Charles E. Saltzman

Charles Eskridge Saltzman (September 19, 1903 – June 16, 1994) was a United States soldier, businessman and State Department official.

Charles E. Saltzman
Charles E. Saltzman
Under Secretary of State for Administration
In office June 29, 1954 – December 31, 1954
Preceded by	Donold Lourie
Succeeded by	Office abolished
Assistant Secretary of State for Occupied Areas
In office 1947–1949
Preceded by	John H. Hilldring
Succeeded by	Office abolished
Personal details
Born	Charles Eskridge Saltzman (1903-09-19)September 19, 1903 Zamboanga City
Died	June 16, 1994(1994-06-16) (aged 90)
Spouse(s)	Gertrude Lamont ​ ( m. 1931; div. 1947) Cynthia Southall Myrick ​ ( m. 1947⁠–⁠1969) Clotilde Knapp McCormick ​ ( m. 1978; his death 1994)
Children	4
Parents	Charles McKinley Saltzman Mary Eskridge Saltzman
Education	Cornell University
Alma mater	United States Military Academy Magdalen College, Oxford
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Rank	Brigadier general

Early life and education

Saltzman was born on September 19, 1903, in Zamboanga City in the Philippines, where his father, Charles McKinley Saltzman, was a captain in the Signal Corps of the United States Army, serving on the staff of Major General Leonard Wood. His mother was Mary Peyton (née Eskridge) Saltzman (the niece of brevet Brig. Gen. Hazard Stevens and the granddaughter of Army general Isaac Stevens). Saltzman's father's military career meant that he lived in a variety of places growing up: the Philippines, Washington, D.C., New York City, and Panama.[1]

When Saltzman was five years old, in September 1908, he was present at Fort Myer for the Wright brothers' demonstration of manned flight in an event arranged by Saltzman's father. Saltzman's father served as chairman of the Federal Radio Commission from 1930 to 1932.[1]

After graduating from high school in New York, Saltzman spent a year at Cornell University and then entered the United States Military Academy. After graduating in 1925, Saltzman was a Rhodes scholar, studying at Magdalen College, Oxford and receiving a bachelor's degree in 1928.[2]

Career

After Saltzman completed his studies, the United States Army posted him to Camp A.A. Humphreys where he served as a lieutenant in a combat engineer company. At the same time, he served as a White House aide as an assistant to Campbell B. Hodges, a military aide of President of the United States Herbert Hoover. In this capacity, he served as an escort at state dinners.[2]

Saltzman left the army in 1930, joining the New York Telephone Company as an engineer and manager, though he remained a member of the United States Army Reserve, later transferring to the Army National Guard.[2] In 1935, he joined the New York Stock Exchange as an assistant to the executive vice president. He was later promoted to secretary and then to vice president of the NYSE.[3]

Saltzman's National Guard unit was called to active service in October 1940. After the Attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, he was appointed assistant to the chief signal officer in the United States Department of War. He was posted overseas in May 1942, first in London, then in North Africa, where he served on the staff of Lt. Gen. Mark W. Clark. He was Lt. Gen. Clark's deputy chief of staff, first in North Africa, and later in Italy. He stayed in Europe after the war as part of the Allied occupation of Austria, returning to the U.S. and leaving the military in 1946. He remained a member of the Reserves until 1955, retiring with the rank of major general.[2]

Saltzman briefly returned to the New York Stock Exchange before President of the United States Harry Truman in 1947 appointed him Assistant Secretary of State for Occupied Areas under United States Secretary of State George Marshall.[2]

Saltzman left the United States Department of State in 1949, becoming a member of the venture capital firm of Henry Sears & Co. During the 1952 presidential election, Saltzman and Sears worked with Sears' brother-in-law Sen. Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. (R—MA) to raise money for Dwight D. Eisenhower.[2]

In 1954, Secretary of State John Foster Dulles appointed Saltzman to a committee tasked with studying personnel administration in the United States Department of State. After the committee issued its recommendations, President Eisenhower named Saltzman Under Secretary of State for Administration to implement the committee's recommendations; Saltzman held this office from June 29, 1954, through December 31, 1954.[2]

Saltzman became a partner at Goldman Sachs in 1956, working there until his retirement in 1973.[2]

