Summary
Walter Patrick McConaughy, Jr. (September 11, 1908 – November 10, 2000) was a career American diplomat who served as U.S. Ambassador to a number of countries.
Walter P. McConaughy Jr. | |
|---|---|
 In 1953 | |
| United States Ambassador to the Republic of China | |
| In office June 28, 1966 – April 4, 1974 | |
| President | Lyndon B. Johnson Richard M. Nixon |
| Preceded by | Jerauld Wright |
| Succeeded by | Leonard S. Unger |
| United States Ambassador to Pakistan | |
| In office March 20, 1962 – May 27, 1966 | |
| President | John F. Kennedy Lyndon B. Johnson |
| Preceded by | William M. Rountree |
| Succeeded by | Eugene M. Locke |
| 6th Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs | |
| In office April 24, 1961 – December 3, 1961 | |
| President | John F. Kennedy |
| Preceded by | J. Graham Parsons |
| Succeeded by | W. Averell Harriman |
| 5th United States Ambassador to Korea | |
| In office December 17, 1959 – April 12, 1961 | |
| President | Dwight D. Eisenhower John F. Kennedy |
| Preceded by | Walter C. Dowling |
| Succeeded by | Samuel D. Berger |
| United States Ambassador to Burma | |
| In office August 20, 1957 – November 2, 1959 | |
| President | Dwight D. Eisenhower |
| Preceded by | Joseph C. Satterthwaite |
| Succeeded by | William P. Snow |
| Personal details | |
| Born | September 11, 1908 Montevallo, Alabama |
| Died | November 10, 2000 (aged 92) Atlanta, Georgia |
| Spouse | Dorothy Davis |
| Children | 2 |
| Education | Birmingham–Southern College Duke University |
| Profession | Diplomat |
Education edit
McConaughy attended Birmingham–Southern College and Duke University, graduating in 1930.
Career edit
McConaughy joined the US State Department after graduation. He first served in Tampico, Mexico and then in 1933 was posted to Kobe, Japan, where he served for seven years with brief spells in Taiwan and Nagasaki. He was transferred to Beiping in 1941. When the Pacific War commenced he was interned and then repatriated. He then served in La Paz, Bolivia as a commercial attache, and then Rio de Janeiro.
In 1948, was posted to as Consul at the United States Consulate General in Shanghai and was promoted to Consul General in 1949. Following the Communist victory in China, he closed the Shanghai Consulate and moved to Hong Kong. McConaughy's reports from that period show a burning clarity in their analysis of Chinese Communist propaganda and the currents of information available in Hong Kong.
After returning to Washington to serve alongside Edwin M. Martin and O.E. Clubb in the Office of Chinese Affairs, he served as the ambassador to Burma from May 1957 to November 1959. He then accepted an offer to become the ambassador to South Korea, a post he held from 1959 to 1961, later becoming the ambassador to Pakistan from 1962 to 1966 and the ambassador to the Republic of China from 1966 to 1974.[1]
His obituary appeared in The New York Times.[2]
References edit
- ^ "Walter Patrick McConaughy - People - Department History - Office of the Historian". state.gov. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
- ^ "Walter McConaughy, 92, Envoy in Asia, Dies". The New York Times. 14 November 2000. Retrieved 21 January 2015.