Hastings Ismay

Hastings Ismay          (lawyer, diplomat, politician, spook)
Born	Hastings Lionel Ismay 1887-06-21 Naini Tāl, India
Died	17 December 1965 (Age 78) Wormington Grange, near, Stanton, Gloucestershire, United Kingdom
Nationality	UK
Parents	• Stanley Ismay • Beatrice Read
Spouse	Laura Kathleen Clegg
Ex Secretary General of NATO.  Secretary General of NATO In office March 24, 1952 - May 16, 1957 Deputy Adolph Bentinck Succeeded by Paul-Henri Spaak The first Secretary General of NATO.  Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations  In office 28 October 1951 - 12 March 1952 Preceded by Patrick Gordon Walker  Member of the House of Lords as Baron Ismay In office 6 February 1947 - 17 December 1965  Member of the House of Lordsas Baron Ismay In office 6 February 1947 - 17 December 1965

Hastings Lionel Ismay, 1st Baron Ismay, was a diplomat and general in the British Indian Army who was the first Secretary General of NATO and Winston Churchill's chief military assistant during the Second World War.

Career

At the War Office, Ismay served as an intelligence officer with responsibility for the Middle East, Far East, the Americas, the Soviet Union, Poland and the Baltic States. Ismay enjoyed his work, and wrote that "intelligence is perhaps the most interesting of all Staff work."

Secretary General of NATO

At the Lisbon Conference, the members of NATO agreed to appoint a Secretary General who would direct the organisation's staff and serve as Vice Chairman of the Atlantic Council. The position was initially offered to Sir Oliver Franks, but he declined. As such, the allies scrambled to find someone else to take the position. Two weeks later, the countries agreed to ask Ismay to become Secretary General at the suggestion of Winston Churchill and Anthony Eden.

“[NATO was created to] keep the Soviet Union out, the Americans in, and the Germans down.”
Hastings Ismay (1952) 

Bilderberg

In 1955 Der Spiegel named Hastings Ismay as a Bilderberg attendee. Such publicity was not extended to subsequent NATO Secretaries General, almost all of whom were Bilderbergers.

 

Events Participated in

Event	Start	End	Location(s)	Description
Bilderberg/1955 September	23 September 1955	25 September 1955	Germany Bavaria Garmisch-Partenkirchen	The third Bilderberg, in West Germany. The subject of a report by Der Spiegel which inspired a heavy blackout of subsequent meetings.
Bilderberg/1956	11 May 1956	13 May 1956	Denmark Fredensborg	The 4th Bilderberg meeting, with 147 guests, in contrast to the generally smaller meetings of the 1950s. Has two Bilderberg meetings in the years before and after

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