Chester Bliss Bowles (April 5, 1901 – May 25, 1986) was an American diplomat and ambassador, governor of Connecticut, congressman and co-founder of a major advertising agency, Benton & Bowles, now part of Publicis Groupe. Bowles is best known for his influence on American foreign policy during Cold War years, when he argued that economic assistance to the Third World was the best means to fight communism, and even more important, to create a more peaceable world order.
During World War II, Bowles held high office in Washington as director of the Office of Price Administration, and control of setting consumer prices. Just after the war, he was the chief of the Office of Economic Stabilization, but had great difficulty controlling inflation. Moving into state politics, he served a term as governor of Connecticut from 1949 to 1951. He promoted liberal programs in education and housing, but was defeated for reelection by conservative backlash.
As ambassador to India, he established a good relationship with Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, an emerging leader of the non-aligned movement. Bowles promoted rapid economic industrialization in India, and repeatedly called on Washington to help finance it. However, Washington was angered by India's neutrality, and limited funding to literacy and health programs. During the Eisenhower years, 1953–1960, Bowles organized liberal Democratic opposition, and served as a foreign policy advisor to Adlai Stevenson and John F. Kennedy.
Bowles served as Kennedy's Under Secretary of State in 1961 which enabled him to staff American embassies with liberal intellectuals and activists. However, his liberalism proved too strong for Kennedy, who demoted him to a nominal job as roving ambassador to the Third World in 1961. Kennedy named him as ambassador to India again, 1963–1969, where he helped improve agricultural productivity and fight local famines.
Chester Bowles was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, to Charles Allen Bowles and Nellie Seaver (Harris). Theirs was an old Yankee family. His grandfather Samuel Bowles was a leading Republican spokesman as editor of the Springfield Republican. His father made a middle-class living as a salesman for the wood pulp industry. Chester's parents were arch-conservative Republicans who hated and feared big government. However, Chester's political views were shaped more by his aunt Ruth Standish Baldwin, who was a socialist, pacifist, friend of Norman Thomas, and leader in the early civil rights movements for Blacks. She inspired him to read deeply in politics, civil rights, and international affairs. Chester attended elite private schools – The Choate School (now Choate Rosemary Hall) in Wallingford, Connecticut, graduating in 1919. He matriculated at the Sheffield Scientific School at Yale University, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in 1924. Decades later he recalled the Yale years "as a period of overwork, confusion and missed opportunities....It was unfashionable in or out of college to think much about anything."
After working after graduation as a reporter for the newspaper in Springfield, Massachusetts owned by his family, Bowles took a minor position with the United States consulate in Shanghai, but soon returned to the U.S. because of his father's illness.
Bowles became a copywriter for $25 per week at the Batten Company, an advertising agency in New York City that later became BBDO, the third-largest agency in the US. In 1929, Bowles established the Benton & Bowles advertising agency with William Benton, who was a fellow Batten employee. Despite the difficult economic environment of Great Depression, by the mid-1930s Benton & Bowles was a multimillion-dollar company. Benton & Bowles created the radio soap opera, offering specialized programming to receptive demographic groups. This allowed Benton & Bowles to create advertising campaigns to promote their clients' products to this targeted radio audience.
The New York Times referred to Bowles' career as an advertising executive as "brilliant". He and his business partner, Mr. Benton, signed major U.S. companies as advertising clients for Benton & Bowles, including General Foods, Procter & Gamble and Bristol Myers. Bowles was appointed chairman of the board in 1936. By 1941, the company reportedly earned an annual profit of more than $250,000. Bowles sold his shares in Benton & Bowles for a substantial profit. He became a multi-millionaire and fulfilled his dream by quitting the business world at age 40. He did not much enjoy the day-to-day job, saying in his autobiography:
I honestly believe that I would have been happier and more effective if I had gone into public service immediately following my graduation from college. On the other hand, I realize that the grinding effort that I put into those early years enabled my family and me to build a capital reserve which has assured us far greater independence and made it possible for me to travel, to write, to speak my mind, and to move from one career to the next as various challenges presented themselves.
Because of his strong support for the New Deal domestic policies of the Roosevelt Administration, Bowles worked closely with First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt on several key policy initiatives and programs, while continuing his job at Benton & Bowles.
Initially, Bowles was opposed to the United States getting involved in World War II and joined an opposition group, the America First Committee. When the United States entered World War II in December 1941, he was rejected for health reasons when he tried to join the Navy.
Bowles then took a job as the state of Connecticut's rationing administrator in 1942. He becoming state director of price administration later that year, and then general manager. He was appointed by President Roosevelt in 1943 as administrator of the Office of Price Administration and served in that position until 1946. He played the major role in rationing consumer goods and setting prices in an effort to hold down inflation and guarantee that poor families were not outbid for the necessities of life. He served as a member of the War Production Board and the Petroleum Board for War.
Diplomatic and political career
In 1946, he was appointed director of the Office of Economic Stabilization and became chairman of the Economic Stabilization Board for President Harry S. Truman. Bowles ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in Connecticut that year. Also in 1946, he became one of the American delegates to the first conference of United Nations Economic, Scientific and Cultural Organization UNESCO in Paris. Bowles served as special assistant to UN Secretary General Trygve Lie in 1947 and 1948. During these years, the UN General Assembly met in session at Lake Success, New York on Long Island, as the UN building in Manhattan was not completed until 1952 He continued with the United Nations as international chairman of the United Nations Children's Appeal from 1948 to 1951.
Bowles was elected to the governorship of Connecticut in 1948, defeating James C. Shannon, and served one term, during which time he signed into law an end to segregation in the state national guard. During his term, Bowles was also active in improving education, mental health, housing and workmen's compensation. He lost a bitter re-election campaign to John Davis Lodge, during which his opponent painted him as an extreme liberal.
He was appointed as U.S. Ambassador to India and Nepal by President Truman, serving from 1951 to 1953. He developed a close relationship with Prime Minister Nehru, who otherwise distrusted Americans. Indeed, Bowles highly appreciated Nehru's positions, which caused him friction with the State Department.
During the Eisenhower years, Bowles was a leading Democratic liberal intellectual, especially on foreign policy matters, writing numerous articles, giving speeches, and advising Adlai Stevenson and John F. Kennedy. Bowles won a seat in the House of Representatives for Connecticut's second district and served one term, from January 3, 1959, to January 3, 1961.