A renowned expert on the Soviet Union, Charles E. Bohlen (1904-1974) helped to shape U.S. foreign policy during World War II and the Cold War. He was present at key negotiations with the Soviets during World War II, he served as ambassador to Moscow during the 1950s, and he was an adviser to every U.S. president from 1943 through 1968.

The portrait of Bohlen is an undated photograph from the U.S. Department of State. The photograph appeared on the dust jacket of Bohlen's 1969 book, “The Transformation of American Foreign Policy.”

As one of the architects of U.S. foreign policy after World War II, Bohlen helped to develop the Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe. Remembered for his understanding of the role of ideology in Soviet policy, he was a key advisor to several Secretaries of State, and he served as ambassador to the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1957. He also served as ambassador to the Philippines from 1957 to 1959 and to France from 1962 to 1968. Prior to his retirement in 1969, he advised President Kennedy and President Johnson on U.S.-Soviet relations.

Born in Clayton, NY, Bohlen traveled frequently to Europe with his family as a child. After graduating from Harvard University in 1927, he entered the Foreign Service in 1929 and selected Russian and Soviet affairs as his specialty. He was selected to join the staff of the first U.S. embassy to the Soviet Union in 1934, and he was serving as the Soviet expert at the U.S. embassy in Tokyo when the United States entered World War II.

Bohlen witnessed history being made at many of the most important summit conferences of World War II. He served as interpreter for President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1943 at the Teheran Conference, where Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill planned the final phase of the war against Nazi Germany, and again as both interpreter and adviser in 1945 at the Yalta Conference. The Yalta Conference was a wartime meeting among the heads of government of the United States, United Kingdom and the Soviet Union to determine the future of Germany and portions of Europe following World War II. Later in 1945, he also served as interpreter at the Potsdam Conference, where Stalin, Churchill, and President Truman discussed the future of Europe and cooperation in the Pacific.