Harold Hilgard Tittmann, Jr. (January 8, 1893 - December 29, 1980) was an American diplomat and expert on Fascist Italy who served as Franklin D. Roosevelt's representative to the Vatican City during World War II.
Harold Hilgard Tittmann, Jr. was born in 1893 in St. Louis, Missouri, into a family of German immigrants who came to this country from the Saxon city of Dresden.
In June 1918 he was assigned to Eddie Rickenbacker's 94th Pursuit Squadron based in northeastern France and became a fighter pilot with the rank of First Lieutenant.
With his aircraft riddled with bullets and himself severely wounded, he managed to fly back to French territory and crash-land in a wheat field.
[3] A concerted effort was made many times by Taylor to persuade the Pope to try to influence Mussolini to remain neutral in the war.
The Pope sent many messages to Mussolini during the first half of 1940, as did Taylor, but on June 10, 1940, after the defeat of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), Italy declared war on England.
entry into the war in 1941, Tittmann was reassigned to Rome, and he also moved into the Vatican where he became the Charge d'Affaires and the chief source of information to President Roosevelt of the happenings inside Fascist Italy.
He spent his retirement writing the memoirs of his Vatican assignment during World War II, which were edited and published by his son Harold H. Tittmann III.