--- aliases: - William Yandell Elliott - William Y. Elliott - W. Y. Elliott - William Elliott category: Intelligence & Government created: 2026-10-09 relations: - end: 1954 fn: 1 role: Office of Defense Mobilization representative on the NSC Planning Board start: 1953 type: member_of with: '[[National Security Council]]' summary: Harvard professor of government who was Assistant Director of the Office of Defense Mobilization and its representative on the National Security Council Planning Board from 1953. tags: - Person - NationalSecurityCouncil - Harvard title: William Yandell Elliott updated: 2026-10-09 --- William Yandell Elliott was a professor of government at [Harvard University](/organizations/harvard-university/). The Foreign Relations of the United States list of persons gives his posts as Assistant Director of the Office of Defense Mobilization, 1952 to 1953, and Office of Defense Mobilization representative on the Planning Board of the [National Security Council](/organizations/national-security-council/), 1953 to 1954.[^1] ### National Security Council Planning Board The minutes of the 146th meeting of the Council on May 27, 1953 list "W. Y. Elliott, ODM Planning Board Member," and the minutes of the 155th meeting on July 16, 1953 list "William Y. Elliott, Office of Defense Mobilization."[^2][^3] The Hoover Institution's biographical note for his papers lists him as a member of the National Security Council planning board from 1953 to 1957.[^4] The Harvard Crimson reported in July 1959, when he left for Moscow with Vice President [Richard Nixon](/people/richard-nixon/) as Director of the Harvard Summer School, that since 1953 he had been a member of the National Security Council planning board and had served as assistant director of the Office of Defense Mobilization from 1951 to 1953.[^5] The Foreign Relations list of persons (1952) and the Crimson (1951) differ by a year on the start of the Office of Defense Mobilization post. The Eisenhower Library's finding aid for the Council's administrative subseries lists a folder of 1949 to 1953 containing "suggestions by William Elliott re reorganization of the NSC."[^6] ### Charles Marsh and Marion Pettie Kenn Thomas and Len Bracken wrote in 1998 in *Steamshovel Press* that [Charles Marsh](/people/charles-marsh/) facilitated [Marion Pettie](/people/marion-pettie/)'s tie to Elliott, whom they described as a Harvard professor on the National Security Council planning board and a [Radio Liberty](/organizations/radio-free-europe/) trustee.[^7] [^1]: Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952-1954, vol. II, part 1, list of persons, entry "Elliott, William Y." https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1952-54v02p1 [^2]: FRUS 1952-1954, vol. II, part 2, doc. 90, minutes of the 146th meeting of the National Security Council, May 27, 1953. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1952-54v02p2/d90 [^3]: FRUS 1952-1954, vol. II, part 1, doc. 79, minutes of the 155th meeting of the National Security Council, July 16, 1953. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1952-54v02p1/d79 [^4]: Hoover Institution Library and Archives, William Yandell Elliott papers, biographical note: "member, planning board, National Security Council, 1953-1957." https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf1199n4gh/ [^5]: "Elliott Flies to Moscow With Nixon's Mission," *The Harvard Crimson,* July 23, 1959. https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1959/7/23/elliott-flies-to-moscow-with-nixons/ [^6]: Eisenhower Presidential Library, Office of the Special Assistant for National Security Affairs, NSC Series, Administrative Subseries finding aid, folder "National Security Council - organization and Functions (1) [1949-1953]." https://www.eisenhowerlibrary.gov/sites/default/files/finding-aids/pdf/who-osansa/nsc-series-administrative-subseries.pdf [^7]: Kenn Thomas and Len Bracken, "The Finders' Keeper," *Steamshovel Press* #16, 1998. --- *The Info Web has an MCP server for agents at https://theinfoweb.org/mcp (streamable HTTP, no auth): search by meaning, exact text, source or date, and follow typed, footnoted connections. Setup and the same tools over GET: https://theinfoweb.org/llms.txt*