David K. Niles (November 23, 1888 – September 28, 1952; Boston, Massachusetts) was an American political advisor who worked in the White House from 1942 to 1951 for the administrations of Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman.
Through attending lectures at Boston's Ford Hall Forum, he caught the eye of its head, Republican George W. Coleman, who took the young Niles under his wing.
In the aftermath of the La Follette presidential campaign, he attracted the attention of Harvard lawyer Felix Frankfurter, who was then defense counsel for the Sacco-Vanzetti trial, and the two began to work together, forming a lifelong friendship.
Allegedly based on information regarding Niles' past that had been provided by his childhood classmate at Boston Latin School, Joseph Kennedy, these accusations are thought to have been largely motivated by antisemitism.
[3] More recent allegations of Communist connections to Niles have arisen: A Venona decrypted message from New York to Moscow reported on a plan to send a husband and wife team of NKVD 'illegals' to Mexico.
Niles was instrumental in convincing the President to admit 100,000 refugees into the United States from the displaced persons camps in post–World War II Europe.
Upon the establishment of the State of Israel and the opening of an Israeli embassy in Washington, Niles became close with Ambassador Eliahu Eilat as well as his successor Abba Eban.