Elbridge Durbrow
Elbridge Durbrow | |
---|---|
Dwight Eisenhower John F. Kennedy | |
Preceded by | G. Frederick Reinhardt |
Succeeded by | Frederick Nolting |
Personal details | |
Born | San Francisco, California, U.S. | September 21, 1903
Died | May 16, 1997 Walnut Creek, California, U.S. | (aged 93)
Elbridge Durbrow (September 21, 1903 – May 16, 1997) was a Foreign Service officer and diplomat who served as the Counselor of Embassy and Deputy
Early life
Durbrow was born in
Career
Durbrow began his career in the
In 1944, Durbrow was appointed as the chief of the Eastern European division of the State Department in
From 1948 to 1950, he served as an adviser to the National War College in Washington, DC, and spent the next two years as director of the Foreign Service's personnel division.[2] In 1952, he was sent to Italy, where he served as deputy chief of mission to the US ambassador to Italy, Clare Boothe Luce. Two years later, he was promoted to the diplomatic rank of career minister.[2]
On March 14, 1957, President
Durbrow had a difficult time in his ambassadorial role.[1] He often had to work with the authoritarian regime of Ngo Dinh Diem and the corruption and ineffective policymaking that accompanied it. South Vietnamese officers, disgruntled with Diem's government, tried to persuade Durbrow into joining anti-Diem groups.
Durbrow began to feel uneasy about Diem's authority, had to refuse because the US government was still supported Diem.[1]
In 1960, Diem and his younger brother and chief political adviser,
In April 1961, President
Retirement
Durbrow retired from his 38-year diplomatic career in 1968. He spent the next two decades writing and lecturing on
Durbrow died at his home in Walnut Creek, California on May 16, 1997, from complications of a stroke. He was survived by his second wife, Benice Balcom Durbrow, and two sons from his first marriage, Chandler and Bruce.[2]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Saxon, Wolfgang (1997-05-23). "Elbridge Durbrow, U.S. Diplomat, Dies at 93". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-04-21.
- ^ a b c d e Pearson, Richard (1997-05-20). "Elbridge Durbrow, 93, Dies; Ambassador to S. Vietnam". The Washington Post. p. B06.
- ^ "Chiefs of Mission by Country, 1778-2005: Vietnam, South". United States State Department. Retrieved 2008-04-21.
- ISBN 0-525-24210-4.
- ^ “Interview with Eldridge Durbrow, 1979 (Part 1 of 3).” Archived 2010-12-22 at the Wayback Machine 02/01/1979. WGBH Media Library & Archives. Retrieved November 23, 2010.
Further reading
- Adamson, Michael R. "Ambassadorial Roles and Foreign Policy: Elbridge Durbrow, Frederick Nolting, and the US Commitment to Diem's Vietnam, 1957–61." Presidential Studies Quarterly 32.2 (2002): 229–255.
- Frankum Jr, Ronald Bruce. Vietnam's Year of the Rat: Elbridge Durbrow, Ngo Đinh Diệm and the Turn in US Relations, 1959-1961 (McFarland, 2014).