Kermit Roosevelt Jr.

Kermit "Kim" Roosevelt Jr. was born on February 16, 1916, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He was the grandson of Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th President of the United States. His father was Kermit Roosevelt Sr., and his mother was Belle Wyatt Roosevelt (née Willard). At the time of his birth, his father was employed as an official for a shipping line and subsequently as a manager of the Buenos Aires branch of the National City Bank. The Roosevelt family later returned to the United States, where Roosevelt Jr. grew up in Oyster Bay, New York, near Sagamore Hill, the longtime residence of the Roosevelt family.

Roosevelt Jr. attended Groton School during his youth. He graduated from Harvard University in 1937, completing his education a year ahead of his class. After graduation, he taught history at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).

In 1943, at the age of 27, Roosevelt joined the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the predecessor to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), serving during World War II and afterward. His father, Kermit Roosevelt Sr., committed suicide in June 1943 at Fort Richardson in Alaska. Roosevelt Jr. continued his service with the OSS following the war and authored and edited its history.

Postwar, Roosevelt was involved with the Institute of Arab American Affairs, serving on its advisory board. In 1948, he published an essay on American Zionism and the partition of Palestine. That same year, he was instrumental in founding the Committee for Justice and Peace in the Holy Land (CJP), serving as its executive director. In 1951, Roosevelt co-founded the American Friends of the Middle East (AFME), an organization advocating for Arab perspectives critical of U.S. support for Israel. The AFME was later reported to have been partially funded and managed by the CIA and oil interests, according to historians Robert Moats Miller and Hugh Wilford.

Roosevelt was recruited into the CIA’s Office of Policy Coordination in 1950. He was assigned to Egypt, where he garnered attention for Project FF, which supported the Free Officers Movement leading to the 1952 Egyptian revolution. He developed close links with Gamal Abdel Nasser, the movement's leader, and sought to promote Arab nationalist collaboration with the United States as part of Cold War strategies.

Roosevelt played a significant role in the 1953 coup d'état in Iran, known as Operation Ajax, which sought to overthrow Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh. He was the operational planner on the ground, facilitating the dismissal of Mossadegh through networks of sympathizers and orchestrating key aspects of the coup. The operation ultimately succeeded in reinstituting the Shah of Iran. Roosevelt later authored a memoir titled "Countercoup" (published in 1979), describing his involvement, though the account was subject to criticism and debate regarding its accuracy.

He was awarded the National Security Medal in 1956 by President Dwight D. Eisenhower for his services related to Egypt and Iran. During his career, Roosevelt also declined to lead the 1954 CIA-backed coup in Guatemala against Jacobo Árbenz, believing that the success of the Iran operation was sufficient and that conditions in Guatemala were less conducive to similar methods.

Roosevelt left the CIA in 1958 to work for oil and defense firms. He maintained connections with former operatives and Iranian leaders, often visiting Iran. He was married to Mary Lowe "Polly" Gaddis in 1937, and they had four children: Kermit III (and his descendants), Jonathan, Mark, and Anne.

Kermit Roosevelt Jr. died on June 8, 2000, in Cockeysville, Maryland. He was survived by his wife, children, a brother, and seven grandchildren. He received the National Security Medal, awarded in a secret ceremony in 1956 for his activities in Egypt and Iran.