Who is John Jay McCloy and what is his importance in the nonfiction book, The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made: Acheson, Bohlen,…?

John Jay McCloy was born on March 31, 1895 in Philadelphia to John and Anna May McCloy. His father died when he was six years of age and he was raised by his mother who was a hairdresser. He was educated at Maplewood school, The Peddie School in New Jersey and then attended Amherst. His Harvard Law School education was interrupted by Army service. He met Harriman and Lovett through his work at the Wall Street law firm of Cravath, Henderson & de Gersdorff. McCloy married Ellen Zinsser is 1930 and they moved to Paris where he headed the Paris office. McCloy returned to the private sector with the change of administration in 1952. He served on many boards and became chairman of the Ford Foundation.