Brigadier General Anthony Joseph Drexel Biddle, Jr.
(1897-1961)
United States Army

Accession number:
1946.01

Maker:
Unknown
Signed “Déus 46” or “Dens 46.”

Historical period:
1946

Miltary branch:

Wars and Conflicts:
,

Type:
,

Dimensions:
H x W: 20 in. / 15 in.

Acquisition date:
N/A

Credit line:
Gift of Members of the Army and Navy Club

Location:
,

Provenance:

The Army and Navy Club, gift of its members. Date of acquisition unknown.

Label:

Anthony "Tony" Biddle was U.S. Minister to Norway in 1935, then Ambassador to Poland (1937). When Germany invaded, he fled Warsaw with the Polish government on September 5, 1939, followed it to France, and later to London. He briefly served as interim U.S. Ambassador to France (1940). In February 1941 he was appointed U.S. representative to multiple governments-in-exile in London. In 1944 he entered Army service, joining General Eisenhower’s staff for Operation Overlord, the Normandy invasion, then served as SHAPE Executive for Military Representatives.

Famed for his elegant dress, Biddle appeared on the cover of Life magazine on October 4, 1943. The only published picture of Biddle without an impeccable suit was taken during his wartime evacuation from Poland. In 1960, columnist George Frazier named him (not for the first time) among America’s best-dressed men, in the company of such celebrities as Fred Astaire.