Archibald Bulloch Roosevelt, Jr.

Archibald Bulloch Roosevelt Jr. was born on February 18, 1918, in Boston, Massachusetts. He was a grandson of Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th President of the United States. Roosevelt was the son of Grace Lockwood Roosevelt and Archibald Bulloch Roosevelt. His education included attendance at the Groton School, followed by Harvard University, from which he graduated in 1940. Although selected as a Rhodes Scholar during his undergraduate studies, he was unable to accept this appointment due to the outbreak of World War II in Europe.

Following his graduation, Roosevelt initially worked for a newspaper in Seattle, Washington. During World War II, he served as an Army intelligence officer. He was part of the "Ritchie Boys," a secret unit trained at Fort Ritchie, Maryland. His wartime service included accompanying U.S. troops during the North African landings in 1942 and serving as a military attaché in Iraq and Iran. These experiences contributed to his subsequent expertise in Middle Eastern affairs.

In 1947, Roosevelt joined the Central Intelligence Group, the precursor of the CIA. His early overseas postings included service in Beirut from 1947 to 1949, where he was registered as a State Department official. From 1949 to 1951, he was the head of the Near East section for Voice of America in New York. Roosevelt served as CIA station chief in Istanbul from 1951 to 1953, and later held various roles at CIA headquarters in Washington, D.C., between 1953 and 1958.

Roosevelt was station chief in Spain from 1958 to 1962 and then in London from 1962 to 1966. He concluded his CIA career in Washington, D.C., retiring in 1974. His work involved involvement in covert operations, including efforts related to coup plots in Syria and Iraq, though he did not replicate the success of his cousin Kim Roosevelt in Iran.

One notable operation was "Operation Straggle" in 1956, which aimed to facilitate a US-backed coup in Syria. Roosevelt met with officials in Damascus to plan the operation, which involved military control of key Syrian cities and border regions. The plan was supported financially and politically by the United States but was ultimately postponed due to regional events, including Israel's invasion of Egypt and diplomatic considerations.

In mid-1962, Roosevelt was tasked by the Kennedy administration to prepare for a potential military coup against Iraqi Prime Minister Abd al-Karim Qasim. Although the CIA had cultivated assets within the Iraqi Ba'ath Party, there is no publicly available evidence indicating a direct CIA role in the February 1963 coup that resulted in Qasim's assassination.

After retiring from the CIA in 1974, Roosevelt became a vice president of Chase Manhattan Bank and served as director of international relations in its Washington office. His role involved advising prominent figures such as bank chairman David Rockefeller. Roosevelt maintained an active presence in Washington social and diplomatic circles, especially during the Reagan administration when his wife, Selwa Showker "Lucky" Roosevelt, was the chief of protocol from 1982 to 1989.

In 1988, Roosevelt published a memoir titled *For Lust of Knowing: Memoirs of an Intelligence Officer*. In his memoir, he discussed his wartime service and, with discretion, his intelligence career. He maintained a strict adherence to confidentiality regarding his CIA assignments, refraining from revealing specific countries or operations, emphasizing his oath to keep classified information.

Roosevelt was multilingual, with proficiency in approximately twenty languages, including French, Spanish, German, Russian, Arabic, Hebrew, Swahili, and Uzbek.

He married Katharine W. Tweed in 1940, with whom he had a son, Tweed Roosevelt, born in 1942. The marriage ended in divorce in 1950. Later, he married Selwa "Lucky" Showker Roosevelt, with whom he was married for 40 years until his death.

Archibald Bulloch Roosevelt Jr. died on May 31, 1990, due to congestive heart failure. He was interred in the Roosevelt family plot at Youngs Memorial Cemetery in Oyster Bay, New York.