Episode 1: Leading a Defence Startup: NATO’s First Secretary General, Lord Ismay

Hastings (Pug) Ismay was a general who never commanded beyond lieutenant colonel, rising through the ranks as a staff officer. This brought him into contact with politicians, like Churchill, and senior military commanders such as General Eisenhower, with whom he formed an enduring friendship. After retirement from the Army, Ismay briefly became a minister before serving as NATO Secretary General, 1952-1957.

His time in office saw many challenges - the Soviet invasion of Hungary, Suez, the Cyprus Crisis of 1963-64 and the death of Stalin. Steering NATO through these crises required judgement, patience and humility. His legacy is that of NATO with a strong central headquarters connecting its political and military dimensions, and organisation with a global security perspective and a Secretary General who remains the servant of the Alliance.

Our guest this episode, Lieutenant General Sir John Kiszely , served in the British Army for 40 years, including in the 1982 Falklands War for which he was awarded the Military Cross, in Bosnia and Iraq. His book ‘Anatomy of a Campaign: The British Fiasco in Norway 1940’ won RUSI’s inaugural Duke of Wellington Medal for Military History. His latest book, ‘General Hastings ‘Pug’ Ismay: Soldier, Statesman, Diplomat’ was published in 2024.

The views or statements expressed by guests are their own and their appearance on the podcast does not imply an endorsement of them or any entity they represent. Views and opinions expressed by RUSI employees are those of the employees and do not necessarily reflect the view of RUSI.

John Kiszely,General Hastings `Pug` Ismay: Soldier, Statesman, Diplomat(London, Hurst & Co, 2024).

Hastings Ismay, NATO: The First Five Years, 1949-1954, NATO, available here.

Robert Jordan, Political Leadership in NATO: A Study in Multinational Diplomacy (Boulder, Westview Press, 1979).

Robert Jordan, The NATO International Staff/Secretariat, 1952-1957(Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1967).

John Kiszely, Anatomy of a Campaign: The British Fiasco in Norway, 1940, (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2017).

Ryan Hendrickson, `NATO`s Secretaries-General` in Gulner Aybet, Rebecca Moore and Lawrence Freedman, NATO in Search of a Vision (Washington, DC, Georgetown University Press, 2010), 52-3.