Bowles, Chester, 1901-1986
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Personality
- Frederick, J. G. The new deal, 1944
- NUCMC data from Franklin D. Roosevelt Libr. for Eleanor Roosevelt oral history transcripts, 1977-1980(Chester Bowles; member of Franklin D. Roosevelt Foundation; Demo.; Governor of Connecticut, 1949-1951; ambassador to India)
- NUCMC file(Bowles, Chester, 1901-1986; died late May, 1986)
- Schaffer, H.B. Chester Bowles, 1993:CIP galley (d. May 1986)
- Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, via WWW, July 17, 2013(Bowles, Chester Bliss (1901-1986); a Representative from Connecticut; born in Springfield, Hampden County, Mass., April 5, 1901; graduated from Yale University in 1924; businessman in Springfield, Mass., and New York City, 1924-1929; cofounder of Benton & Bowles, Inc., an advertising agency, New York City, in 1929 and was chairman of the board, 1936-1941; Connecticut State rationing administrator in 1942, State director in 1942 and 1943, and general manager July-October 1943; administrator, Office of Price Administration, 1943-1946; member, War Production Board and Petroleum Board for War, 1943-1946; chairman, Economic Stabilization Board, 1946; delegate to the United Nations Economic, Scientific and Cultural Organization Conference at Paris in 1946; Governor of Connecticut, 1949-1951; Ambassador to India and Nepal, 1951-1953; author and lecturer; trustee of Rockefeller Foundation, Woodrow Wilson Foundation, and Franklin D. Roosevelt Foundation; delegate to the Democratic National Conventions in 1940, 1948, and 1956; chairman of the platform committee, Democratic National Convention, in 1960; elected as a Democrat to the Eighty-sixth Congress (January 3, 1959-January 3, 1961); was not a candidate for renomination in 1960; Under Secretary of State, 1961; President's special representative and advisor, 1961-1963; returned to India as United States Ambassador and served from 1963 to 1969; was a resident of Essex, Conn., until his death there on May 25, 1986)
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Chester Bliss Bowles (April 5, 1901 – May 25, 1986) 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 from 1949 to 1951. 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. However, Washington was angered by India's neutrality, and limited funding to literacy and health programs. During the Eisenhower years, 1953–1960, Bowles organized liberal Democratic opposition, and served as a foreign policy advisor to Adlai Stevenson and John F. Kennedy. His reward was Under Secretary of State (1961), which enabled him to staff American embassies with liberal intellectuals and activists. However his liberalism proved too strong for Kennedy, who demoted him to a nominal job as roving ambassador to the Third World in 1961. Kennedy named him as ambassador to India again, 1963–1969, where he helped improve agricultural productivity and fight local famines.
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