Robert Cutler (June 12, 1895 – May 8, 1974) was an American government official who was the first person appointed as the president's National Security Advisor. He served US President Dwight Eisenhower in that role from 1953 to 1955 and from 1957 to 1958.
Early life
thumb|Cutler's identification card during World War I
He was born on June 12, 1895, in Brookline, Massachusetts. He was the youngest of five sons born to George C. and Mary F. Wilson Cutler. His brothers were Elliott Carr Cutler, a professor at the Harvard Medical School and a surgeon, Harvard quarterback Johnny Cutler, Roger W. Cutler, a US Navy officer and the husband of Leslie Bradley Cutler, and George C. Cutler Jr.
Cutler attended Harvard College and planned on becoming an English teacher and writer.
World War II
On July 28, 1942, Cutler resigned as corporation counsel to join the US Army. US President Franklin Roosevelt nominated Cutler for the position of head occupational analyst of the Army Specialist Corps (ASC) with the rank of colonel. After the ASC had been disbanded, Cutler served as chief of the Procurement Division. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal in December 1944. He received his discharge on December 9, 1945. He was later elected president of Peter Bent Brigham Hospital. From 1947 to 1949, he headed the largest survey of hospital, health, and welfare facilities in New England.
National Security Advisor
On December 29, 1952, President-elect Eisenhower appointed Cutler as assistant to the president for national security affairs. In that position, Cutler played a major role in turning the National Security Council into a top policy making body. He tendered his resignation on March 8, 1955, and was succeeded by Dillon Anderson on April 1. On March 31, 1955, he received the Medal of Freedom for his "outstanding contribution to the security and defense of our nation.
Cutler oversaw the drafting of Eisenhower's Executive Order 10450, signed on April 27, 1953, contributing language that identified "sexual perversion" as grounds for exclusion from employment by the federal government. It represented an attempt to fulfill Eisenhower's campaign promise, made in response to charges made by Senator Joseph McCarthy, to remove "subversives" from the federal government. The order initiated the years-long purge of gays and lesbians from employment by the federal government, the Lavender Scare component of the Red Scare witch hunts of the 1950s.
Cutler resigned his post in 1955 apparently for fear that the disclosure of his secret homosexuality might harm the Eisenhower administration. His homosexuality was known to some Washington insiders, including the prominent columnist Joseph Alsop, a closet gay himself, and Charles Bohlen, whose nomination as ambassador to Moscow had been threatened by McCarthy's innuendo about his sexuality. and took its leadership position, then called the Special Assistant for National Security Affairs, on January 6, 1957. He was succeeded by Gordon Gray on June 24, 1958.
Later life
In 1958, Cutler was nominated for a seat on the Massachusetts Board of Regional Community Colleges by Governor Foster Furcolo. His nomination was rejected by the Massachusetts Governor's Council by a 4–3 vote on the grounds that the position should go to a Democrat. Furcolo submitted Cutler's nomination again, and on December 30, the Council approved his appointment by a 6–2 vote.
On October 14, 1959, Eisenhower announced that he would nominate Cutler to serve a three-year term as an executive director of the new Inter-American Development Bank. He was sworn in by Eisenhower on February 2, 1960. He resigned effective July 15, 1962.
He published his memoirs, No Time for Rest, in 1966. Never married and predeceased by all of his brothers, Cutler left no immediate survivors but was survived by several nieces and nephews, including Elliott C. Cutler Jr., Robert B. Cutler and Roger W. Cutler Jr.