US Navy Admiral, Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director. He entered the US Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland in 1915, graduating in 1919. He served tours in naval intelligence, several as assistant naval attaché to France. As executive officer of the battleship USS West Virginia, he survived the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 that precipitated the US entry into World War II and later he was officer in charge of intelligence on Admiral Chester W. Nimitz's Pacific Fleet staff. In 1946, after the end of World War II, he commanded the USS Missouri at the rank of captain. In November 1946 he was promoted to the rank of rear admiral and the following year, he was persuaded by President Harry S. Truman to become Director of Central Intelligence (DCI), and run the Central Intelligence Group. Under the National Security Act of 1947 he was nominated and confirmed by the U.S. Senate as DCI, now in charge of the newly established Central Intelligence Agency. He was the third director of the post-World War II US Central Intelligence Group (CIG), the third Director of Central Intelligence (DCI), and the first director of the CIA. Serving in these capacities from May 1947 until October 1950. Under his leadership, the CIA committed several major blunders, the first being the failure to predict the Soviet atomic bomb test (August 29, 1949), and they were caught off-guard in 1950 when North Korea invaded South Korea (June 25, 1950). Many at the CIA were embarrassed by the news reports and by mid-August the rumors of his removal were confirmed when President Truman announced that General Walter Bedell "Beetle" Smith would replace him as DCI. He returned to sea duty, commanding Cruiser Division 1 of the Cruiser-Destroyer Force, Pacific Fleet from October 1950 until August 1951 during the Korean War. He then commanded the Third Naval District with headquarters in New York City, New York from July 1952 to August 1956 and was promoted to the rank of vice admiral in April 1956. His last assignment was as Inspector General of the Navy from August 1956 until his retirement from the Navy in May 1957, with 38 years of continuous military service. After his retirement, he served on the National Investigations Committee On Aerial Phenomena from 1957 until 1962 and he sought public disclosure of UFO evidence. He died of emphysema at the age of 85. Actor Leon Russom played him in an episode of "Dark Skies," a 1996 conspiracy theory television series.