Alexander Cadogan

The Right Honourable Sir Alexander Cadogan OM GCMG KCB
Sir Alexander Cadogan in 1945.
Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
In office 1938–1948
Monarch	George VI
Preceded by	Sir Robert Vansittart
Monarch	George V Edward VIII
Succeeded by	Sir Orme Sargent
Personal details
Born	Alexander Montagu George Cadogan (1884-11-25)25 November 1884 London, England
Died	9 July 1968(1968-07-09) (aged 83) Westminster, London, England
Nationality	United Kingdom
Spouse(s)	Lady Theodosia Louisa Acheson (1882–1977)
Occupation	Diplomat

Sir Alexander Montagu George Cadogan OM GCMG KCB (25 November 1884 – 9 July 1968) was a British diplomat and civil servant. He was Permanent Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs from 1938 to 1946. His long tenure of the Permanent Secretary's office makes him one of the central figures of British policy before and during the Second World War. His diaries are a source of great value and give a sharp sense of the man and his life. Like most senior officials at the Foreign Office, he was bitterly critical of the appeasement policies of the 1930s but admitted that until British rearmament was better advanced, there were few other options. In particular, he stressed that without an American commitment to joint defence against Japan, Britain would be torn between the eastern and western spheres. Conflict with Germany would automatically expose Britain's Asian Empire to Japanese aggression.

Cadogan was brought up in a distinguished and wealthy aristocratic family as the seventh son and youngest child of George Cadogan, 5th Earl Cadogan, and his first wife Lady Beatrix Jane Craven, daughter of William Craven, 2nd Earl of Craven. He was the brother of Henry Cadogan, Viscount Chelsea, Gerald Cadogan, 6th Earl Cadogan, William Cadogan, and Sir Edward Cadogan. He was educated at Eton and Balliol College, Oxford, where he read history.