Paul Henry Nitze (January 16, 1907 - October 19, 2004) was a high-ranking United States government official who helped shape Cold War defense policy over the course of numerous presidential administrations.

Born in Amherst, Massachusetts, Nitze attended the Hotchkiss School and graduated from Harvard University in 1928. After working in investment banking, he entered government service during World War II. In 1942, he was chief of the Metals and Minerals Branch of the Board of Economic Warfare, until named director, Foreign Procurement and Development Branch of the Foreign Economic Administration in 1943. During the period 1944-1946, Nitze served as director and then as vice chairman of the U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey for which President Truman awarded him the Medal of Merit.

In the early post-war era, he served in the Truman Administration as head of policy planning for the State Dept (1950-1953). He was also principal author in 1950 of a highly influential secret National Security Council document (NSC-68), which provided the strategic outline for increased U.S. expenditures to counter the perceived threat of Soviet armament.

From 1953 to 1961, Nitze served as president of the Foreign Service Educational Foundation while concurrently serving as associate of the Washington Center of Foreign Policy Research, the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) of the Johns Hopkins University. (Nitze co-founded SAIS with Christian Herter in 1943 and the graduate school is currently named in his honor.) His publications during this period include U.S. Foreign Policy: 1945-1955. In 1961 President Kennedy appointed Nitze assistant secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs and in 1963 he became the Secretary of the Navy, serving until 1967.

Following his term as secretary of the Navy, he served as deputy secretary of Defense (1967-1969), as a member of the U.S. delegation to the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) (1969-1973), and assistant secretary of Defense for International Affairs (1973-1976). Later, fearing Soviet rearmament, he opposed the ratification of SALT II (1979). He was President Ronald Reagan's chief negotiator of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (1981-1984). In 1984, Nitze was named special advisor to the president and secretary of State on Arms Control. For more than forty years, Nitze was one of the chief architects of U.S. policy toward the Soviet Union. President Reagan awarded Nitze the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1985 for his contributions to the freedom and security of the United States.

Nitze died in the Georgetown area of Washington, DC.

The Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Nitze is named in his honor.

List of Offices and Positions Held

• Vice chairman of the U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey (1944-1946).
• Head of policy planning for the State Dept. (1950-1953)
• Secretary of the Navy (1963-1967)
• Deputy Secretary of Defense (1967-1969),
• Member of the U.S. delegation to the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (1969-1973),
• Assistant Secretary of Defense for international affairs (1973-1976).
• Special Adviser to the President and Secretary of State on Arms Control (beginning in 1984).

This article incorporates public domain text from the U.S. Navy.