Stanley Maddox Rumbough Jr.

Stanley Maddox Rumbough Jr. (April 25, 1920 – September 28, 2017) was born in New York City and attended Yale University, where he was an editor of campus humor magazine The Yale Record.

His parents were Lieutenant colonel Stanley Maddox Rumbough (1886-1961) and Elizabeth Morse Colgate (1889-1962), great-granddaughter of William Colgate founder of Colgate-Palmolive. He had one sister, Elizabeth Colgate Rumbough.

Career

During World War II, he served in the Marine Corps as a fighter pilot in the Pacific Theater. Rumbough was awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross and eight air medals.

For many years, he worked for a variety of manufacturing companies. Rumbough also had an interest in Republican politics. In 1951, he was co-founder (with Charles F. Willis) of the Citizens for Eisenhower movement, which helped develop grass roots support for the presidential campaign of Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Branches of Citizens for Eisenhower were established in each state and helped plan local campaign activities. At the height of the 1952 campaign the national headquarters of Citizens for Eisenhower in New York City had over 700 volunteers and an extensive administrative staff.

After Eisenhower became president, Rumbough became a special assistant in the White House where he helped organize the Executive Branch Liaison Office. This office compiled newsletters, known as Fact Papers, analyzing statements by the President and Cabinet officers on a variety of issues, and explaining major administration programs and accomplishments. The newsletters were circulated to members of the administration who had been appointed by the president, which enabled political appointees to follow the evolution of administration policy. The office staff also helped coordinate public speeches made by administration officials to ensure that the officials would appear in venues that would be most beneficial to the administration.

Personal life

He was married to heiress, socialité and actress Dina Merrill from 1946-66; the couple had three children: Stanley Hutton Rumbough, David Post Rumbough (1950–1973) and Nedenia Colgate Rumbough.