John Jay McCloy (March 31, 1895 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – March 11, 1989 in Stamford, Connecticut) was a lawyer and banker who served as Assistant Secretary of War during World War II, president of the World Bank and U.S. High Commissioner for Germany. He later became a prominent United States presidential advisor, served on the Warren Commission, and was a member of the foreign policy establishment group of elders called "The Wise Men."
McCloy was criticized for several of his decisions as Assistant Secretary of War, including his support for retaining General George S. Patton in the European theater of operations, his opposition to the atomic bombing of Japan, his refusal to endorse compensation to Japanese-Americans held in internment camps, his refusal to endorse USAAF bombing raids on the rail approaches to Auschwitz concentration camp, and for his pardoning of convicted Nazi war criminals as High Commissioner for Germany.
Famous quotes containing the word john:
“Wonderful invention, the phonograph. Keeps a man alive long after he’s dead.”
—P. J. Wolfson, and John L. Balderston (1899–1954)