Christopher Hallowell Phillips (December 6, 1920 – January 10, 2008) was an American diplomat and politician who served as

United States Ambassador to Brunei The United States ambassador to Brunei is the official representative of the president of the United States and the Federal government of the United States, American government to the House of Bolkiah, monarch and government of Brunei. The positio ...

and was a member of the

Massachusetts Senate The Massachusetts Senate is the upper house of the Massachusetts General Court, the bicameral state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The Senate comprises 40 elected members from 40 single-member senatorial districts in the st ...

Early life

Phillips was born on December 6, 1920, to

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

and Caroline Astor ( née Drayton) Phillips (1880–1965) at the American Legation in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...

. His siblings included Beatrice Schermerhorn Phillips (1914–2003), who married Rear Adm. Elliott Bowman Strauss (1903-2003), William Phillips, Jr. (1916–1991), who married Barbara Holbrook (1915–1997), Drayton Phillips (1917–1985), who married Evelyn Gardiner, and Anne Caroline Phillips (1922–2016), who married John Winslow Bryant (1914–1999). Phillips father twice served as

United States Under Secretary of State Under Secretary of State (U/S) is a title used by senior officials of the United States Department of State who rank above the Assistant Secretaries and below the Deputy Secretary. From 1919 to 1972, the Under Secretary was the second-ranking off ...

and was the U.S. ambassador to

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

, and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. Phillips was a member of the Boston Brahmin family and his ancestors included the first

Mayor of Boston The mayor of Boston is the head of the municipal government in Boston, Massachusetts. Boston has a mayor–council government. Boston's mayoral elections are nonpartisan (as are all municipal elections in Boston), and elect a mayor to a four- ...

John Phillips, abolitionist

Wendell Phillips Wendell Phillips (November 29, 1811 – February 2, 1884) was an American abolitionist, advocate for Native Americans, orator, and attorney. According to George Lewis Ruffin, a Black attorney, Phillips was seen by many Blacks as "the one whi ...

, and Phillips Academy and Phillips Exeter Academy founders

Samuel Phillips, Jr. Samuel Phillips Jr. (February 5, 1752 – February 10, 1802) was an American merchant, manufacturer, politician, and the founder of Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. Phillips is considered a pioneer in American education. Biograp ...

, and John Phillips. He was a descendant of the Rev. George Phillips of

Watertown Watertown may refer to: Places in China In China, a water town is a type of ancient scenic town known for its waterways. Places in the United States *Watertown, Connecticut, a New England town **Watertown (CDP), Connecticut, the central village ...

, the progenitor of the New England Phillips family in America. Through his mother, Phillips was a grandson of Charlotte Augusta Astor (1858–1920) and J. Coleman Drayton (1852–1934), and a great-grandson of William Backhouse Astor Jr. (1829–1892) and Caroline Webster Schermerhorn (1830–1908). Phillips attended a number of schools during his youth, including

Avon Old Farms , motto_translation = Aspiring and Persevering , address = 500 Old Farms Road , city = Avon , state = Connecticut , zipcode = 06001 , country = United St ...

. In 1939, he enrolled in

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...

but left the school after his freshman year to attend Montana State University and work on a ranch as a cowboy.

Career

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, Phillips then served four years in the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

. During the Allied Occupation of Japan, Phillips established food distribution policies. In 1946, Phillips returned to Harvard. He graduated with the class of 1948 and wanted to go into politics, however, he took a job as a City Hall reporter the ''Beverly Evening Times'' instead to support his wife and 2-year-old daughter.

Political career

In 1948, Beverly Mayor Daniel E. McLean convinced Phillips to run for a seat in the Massachusetts Senate. Phillips defeated incumbent J. Elmer Callahan in the Republican primary and was reelected twice, serving until 1953.

Diplomatic service

During the 1952 presidential election, Phillips served on the Massachusetts Eisenhower for President Committee. In October 1953, Phillips resigned his Senate seat to serve as the deputy to the Assistant Secretary of State for United Nations Affairs. On October 15, 1954, Phillips was appointed Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Affairs. Phillips left the State Department in 1957 following his appointment as vice chairman of

United States Civil Service Commission The United States Civil Service Commission was a government agency of the federal government of the United States and was created to select employees of federal government on merit rather than relationships. In 1979, it was dissolved as part of t ...

, under Chairman

Harris Ellsworth Mathew Harris Ellsworth (September 17, 1899 – February 7, 1986) was an American newspaperman and politician who served six terms as a Republican Party (United States), Republican United States Congress, U.S. congressman from Oregon from 1943 to ...

, a former

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

from Oregon. In 1958, he returned to the State Department when he was appointed by President Eisenhower as the United States Representative to the

United Nations Economic and Social Council The United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC; french: links=no, Conseil économique et social des Nations unies, ) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations, responsible for coordinating the economic and social fields ...

. He was confirmed by the

U.S. Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

on January 29, 1958. In this role, he sponsored a proposal for a worldwide inventory of the investments, and results achieved so far, in technical assistance to less developed nations by the International Bank for Recovery and Development and the

International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution, headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 190 countries. Its stated mission is "working to foster glo ...

. He also supported a resolution favoring freedom of information, including freedom of the press. In 1970, President

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

nominated Phillips to serve as the Deputy Permanent Representative of the United States to the

United Nations Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, an ...

, serving under the Permanent Representative of the United States,

Charles W. Yost Charles Woodruff Yost (November 6, 1907 – May 21, 1981) was a career U.S. Ambassador who was assigned as his country's representative to the United Nations from 1969 to 1971. Biography Yost was born in Watertown, New York. He attended t ...

. Previous to that, he was deputy to the previous Permanent Representative William B. Buffum, who left to become the U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon. Phillips served in that role until 1973. From 1973 until his retirement in 1986, he served as founding president of the U.S.-China Business Council. On October 10, 1989, president George H. W. Bush appointed Phillips to serve as the United States Ambassador to Brunei succeeding Thomas C. Ferguson. He presented his credentials on November 28, 1989, and remained in this position until he left his post on October 31, 1991, and himself was succeeded by

Donald Ensenat Donald Burnham Ensenat (born February 4, 1946) is a retired American diplomat. Until his retirement in 2007, he served as United States Chief of Protocol at the United States Department of State. Personal Ensenat is a native of New Orleans, Lo ...

. Following his retirement, he became a trustee of the

American Institute in Taiwan The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT; ) is the ''de facto'' Embassy of the United States of America in Taiwan. The AIT institution is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the federal government of the United States in Taiwan with Congressional oversi ...

Personal life

While in Montana, he met Mabel Bernice Olsen (1919–1995), whom he married in 1943. She served as president of the United Nations Delegations Women's Club, a cultural, philanthropic and social organization, from 1971 to 1973. Together, they had three children before her death in 1995: * Victoria P. Phillips * Miriam O. Phillips * David W. Phillips On November 29, 1997, Phillips remarried to Sydney (née Watkins) Osborne at Ascension Memorial Church in Ipswich. Sydney was a real-estate broker who was the daughter of the Alida W. Watkins and Julian L. Watkins. Her previous marriage ended in divorce. Phillips died on January 10, 2008, at the Addison Gilbert Hospital in Gloucester, Massachusetts, due to complications from a stomach ulcer. At the time of his death, Phillips was living in Ipswich, Massachusetts.

References