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Gordon Gray | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait,c. 1958 | |
| 4thUnited States National Security Advisor | |
| In office June 24, 1958 – January 13, 1961 | |
| President | Dwight Eisenhower |
| Preceded by | Robert Cutler |
| Succeeded by | McGeorge Bundy |
| Director of theOffice of Defense Mobilization | |
| In office March 14, 1957 – June 24, 1958 | |
| President | Dwight Eisenhower |
| Preceded by | Arthur Flemming |
| Succeeded by | Position abolished |
| Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs | |
| In office July 14, 1955 – February 27, 1957 | |
| President | Dwight Eisenhower |
| Preceded by | Struve Hensel |
| Succeeded by | Mansfield Sprague |
| President of theUniversity of North Carolina System | |
| In office October 12, 1950 – June 10, 1955 | |
| Preceded by | Frank Graham |
| Succeeded by | Bill Friday |
| 2ndUnited States Secretary of the Army | |
| In office April 28, 1949 – April 12, 1950 | |
| President | Harry Truman |
| Preceded by | Kenneth Royall |
| Succeeded by | Frank Pace |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1909-05-30)May 30, 1909 |
| Died | November 26, 1982(1982-11-26) (aged 73) Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) | Jane Boyden Craige Nancy Maguire Beebe |
| Children | 4, includingBurton andBoyden |
| Education | University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (BA) Yale University (LLB) |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | United States |
| Branch/service | United States Army |
| Years of service | 1942–1945 |
| Rank | Captain |
Gordon Gray (May 30, 1909 – November 26, 1982) was an American attorney and government official during the administrations ofHarry Truman (1945–53) andDwight Eisenhower (1953–61) associated with defense and national security.
Gordon Gray was born inBaltimore,Maryland, the son ofBowman Gray Sr. and Nathalie Lyons Gray.[1] He was married in 1938 to the former Jane Boyden Craige, and they had four sons: Gordon Gray Jr.,Burton C. Gray,C. Boyden Gray and Bernard Gray. After Jane's death, Gray married the former Nancy Maguire Beebe. His father Bowman, his uncleJames A. Gray Jr. and later his brother, Bowman Gray Jr., were all heads ofR.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. In 1942, he was described as "one of the nation's wealthiest young men".[1]
His son,C. Boyden Gray, a graduate of Harvard and the University of North Carolina Law School, served as White House counsel for PresidentGeorge Herbert Walker Bush. His nephew,Lyons Gray, also a graduate of both North Carolina and Yale, is a former member of theNorth Carolina House of Representatives, chief financial officer of theEnvironmental Protection Agency, and state Secretary of Revenue.[2][3]
Gordon Gray attendedWoodberry Forest School for high school. He graduated from theUniversity of North Carolina in 1930, where he was a member ofDelta Kappa Epsilon fraternity (Beta chapter) and the secretive,Order of Gimghoul. He earned his law degree fromYale Law School in 1933 and practiced law for two years in New York City before returning to Winston-Salem.[1] UNC presented Gray with an honorary law degree in 1949.
Gray began his public life as a lawyer. In 1937, he bought the Piedmont Publishing Company, owner of theWinston-Salem Journal, The Twin City Sentinel, andWSJS radio. He addedW41MM (the state's first FM station) in 1941, WSJS-FM in 1947 and WSJS-TV in 1953. In 1941, he was one of the directors of the short-livedAmerican Network FM radio network.[4] He sold the newspapers in 1968, but formed Triangle Broadcasting to hold onto WSJS-AM-FM-TV. He also bought the local cable franchise for Winston-Salem, a move that forced him to sell off the broadcasting outlets in 1972.
He served in theNorth Carolina General Assembly from 1939 to 1943 and from 1947 to 1949, representing Forsyth County. He entered the U.S. Army in 1942 as a private and rose to captain, serving in Europe with GeneralOmar Bradley's forces. Gray's service to the federal government began with his appointment as President Harry S. Truman's assistant secretary of the army in 1947; two years later, he was appointedSecretary of the Army. Gordon Gray ordered West Point to add a portrait of Lee wearing Confederate gray at the "height of his fame."[5] He served in this post from 1949 until 1950. The following year he became director of the newly formedPsychological Strategy Board which planned for and coordinated governmentpsychological operations; he remained in the post until his resignation in January 1952, all the while continuing to lead the University of North Carolina.[6][7] He was the second president of theConsolidated University of North Carolina, succeedingFrank Porter Graham in 1950.
In 1954, Gray chaired acommittee appointed byAEC chairmanLewis Strauss, which recommended revokingRobert Oppenheimer's security clearance. The Gray Board, as it was known, issued its split decision on May 27, 1954, with Gray and Thomas A. Morgan recommending the revocation, despite their finding that Oppenheimer was a "loyal citizen."Ward V. Evans, a conservative Republican and the third member of the board, dissented, saying that most of the allegations against Oppenheimer had been heard before, in 1947, when he had originally received his clearance.[8] InAmerican Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer,Martin Sherwin andKai Bird severely criticize Gray's handling of the hearings. Gray allowed AEC lawyers to brief the board for a full week without Oppenheimer's counsel being present. Moreover, Gray let the prosecutors use documents and testimonies to which Oppenheimer's attorneys were denied access, as well as material that had been obtained by illegal means, including unwarranted wiretaps. Sherwin and Bird called the Gray Board a "veritable kangaroo court in which the head judge accepted the prosecutor's lead".[9] In 2022, Department of Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm set aside the revocation findings.[10]
Gray shocked proponents of public education in North Carolina when he said, in a November 1954 Founder's Day speech atGuilford College, that "if I had to make a choice between a complete system of publicly supported higher education or a complete system of private higher education, I would choose the latter as a greater safeguard of the things for which we live."[11] Less than a year later, Secretary of DefenseCharles Erwin Wilson named Gray assistant secretary for international security affairs and Gray's brief career in academia was ended.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed Gray to head theOffice of Defense Mobilization in 1957, where he served until the office's consolidation in 1958. Eisenhower then appointed Gray hisNational Security Advisor from 1958 until 1961. On January 18, 1961, President Eisenhower awarded Gray theMedal of Freedom. He served on thePresident's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board under Presidents John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard M. Nixon and Gerald R. Ford. In 1976, he was awarded theUnited States Military Academy'sSylvanus Thayer Award.
From 1962 to 1963, Gray was head of theFederal City Council, a group of business, civic, education, and other leaders interested in economic development in Washington, D.C.[12][13]
Gray was also publisher of theWinston-Salem Journal, chairman of the board of Piedmont Publishing Company, and chairman of theNational Trust for Historic Preservation.
Gray died on November 26, 1982, of cancer in his home inWashington, D.C. He was buried atSalem Cemetery inWinston-Salem, North Carolina.[14]
Tony Goldwyn portrays Gray in the 2023 epic biopic filmOppenheimer.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| New office | Assistant Secretary of the Army 1947–1948 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | United States Under Secretary of the Army 1949 | |
| Preceded by | United States Secretary of the Army 1949–1950 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs 1955–1957 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Director of theOffice of Defense Mobilization 1957–1958 | Position abolished |
| Preceded by | National Security Advisor 1958–1961 | Succeeded by |
| Academic offices | ||
| Preceded by | President of theUniversity of North Carolina System 1950–1955 | Succeeded by |
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