LEAHY, WILLIAM D.

born May 6, 1875, Hampton, Iowa, U.S. died July 20, 1959, Bethesda, Md. in full William Daniel Leahy American naval officer who served as personal chief of staff to President Franklin D. Roosevelt during World War II. A graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Md. (1897), Leahy saw service in the Spanish-American War (1898), the Philippine insurrection (18991901), and the Boxer Rebellion in China (1900). In command of a navy transport during World War I, he formed a lasting friendship with Roosevelt, then assistant secretary of the navy. He reached the rank of admiral in 1936 and was chief of naval operations from 1937 to 1939. Leahy's first career ended with retirement because of age in August 1939, and his second career began a few months later, when President Roosevelt named him governor of Puerto Rico. He held that post until December 1940, when he was appointed ambassador to the Vichy government of unoccupied France. After the United States entered World War II (December 1941), he was given the newly created position of chief of staff to the president. He was made a fleet admiral in December 1944 and accompanied Roosevelt to the Yalta Conference the following year. After Roosevelt's death (April 1945), Leahy retained his post under President Harry S. Truman. He retired in 1949 and wrote his war memoirs, I Was There (1950).