William Tapley Bennett Jr.

Bennett was born in Griffin, Georgia on April 1, 1917. He was the only child of William Tapley Bennett Sr. (1891–1982) and Annie Mem (née Little) Bennett (1894–1965).{{cite book |title=Hebron Presbyterian Church : God's Pilgrim People 1796-1996 |date=1995 |publisher=Dwight Tabor |location=Atlanta, Georgia |page=357 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YcxMtTlvsV4C&pg=PA357 |access-date=29 March 2019 |language=en}}{{cite book |last1=Tapley |first1=Ray |title=Tapley: A Family of Georgia and the South |date=1993 |publisher=Greencrest Press |page=1999 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AT9WAAAAMAAJ |access-date=29 March 2019 |language=en}}

His maternal grandparents were Peyton Brantley "Mem" Little and Julia Elizabeth (née Neal) Little.

Bennett attended the University of Georgia where he was a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity. After doing graduate work at the University of Freiburg in Germany from 1937 to 1938, he returned to the United States and earned a law degree from George Washington University Law School.

After graduation from law school, Bennett joined the Foreign Service in 1941. He served as a United States Army intelligence officer during World War II. From 1951 to 1954, Bennett was Deputy Director to the Office of South American Affairs. From 1954 to 1955, he studied at the National War College and for two years after, he served as Special Assistant to the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs. From 1957 to 1964, he acted as Counselor and Minister at the U.S. Embassies in Rome, Italy, in Vienna, Austria, and in Athens, Greece.{{cite web |title=William Tapley Bennett, Jr. Papers |url=http://russelldoc.galib.uga.edu/russell/view?docId=ead/RBRL011WTB-ead.xml;query=%22reflections%20on%20georgia%20politics%20oral%20history%20collection%22;brand=default |website=russelldoc.galib.uga.edu |publisher=University of Georgia |access-date=29 March 2019}}

President Lyndon Johnson appointed him Ambassador to the Dominican Republic after the previous Ambassador, John Bartlow Martin, resigned after the Kennedy assassination on the very day in which Juan Bosch, then President of the Dominican Republic, was toppled in a coup d'etat. While Ambassador, Bennett "advised President Johnson and members of Congress that the revolt was led by Communists" and recommended President Johnson intervene with United States troops during the Dominican Civil War. Bennett was heavily criticized for his report and recommendation.{{cite book |last1=Palmer Jr. |first1=General Bruce |title=Intervention in the Caribbean: The Dominican Crisis of 1965 |date=2015 |publisher=University Press of Kentucky |isbn=9780813150024 |page=9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I5UfBgAAQBAJ&pg=PR9 |access-date=29 March 2019 |language=en}}

Reportedly "seeking relief from the tropical heat of the Dominican Republic," Johnson appointed him the Ambassador to Portugal in 1966.{{Cite web |date=16 June 1988 |title=The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project AMBASSADOR WILLIAM TAPLEY BENNETT, JR. |url=https://adst.org/OH%20TOCs/Bennett,%20W.%20Tapley%20Jr.toc.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240717191546/https://adst.org/OH%20TOCs/Bennett,%20W.%20Tapley%20Jr.toc.pdf |archive-date=17 July 2024 |access-date=17 July 2024 |website=Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training}} He served in that role until Richard Nixon became president in 1969 and he was succeeded by Ridgway B. Knight, who up until that point was the Ambassador to Belgium.

Beginning in 1972, he began to serve concurrently as Ambassador to the United Nations Security Council and Deputy United States Representative to the United Nations. After Jimmy Carter became president in 1977, Bennett was appointed the United States Permanent Representative to NATO, serving from 1977 through 1983, including when Ronald Reagan became president in 1981.

On November 14, 1983, he was appointed Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs, serving from November 17, 1983, to January 4, 1985.{{cite web |title=William Tapley Bennett Jr. - People - Department History - Office of the Historian |url=https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/people/bennett-william-tapley |website=history.state.gov |publisher=Office of the Historian, Bureau of Public Affairs United States Department of State |access-date=29 March 2019}}

After retiring in 1985 he served as adjunct professor of international law at the University of Georgia. From 1991 to 1992, he served as president of the Atlantic Treaty Association.

