  william putnam "bill" bundy (september 24, 1917 â october 6, 2000) was an attorney and intelligence expert, an analyst with the cia. he was notable as a foreign affairs advisor to both presidents john f. kennedy and lyndon b. johnson. he had key roles in planning the vietnam war, serving as deputy to paul nitze under kennedy and as assistant secretary of state for east asian and pacific affairs under johnson. after leaving government service in 1969, bundy served as a historian of foreign affairs, teaching at massachusetts institute of technology (mit) and at princeton university, from 1972 to his death. his book a tangled web: the making of foreign policy in the nixon presidency (1998) is considered his most important work. ==early years== born in 1917 and raised in boston, massachusetts, he came from a family long involved in republican politics. his father, harvey hollister bundy, served as an assistant secretary of state to colonel henry l. stimson beginning in 1931, and later as his special assistant on atomic matters when stimson was secretary of war under president franklin d. roosevelt. bundy as a diplomat also helped implement the marshall plan. bill was raised in a highly accomplished, highly intellectual family, with a brother mcgeorge bundy who was two years younger. after attending the groton school and yale university (where he was one of the first presidents of the yale political union) and a member of skull and bones, bundy entered harvard law school. during world war ii, he left to join the army signal corps. during this time he worked at bletchley park in britain as part of the top secret ultra intelligence operation to break nazi codes. ==career== after finishing law school in 1947, bundy joined the washington-based law firm of covington and burling. while there, he contributed to alger hiss's defense fund in the hiss-chambers case. in 1953, senator joseph mccarthy cited his $400 contribution. bundy explained that donald hiss, alger's brother, worked with him at covington & burling. allen dulles and vice president richard m. nixon defended him, and the matter dropped. {{cite news | last = martin | first = douglas | title = william p. bundy, 83, dies; advised 3 presidents on american policy in vietna
1917_births 2000_deaths Council_on_Foreign_Relations Groton_School_alumni Harvard_Law_School_alumni Members_of_the_Steering_Committee_of_the_Bilderberg_Group People_associated_with_Bletchley_Park People_from_Boston,_Massachusetts United_States_presidential_advisors