Personal life

Saltzman was married three times and had three children.[2] In 1931, Saltzman was married to Gertrude Lamont (1910–1994) by the Rev. Dr. Anson Phelps Stokes, canon of the Washington Cathedral in the drawing room of the Lamont home in Kalorama Circle. Gertrude was a daughter of Robert Patterson Lamont, the U.S. Secretary of Commerce under President Herbert Hoover, who attended the wedding.[4] After sixteen years of marriage, they divorced in 1947.[5] They were the parents of:

• Charles McKinley Saltzman II (b. 1937), a Harvard graduate who became the headmaster of the Madeira School in McLean, Virginia (after the previous Head Mistress Jean Harris, was arrested for the murder of Herman Tarnower).[6]

On September 25, 1947, he was married to Cynthia Southall Myrick (b. 1921) at Christ Methodist Church on Park Avenue in New York City.[7] Cynthia was a daughter of Marian Susan Washburn and Julian Southall Myrick, president of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company.[8][9] They remained married until 1969 and were the parents of:

• Cynthia Myrick Saltzman (b. 1949),[8] who married Warren Motley II in 1972.[10]
• Richard Stevens Saltzman (1951–1965)[8]
• Penelope Washburn Saltzman, a lawyer who married Stuart Abbott Billings, an architect, in 1985.[11]

In 1978, he married Clotilde (née Knapp) McCormick (1908–2004), the former Countess von Francken-Sierstorpff. They were married until his death in 1994.[12]

Saltzman died from a heart attack at his home in New York on June 16, 1994.[2]

Honors and legacy

Saltzman was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, the Order of the British Empire, the Croix de Guerre, the Polish Cross of Merit, the Order of the Crown of Italy and the Brazilian War Medal.[2]

References

1. Davis Jr., Henry Blaine (1998). Generals in Khaki. Pentland Press, Inc. p. 321. ISBN 1571970886. OCLC 40298151.
2. "Charles E. Saltzman, 90, Dies; Soldier and Wall Street Figure". The New York Times. June 18, 1994.
3. "PROMOTIONS MADE IN STOCK EXCHANGE; Charles E. Saltzman Will Be Secretary-His Assistant to Be Charles Klem SELECTED FOR STOCK EXCHANGE POSTS" (PDF). The New York Times. September 15, 1938. Retrieved November 11, 2019.
4. Times, Special to The New York (May 3, 1931). "MISS LAMONT WEDS CHARLES SALTZMAN; President and Mrs. Hoover Are Guests at First "Cabinet Marriage" of Term. ALLAN HOOVER AN USHER Ceremony Takes Place in Home of Secretary of Commerce--Couple to Reside Here After Trip" (PDF). The New York Times. Retrieved November 11, 2019.
5. Boyle, Kay (2015). Kay Boyle: A Twentieth-Century Life in Letters. University of Illinois Press. p. 516. ISBN 9780252097362. Retrieved November 11, 2019.
6. Barker, Karlyn (December 17, 1980). "Madeira Names Headmaster For First Time in Its History". Washington Post. Retrieved November 11, 2019.
7. "MISS MYRICK BRlDE OF C. E. SALTZMAN; Attended by Sister at Wedding in Christ Church to Assistant Secretary of State" (PDF). The New York Times. September 26, 1947. Retrieved November 11, 2019.
8. Bowden, Allie Goodwin Myrick (1952). The Story of the Myricks. Macon, Georgia: Press of the J. W. Burke Company. p. 193. Retrieved November 11, 2019.
9. Who's Who in Commerce and Industry. Marquis Who's Who. 1965. p. 953. Retrieved November 11, 2019.
10. "Cynthia Saltzman Wed To Warren Motley 2d" (PDF). The New York Times. May 21, 1972. Retrieved November 11, 2019.
11. "S. A. Billings Wed to Miss Saltzman". The New York Times. August 18, 1985. Retrieved November 11, 2019.
12. Fox, Margalit (October 9, 2004). "Clotilde K. Saltzman, Ex-Countess, Dies at 96". The New York Times. Retrieved November 11, 2019.

External links

• Profile from Herbert Hoover Presidential Library
• A film clip "Longines Chronoscope with Charles E. Saltzman" is available at the Internet Archive
• MG Charles Eskridge Saltzman at Find a Grave

Government offices
Preceded by John H. Hilldring	Assistant Secretary of State for Occupied Areas 1947–1949	Succeeded by Office abolished
Preceded by Donold Lourie	Under Secretary of State for Administration June 29, 1954 – December 31, 1954	Succeeded by Office abolished