Thomas Dudley Cabot

Thomas Dudley Cabot (May 1, 1897[1] – June 8, 1995[3]) was an American businessman. He also became U.S. Department of State's Director of Office of International Security Affairs.[4]

Thomas Dudley Cabot
BornMay 1, 1897
Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.[1]
DiedJune 8, 1995 (age 98)
Weston, Massachusetts, U.S.[2]
EducationBuckingham Browne & Nichols (1913)
Harvard University (SB Engineering, 1919)
OccupationBusinessman
Parent(s)Godfrey Lowell Cabot (father)

Early life

Cabot was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. His father was Godfrey Lowell Cabot,[1] founder of Cabot Corporation[5] and a philanthropist. His mother was Maria Moors Cabot.[1] Cabot was named after Thomas Dudley, governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony who signed the charter creating Harvard College.[6] Two of his siblings were John Moors Cabot[2] (b. 1901), U.S. Ambassador to Sweden, Colombia, Brazil, and Poland during the Eisenhower and Kennedy administration,[7] and Eleanor Cabot of the Eleanor Cabot Bradley Estate.[8]

Cabot graduated from Browne & Nichols School in 1913.[9] He took some courses at Boston Tech (now known as Massachusetts Institute of Technology)[1] and Curtiss Flying School,[10] becoming a World War I flight instructor at Kelly Field in the U.S. Army Signal Corps,[3] before graduating cum laude from Harvard University with a SB in Engineering, in 1919.[1]

Career

Upon graduation, Cabot started working for Cabot Corporation,[1] founded by his father. He was CEO of Cabot Corporation from 1922 to 1960, when he relinquished active control of the company,[2] and went to his Boston office as director emeritus on a regular basis until his death.[1]

Cabot was also a longtime director of United Fruit Company, and became its president in 1948 in hopes of reformation, but resigned in 1949.[2] His brother John Moors Cabot was a major shareholder of United Fruit,[11] as was another family member, Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr.,[12] who also served as a director of United Fruit.[13]

In 1951, Cabot was U.S. Department of State's Director of Office of International Security Affairs during the Truman administration,[1] where he spoke for the State Department on NATO affairs, was in charge of a U.S. program arming allies throughout the world,[4] and supervised the disbursement of $6 billion in foreign economic and military aid.[2] In 1953, he also served as consultant on a special development mission in Egypt.[4]

In 1960, a Central Intelligence Agency cover[14] called Gibraltar Steamship Company (which didn't own any steamships and whose president was Cabot)[15][16] owned and established Radio Swan on Swan Island, a covert black operation[15] to win supporters for U.S. policies and discredit Fidel Castro.

Cabot,[17] his brother John Moors Cabot, another family member Henry Cabot Lodge Jr.,[18] and Cabot's son, Louis Wellington Cabot,[17] were all Council on Foreign Relations members inducted in 1992.

Philanthropic work

Cabot also served on the Harvard Board of Overseers, was a Director of the Harvard Alumni Association and significant benefactor of the university, and recipient of a Harvard Medal and honorary Doctor of Laws degree in 1970.[3] In 1985, Harvard's Cabot House was named in honor of Cabot and his wife.[19] The Cabot Science Complex is also named in their honor.[3]

Cabot had many ties to MIT and was the longest serving member of the MIT Corporation, serving for 49 consecutive years.[20] He was elected a Life Member of the Corporation in 1951 and Life Member Emeritus in 1972. As part of his MIT Corporation work he served on many Corporation Standing and Visiting Committees.[20]

He established the Thomas Dudley Cabot Scholarship Fund at MIT in 1960 and in 1977 members of his family honored him by endowing the Thomas Dudley Cabot Institute Chair.[20] He and his wife established the Thomas D. and Virginia W. Cabot chair, in 1986, following his family's legacy of MIT involvement. His grandfather, Dr. Samuel Cabot, was a Boston citizen who supported the founding of MIT and his father, Godfrey L. Cabot, graduated from MIT in 1881.[21] Godfrey L. Cabot also supported the Institute by establishing the Godfrey L. Cabot Solar Energy Fund.[22]

Writings
  • Quick-Water and Smooth: A Canoeist's Guide to New England Rivers, 1935
  • Beggar on Horseback: The Autobiography of Thomas D. Cabot, 1979
  • Avelinda: The Legacy of a Yankee Yachtsman, 1991