On June 23, 1945, Bennett was married to Margaret Rutherfurd White in Bernardsville, New Jersey.{{cite news|title=Margaret R. White Prospective Bride; Their Engagements Are Announced|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1945/03/12/archives/margaret-r-white-prospective-bride-their-engagements-are-announced.html|access-date=15 January 2018|work=The New York Times|date=12 March 1945}} Margaret, a Foxcroft School graduate who attended Barnard College and the Institute of Musical Art of the Juilliard School of Music, was the daughter of John Campbell White (the U.S. Ambassador to Peru and Haiti),{{cite news|title=JOHN C. WHITE, 83, A CAREER DIPLOMAT|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1967/06/12/archives/john-c-white-83-a-career-diplomat.html|access-date=21 July 2017|work=The New York Times|date=12 June 1967}} a granddaughter of Henry White (the [[United States Ambassador to France|

U.S. Ambassador to France]] and Italy),{{cite news|title=MARGARET R. WHITE MARRIED IN JERSEY; Daughter of Ex-Ambassador to Peru Becomes Bride of Lieut. William T. Bennett Jr. WEARS IVORY SATIN GOWN Rev. Robert Bosher Performs Ceremony in Bernardsville Church--Reception Held|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1945/06/24/archives/margaret-r-white-married-in-jersey-daughter-of-exambassador-to-peru.html|access-date=15 January 2018|work=The New York Times|date=24 June 1945}} and a niece of Jay Pierrepont Moffat, the U.S. Ambassador to Canada.{{cite news|title=Elizabeth White, 94, An Environmentalist|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/06/22/obituaries/elizabeth-white-94-an-environmentalist.html|access-date=15 January 2018|work=The New York Times|date=22 June 1993}} Together, they were the parents of five children:

• William Tapley Bennett III of Washington, D.C.
• John Campbell White Bennett of Charleston, South Carolina, a U.S. Navy Cmdr.
• Anne B. Bennett of Lexington, Massachusetts
• Ellen Pierrepont Bennett, who married Rev. Ralph C. Godsall, the Chaplain of Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1980.{{cite news |title=Bennett-Godsall |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/30054890/bennettgodsall/ |access-date=29 March 2019 |work=The Atlanta Constitution |date=April 27, 1980 |page=103 |language=en}}
• Victoria R. Bennett of Seattle, Washington.{{cite news |title=Twins to William T. Bennetts Jr. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1950/06/30/91107020.pdf |access-date=29 March 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=30 June 1950}}

He died after a long illness in Washington D.C., on November 29, 1994.{{cite news |last1=Lueck |first1=Thomas J. |title=William Tapley Bennett Jr., 77, Envoy to Dominican Republic |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9503E0DC1130F932A35751C1A962958260 |access-date=29 March 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=1 December 1994}}{{cite news |title=W.T. BENNETT, AMBASSADOR FOR LBJ, DIES |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1994/12/01/wt-bennett-ambassador-for-lbj-dies/56678c37-9ff2-416d-b076-72388e8a3dcb/ |access-date=29 March 2019 |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=December 1, 1994}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

• [http://russelldoc.galib.uga.edu/russell/view?docId=ead/RBRL011WTB-ead.xml;query=%22reflections%20on%20georgia%20politics%20oral%20history%20collection%22;brand=default William Tapley Bennett, Jr. Papers]
• {{cite web|author1=Office of the Historian|author-link=Office of the Historian|title=William Tapley Bennett Jr. (1917–1994)|url=https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/people/bennett-william-tapley|language=en}}
• {{Internet Archive short film|id=gov.dod.dimoc.26966|name=STAFF FILM REPORT 66-17A (1966)}}

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Category:1917 births

Category:1994 deaths

Category:People from Griffin, Georgia

Category:Permanent Representatives of the United States to NATO

Category:Ambassadors of the United States to the Dominican Republic

Category:Ambassadors of the United States to Portugal

Category:George Washington University Law School alumni

Category:University of Georgia faculty

Category:United States Foreign Service personnel