Arthur Bliss Lane

For the judge, see Arthur Stephen Lane.

Arthur Bliss Lane
United States Ambassador to Poland
In office 4 August 1945 – 24 February 1947
President	Franklin D. Roosevelt
Preceded by	Anthony J. Drexel Biddle, Jr.
Succeeded by	Stanton Griffis
Personal details
Born	June 16, 1894(1894-06-16) Brooklyn, New York
Died	August 12, 1956(1956-08-12) (aged 62)
Nationality	American

Arthur Bliss Lane (16 June 1894–12 August 1956) was the United States Ambassador to Poland (1944–1947).

Biography

Lane was born in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, Kings County, New York. He was appointed U.S. Minister to Nicaragua (1933–1936); Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania (1936–1937); Kingdom of Yugoslavia, (1937–1941); and Costa Rica (1941–1942). He was then appointed U.S. Ambassador to Colombia (1942–1944), and subsequently to Poland (1944–1947).

While in Poland, Lane was so disappointed that he resigned his post (on February 24, 1947) and wrote the book which detailed what he considered to be the failure of the United States and Britain to keep their promise that the Poles would have a free election after the war. In that book he described what he considered betrayal of Poland by the Western Allies, hence the title, I Saw Poland Betrayed. The book was translated into Polish and published in this version in the United States, and later by an underground publishing house in Poland in the 1980s.

According to Lane, the U.S. and Britain at the Tehran Conference agreed to dismemberment of the eastern part of Poland. He considered it a breach of the United States Constitution, since Roosevelt never reported his decision to the Senate. The Yalta Conference was the death blow to Poland's hopes for independence and for a democratic form of government, said Lane.

Following his career at the State Department, Lane was active in investigating the Katyn Massacre and in several anti-Communist organizations (National Committee for a Free Europe).

After his death, Lane's papers were kept in Yale University's Sterling Memorial Library.

References

• Arthur Bliss Lane at The Political Graveyard

Diplomatic posts
Preceded by Matthew E. Hanna	United States Minister to Nicaragua December 7, 1933–March 14, 1936	Succeeded by Boaz Long
Preceded by William H. Hornibrook	United States Minister to Costa Rica October 27, 1941–March 17, 1942	Succeeded by Robert M. Scotten
Preceded by Spruille Braden	United States Ambassador to Colombia 30 April 1942–18 October 1944	Succeeded by John C. Wiley
Preceded by Anthony J. Drexel Biddle, Jr.	United States Ambassador to Poland 4 August 1945–24 February 1947	Succeeded by Stanton Griffis