Carter Burgess, 85; Envoy, Defense Official

Carter L. Burgess, assistant secretary of defense under President Eisenhower and a one-time aide who had been entrusted to deliver news to France of the planned Normandy invasion, has died. He was 85.

Burgess died Sunday in Roanoke, Va. The cause of the death was complications from two strokes he suffered this summer.

Born in Roanoke, Burgess earned a bachelor’s degree at Virginia Military Institute. During World War II, he rose to the rank of colonel. He worked under Gen. Eisenhower as secretary of the general staff of Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Forces.

While stationed in England, Burgess delivered a message from Eisenhower to Gen. Charles de Gaulle, then in North Africa, informing him of plans to invade Normandy. The Allies were afraid that any transmitted information would be decoded by the Germans.

When the war ended, Burgess served as deputy secretary of the secretariat at the San Francisco conference establishing the United Nations. He worked as special assistant to the secretary of State in 1945 and 1946.

He returned to government in 1954 to serve as Eisenhower’s assistant defense secretary.

In December 1956, Burgess was named head of Trans World Airlines, which was owned by Howard Hughes. He left the airline a year later.

In February 1958, Burgess became president of American Machine & Foundry in New York. His business career also included stints on the board of directors of American Airlines and Ford Motor Co.

President Johnson named Burgess ambassador to Argentina in 1968. He was removed by President Nixon in 1969.

Burgess served for several years as president and chairman of the Foreign Policy Assn., a private group that discusses foreign policy issues.

He is survived by five daughters; a son; 11 grandchildren; and a great-grandson.