Deane Roesch Hinton (March 12, 1923 – March 28, 2017) was an American diplomat and ambassador.

Biography

Hinton was born March 12, 1923, in

Fort Missoula Fort Missoula was established by the United States Army in 1877 on land that is now part of the city of Missoula, Montana, Missoula, Montana, to protect settlers in Western Montana from possible threats from the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, ...

, Montana. He graduated from the University of Chicago in 1943 and joined the U. S. Army, serving as a 2nd Lt. during World War II. After the war he attended Harvard University from 1951 to 1952 and the

National War College The National War College (NWC) of the United States is a school in the National Defense University. It is housed in Roosevelt Hall on Fort Lesley J. McNair, Washington, D.C., the third-oldest Army post still active. History The National War Colle ...

from 1961 to 1962. A career

Foreign Service Officer A Foreign Service Officer (FSO) is a commissioned member of the United States Foreign Service. Foreign Service Officers formulate and implement the foreign policy of the United States. FSOs spend most of their careers overseas as members of U ...

, his postings included

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

1946-1950,

Mombasa, Kenya Mombasa ( ; ) is a coastal city in southeastern Kenya along the Indian Ocean. It was the first capital of the British East Africa, before Nairobi was elevated to capital city status. It now serves as the capital of Mombasa County. The town is ...

1950-1952,

Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...

1954-1969, France 1954-1955, and Chile 1969-1973. Hinton was appointed U.S. Ambassador to Zaire in 1974. Poor relations with

Mobutu Sese Seko Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu Wa Za Banga (; born Joseph-Désiré Mobutu; 14 October 1930 – 7 September 1997) was a Congolese politician and military officer who was the president of Zaire from 1965 to 1997 (known as the Democratic Republic o ...

led to him being declared ''

persona non grata In diplomacy, a ' (Latin: "person not welcome", plural: ') is a status applied by a host country to foreign diplomats to remove their protection of diplomatic immunity from arrest and other types of prosecution. Diplomacy Under Article 9 of the ...

'' on June 18, 1975. He later served as U.S. Ambassador to

El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...

in 1981-83, Pakistan in 1983-86,

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

from 1987 to 1990, and Panama from 1990 to 1994. He was a member of the

Council on Foreign Relations The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an American think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, mi ...

and American Academy of Diplomacy. Hinton died on March 28, 2017.Deane Hinton, Envoy Who Denounced Salvadoran ‘Death Squads,’ Dies at 94
/ref> Hinton was no stranger to controversy. In 1949, while serving at the US embassy in Syria, he became aware of the US plan to support a coup overthrowing the democratically elected government. His prescient comment was, “I want to go on record as saying that this is the stupidest, most irresponsible action a diplomatic mission like ours could get itself involved in, and that we’ve started a series of these things that will never end.” However, the new government, led by Husni al-Za'im, did the US's bidding and allowed the trans-Syrian oil pipeline, instigated talks with Israel and imprisoned left-wingers and trade unionists. He was executed in his pyjamas within the year, much as predicted by Hinton. Hinton succeeded

Robert E. White Robert Edward White (September 21, 1926 – January 14, 2015) was an American career diplomat who served as US Ambassador to Paraguay (1977–1980) and to El Salvador (1980–1981). He then became president of the Center for International Policy ...

as ambassador to El Salvador after White was removed from his post by the Reagan administration; as a result, Hinton was seen as "the bearer of the administration's big stick". However, according to Joan Didion, Hinton's public statements differed from White's "more in style than in substance". During Hinton's ambassadorship in El Salvador he was involved with the investigation of the

1980 murders of U.S. missionaries in El Salvador On December 2, 1980, four Catholic missionaries from the United States working in El Salvador were raped and murdered by five members of the El Salvador National Guard (Daniel Canales Ramirez, Carlos Joaquin Contreras Palacios, Francisco Orlan ...

. He also investigated the

Santa Rita massacre The Santa Rita massacre (Spanish: ) occurred near the town of Santa Rita in Chalatenango, El Salvador, on 17 March 1982. During the massacre, soldiers from the Atonal Battalion attacked and killed four Dutch journalists and a disputed number ...

, confirming the Salvadoran military's version of events and stating that "they have not tried to hide anything." It was later revealed that American military advisors had been present on the Salvadoran military base the attack issued from and that the Salvadoran officer who ordered the killings, Mario Reyes Mena, then a colonel, became a legal resident of the United States in 1987.

Personal life

Hinton was married twice before 1982. His first marriage, to an American, produced five children and ended in divorce. The second marriage was to a Chilean and ended with her death. In 1982, he was engaged to a Salvadoran named Patricia de Lopez. According to Joan Didion, he spoke with a "high Montana twang".

References

* 1923 births 2017 deaths Ambassadors of the United States to Costa Rica Ambassadors of the United States to the Democratic Republic of the Congo Ambassadors of the United States to El Salvador Ambassadors of the United States to Pakistan Ambassadors of the United States to Panama Burials at Arlington National Cemetery Harvard University alumni People from Missoula, Montana People of the Salvadoran Civil War United States Career Ambassadors University of Chicago alumni United States Foreign Service personnel United States Army personnel of World War II American expatriates in Syria American expatriates in Kenya American expatriates in Guatemala American expatriates in France American expatriates in Chile 20th-century American diplomats {{US-diplomat-stub