page_title: Chester Bowles
section_title: Diplomatic and political career
hierarchical_section_title: Chester Bowles / Diplomatic and political career
context_page_description: Chester Bliss Bowles was an American diplomat and ambassador, Governor of Connecticut, Congressman and co-founder of a major advertising agency, Benton & Bowles, now part of Publicis Groupe. Bowles Is best known for his influence on American foreign policy during Cold War years, when he argued that economic assistance to the Third World was the best means to fight communism, and even more important, to create a more peaceable world order. During World War II, he held high office in Washington as director of the Office of Price Administration, and control of setting consumer prices. Just after the war, he was the chief of the Office of Economic Stabilization, but had great difficulty controlling inflation. Moving into state politics, he served a term as governor of Connecticut. He promoted liberal programs in education and housing, but was defeated for reelection by conservative backlash.
  As ambassador to India, he established a good relationship with Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, an emerging leader of the nonalignment movement. Bowles promoted rapid economic industrialization in India, and repeatedly called on Washington to help finance it.
context_section_description: In 1946, he was appointed director of the Office of Economic Stabilization and became chairman of the Economic Stabilization Board for President Harry S. Truman.  Bowles ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in Connecticut that year.  Also in 1946, he became one of the American delegates to the first conference of United Nations Economic, Scientific and Cultural Organization UNESCO in Paris.  Bowles served as special assistant to UN Secretary General Trygve Lie in 1947 and 1948.  During these years, the UN General Assembly met in session at Lake Success, New York on Long Island, as the UN building in Manhattan was not completed until 1952  He continued with the United Nations as international chairman of the United Nations Children's Appeal from 1948 to 1951.
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  Bowles was elected to the governorship of Connecticut in 1948, defeating James C. Shannon, and served one term, during which time he signed into law an end to segregation in the state national guard. During his term, Bowles was also active in improving education, mental health, housing and workmen's compensation. He lost a bitter re-election campaign to John Davis Lodge, during which his opponent painted him as an extreme liberal.
  He was appointed as U.S. Ambassador to India and Nepal by President Truman, serving from 1951 to 1953. He developed a close relationship with Prime Minister Nehru, who otherwise distrusted Americans. Indeed Bowles Highly appreciated Nehru's positions, which caused him friction with the State Department.
  During the Eisenhower years, Bowles was a leading Democratic liberal intellectual, especially on foreign policy matters, writing numerous articles, giving speeches, and advising Adlai Stevenson and John F. Kennedy. Bowles won a seat in the House of Representatives for Connecticut's second district and served one term, from January 3, 1959, to January 3, 1961. Without seniority, he made little impact in Congress.
  Bowles was selected in 1960 as a foreign policy adviser to Senator John F. Kennedy during Kennedy's campaign for president of the US. Bowles served as chairman of the platform committee for the Democratic National Convention that year in Los Angeles, California.
  President Kennedy appointed Bowles to the post of Under Secretary of State in 1961.
    That November, Bowles was removed as a consequence of the perception in the Kennedy Administration that he failed to carry out key duties as an administrator in the Department of State, and because he leaked his opposition to the Bay of Pigs Invasion.  His removal was made part of a broader bureaucratic reshuffle, which became known as the "Thanksgiving Day Massacre". In early December 1961, he was replaced by George Ball as Under Secretary. In December 1961, Bowles was named President Kennedy's Special Representative and Adviser on African, Asian, and Latin American Affairs, and Ambassador at Large. Ostensibly this new position was a promotion, but this job was recognized by most experts involved at the time (and by historians in later years) as a demotion.  Bowles was made Ambassador to India for the second time on July 19, 1963. He continued in this position through the remainder of Kennedy's Presidency, and for the duration of Lyndon B. Johnson's Administration. Bowles was a passionate advocate for stronger relations between the United States and India. He enjoyed good relations with India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. Bowles strongly believed that the United States and India shared fundamental democratic values.
  In March 1967, Bowles was formally petitioned for political asylum by Svetlana Alliluyeva, a writer and the only daughter of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, which was granted. Bowles  arranged for her to leave India immediately on a middle-of-the-night flight to Rome. She traveled to Switzerland and eventually on to the U.S., where she died in 2011.
  Bowles completed his service as Ambassador to India on April 21, 1969, during the early days of the presidency of Richard Nixon.
caption: Bowles at his 1961 swearing in as President Kennedy's Special Representative.
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