
John Alexander McCone (4 January 1902-14 February 1991) was Chair of the Atomic Energy Commission from 14 July 1958 to 20 January 1961 (succeeding Lewis Strauss and preceding Glenn T. Seaborg) and Director of the Central Intelligence Agency from 29 November 1961 to 28 April 1965 (succeeding Allen Dulles and precding William Raborn).
Biography[]
John Alexander McCone was born in San Francisco, California in 1902, and he worked as a metalworker before rising to be vice president of the Consolidated Steel Corporation in 1929 and founding Bechtel-McCone. He profiteered off of World War II before becoming a government advisor and official, serving as Under Secretary of the US Air Force from 1950 to 1951, as Chair of the Atomic Energy Commission from 1958 to 1961, and as Director of the CIA from 1961 to 1965. His willingness to deal with Israel's nuclear weapons program and other nuclear issues led to President John F. Kennedy appointing McCone as CIA director in spite of his being a conservative Republican. McCone was involved in plots to assassinate Dominican president Rafael Trujillo, backing the Hmong in Laos during the Laotian Civil War, overthrowing President Jose Velasco Ibarra of Ecuador, overthrowing President Cheddi Jagan in Guyana, and overseeing assassination attempts on Fidel Castro. He was awarded the Hoover Medal in 1964, and he resigned in 1965 due to his under-appreciation by President Lyndon B. Johnson, who ignored his findings on Israeli nuclear facilities. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1987, and he died in Pebble Beach, Californiia in 1991.