Hugh Dudley Auchincloss Jr.

Hugh Dudley Auchincloss Jr. was born on August 15, 1897, at Hammersmith Farm in Newport, Rhode Island. He was the son of Hugh Dudley Auchincloss (1858–1913), a merchant and financier, and Emma Brewster Jennings. His maternal grandparents were Oliver Burr Jennings and Esther Judson Goodsell. His family included uncles such as Edgar Stirling Auchincloss, the father of U.S. Representative James C. Auchincloss, and John Winthrop Auchincloss, the grandfather of attorney and author Louis Auchincloss. He had two elder sisters, Esther Judson Auchincloss and Ann Burr Auchincloss.

Auchincloss attended Groton School in Massachusetts before enrolling at Yale University. His education was interrupted by military service in the U.S. Navy during World War I, after which he was elected to the Elihu Senior Society and graduated in 1920. He continued his studies at King's College, Cambridge, and earned a law degree from Columbia Law School in 1924.

Professionally, Auchincloss practiced law in New York City from 1924 to 1926. Subsequently, he joined the U.S. Department of Commerce as a special agent focusing on aeronautics. In 1927, he became an aviation expert within the State Department. He resigned his government positions in 1931 to establish a brokerage firm. That year, he purchased a seat on the New York Stock Exchange for $235,000, equivalent to approximately $4.86 million in 2024 dollars. He co-founded the brokerage firm "Auchincloss, Parker & Redpath" with Chauncey G. Parker and Albert G. Redpath, utilizing part of his inheritance from his mother. The firm expanded to include 16 offices along the East Coast and later merged in 1970 with Thomson & McKinnon, forming Thomson & McKinnon Auchincloss, which managed assets totaling $160 million (about $884 million in 2024) across 58 offices.

During World War II, Auchincloss served in the United States Navy, working with the Office of Naval Intelligence and the War Department. He was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the Naval Reserve on May 26, 1942.

His personal life included three marriages and five children. His first marriage was to Maya de Chrapovitsky on June 4, 1925; they divorced in 1932 and had one son, Hugh Dudley "Yusha" Auchincloss III (1927–2015). His second marriage was to Nina S. Vidal in 1935, daughter of Senator Thomas Gore; they divorced in 1941 and had two children, Nina Gore Auchincloss (born 1937) and Thomas Gore Auchincloss (born 1939). His third marriage was to Janet Lee Bouvier on June 21, 1942, with whom he remained until his death. They had two children, Janet Jennings Auchincloss (1945–1985) and James Lee Auchincloss (born 1947). Auchincloss was instrumental in securing Jacqueline Bouvier's first journalism job at the Washington Times-Herald and gave her away at her wedding to John F. Kennedy in 1953, at which the reception was held at Hammersmith Farm.

He was a noted supporter of the Republican Party but contributed to the campaign of his Democratic stepson-in-law, John F. Kennedy, expressing a desire for harmony within his family. Hugh Auchincloss died on November 20, 1976, at his residence in Georgetown and was buried at Island Cemetery in Newport.

His club memberships included the University Club, the New York Yacht Club, Grolier Club, and Racquet and Tennis Club in New York, as well as the Burning Tree Club and the Metropolitan Club in Washington.