Personal life

Cabot was married to Virginia Wellington Cabot for 75 years, from 1920 to his death in 1995. They resided in Weston, Massachusetts for seventy-five years,[2] and had five children: Louis Wellington Cabot, businessman, philanthropist, former Chairman of Federal Reserve Bank of Boston,[23] Thomas Dudley Cabot Jr.,[1] Robert Moors Cabot,[1] Dr. Edmund Billings Cabot,[1] Andover star and retired surgeon,[24][25] and Linda Cabot Black, cofounder of Opera Company of Boston and Opera New England.[26] in his 80s he lost the sight of an eye in a cross-country skiing accident, but he retained his enthusiasm for the active life. He and his wife, who celebrated their 75th wedding anniversary were tramping the mountains of Colorado. They also had 29 grandchildren, and 23 great-grandchildren. Virginia Cabot died in 1997 at Phillips House in Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. She was 97.

References
  1. "Senior trustee, Thomas D. Cabot, dies at 98". MIT News. June 21, 1995. Retrieved July 26, 2011.
  2. "Thomas Cabot, 98, Capitalist And Philanthropist, Is Dead". The New York Times. June 10, 1995. Retrieved July 26, 2011.
  3. "Former Overseer, HAA Head Cabot Dies at 98". Harvard Crimson. June 24, 1995. Retrieved July 26, 2011.
  4. McKinzie, Richard D. (June 6, 1975). "Oral History Interview with Thomas D. Cabot: Director, Office of International Security Affairs, Department of State, 1951; consultant, Special Mission to Egypt, 1953". Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum. Retrieved September 19, 2011.
  5. "The History of Cabot Corporation". Cabot Corporation. Retrieved July 26, 2011.
  6. "Dudley House History". Harvard College, Dudley House Undergraduate Office. Archived from the original on November 9, 2016. Retrieved July 26, 2011.
  7. "The Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum Finding Aids: C". Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum. Retrieved July 28, 2011.
  8. Town & Country, Volumes 75–76. Town & Country. February 20, 1919. Retrieved July 28, 2011.
  9. "Giving Programs: Endowment & Spendable Funds". Buckingham Browne & Nichols. Archived from the original on October 5, 2011. Retrieved July 26, 2011.
  10. Losos, Carol (April 25, 1985). "Cabot '19 Recalls Free Flying Days". Harvard Crimson. Retrieved July 26, 2011.
  11. Goldsmith, John. "Course on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Chapter 3: Intelligence Community to 1963, Vietnam" (PDF). University of Chicago. Retrieved September 18, 2011.
  12. "Silencio de Neto, El (1994)" (PDF). South Puget Sound Community College. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 2, 2012. Retrieved September 18, 2011.
  13. Mitchell, Brian. "No. 879: G8 AND LIVE8 – GLOBAL POWER AND POLITICAL NAIVETY". University of Texas at Austin. Retrieved September 18, 2011.
  14. "HONDURAS: Swans, Spooks and Boobies". Time. December 6, 1961. Retrieved September 18, 2011.
  15. Kneitel, Tom (November 1985). "Inside the CIA's Secret Radio Paradise: Part I" (PDF). Popular Communications. Retrieved September 18, 2011.
  16. Schoultz, Lars (2009). That Infernal Little Cuban Republic: The United States and The Cuban Revolution. University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 9780807888605. Retrieved September 18, 2011. Pg. 608
  17. "Council on Foreign Relations Membership List (A-E)". mega.nu. Retrieved October 8, 2011.
  18. "Council on Foreign Relations Membership List (L-R)". mega.nu. Retrieved October 8, 2011.
  19. "Cabot House History". Cabot House. Archived from the original on July 19, 2011. Retrieved July 26, 2011.
  20. "Senior trustee, Thomas D. Cabot, dies at 98". MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Retrieved September 20, 2020.
  21. "Piotr Indyk named to Thomas D. and Virginia W. Cabot Professorship | MIT EECS". www.eecs.mit.edu. Retrieved September 20, 2020.
  22. Smith, Kai Alexis. "LibGuides: MIT Buildings: Solar Houses". libguides.mit.edu. Retrieved September 20, 2020.
  23. "Mabel Brandon and Louis Cabot". New York Times. June 1, 1997. Retrieved July 30, 2011.
  24. "Andover Class of 1961 Edmund Billings Cabot's Formal Portrait". NOBLE Digital Heritage. Archived from the original on March 28, 2012. Retrieved July 30, 2011.
  25. "Board of Directors: EDMUND B. CABOT, MD, FACS". Sailors for the Sea. Archived from the original on March 14, 2012. Retrieved July 30, 2011.
  26. "Linda Black Is Married". New York Times. January 29, 1989. Retrieved July 30, 2011.
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