Reserve, 1941-1947.
Member Smithsonian Institution (Paul Peck award, 2004), National Geography Society (trustee 1977-1993), Metropolitan Club (Washington), City Tavern Club (Washington), White House Military Aides Association (honorary chairman since 1998), Phi Beta Kappa.
Married Sally Phelps Bradley, December 15, 1951. Children: Anne Bradley (Mistress Roger Kranz), Howard McKee.