Dixon Donnelley (July 29, 1915 – January 1982) was
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs
Assistant may refer to:
* Assistant (by Speaktoit), a virtual assistant app for smartphones
* Assistant (software), a software tool to assist in computer configuration
* Google Assistant, a virtual assistant by Google
* ''The Assistant'' (TV seri ...
from 1966 to 1969.
Biography
Donnelley was born in
Forest Hills, New York
Forest Hills is a mostly residential neighborhood in the central portion of the borough of Queens in New York City. It is adjacent to Corona to the north, Rego Park and Glendale to the west, Forest Park to the south, Kew Gardens to the southeas ...
on July 29, 1915. He was a student at
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
from 1934 to 1937. During the 1936-37 academic year, he also worked as a junior
reporter
A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...
for the
New York ''Daily News''.
In 1937, Donnelley moved to
Havana
Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center. becoming city
editor
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, orga ...
of the Havana ''Post''. He returned to the U.S. in 1941 as assistant city editor of ''
The Washington Daily News
''The Washington Daily News'' was an afternoon tabloid-size newspaper serving the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.
History
''The Washington Daily News'' was owned by the E. W. Scripps Company. The newspaper was born on November 8, 1921, an ...
''. In 1942, he worked as news editor in the
Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs
The Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs, later known as the Office for Inter-American Affairs, was a United States agency promoting inter-American cooperation (Pan-Americanism) during the 1940s, especially in commercial and econ ...
.
After the war, Donnelley spent 1946-47 as press
attaché
In diplomacy, an attaché is a person who is assigned ("to be attached") to the diplomatic or administrative staff of a higher placed person or another service or agency. Although a loanword from French, in English the word is not modified accor ...
at the
United States Embassy
The United States has the second most diplomatic missions of any country in the world after Mainland China, including 166 of the 193 member countries of the United Nations, as well as observer state Vatican City and non-member countries Kosovo a ...
in
Mexico City
Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...
. From 1947 to 1948, he was assistant public affairs officer at the U.S. embassy in
Santiago, Chile
Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital (political), capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated Regions of Chile, region, t ...
, and was then press attaché at the U.S. embassy in
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
1948-49. In 1950, he moved to
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
to become an information officer at the
United States Department of State
The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other n ...
focused on the Americas area.
During the
1956 Democratic presidential primaries, Donnelley was the press secretary for
Sen. Estes Kefauver
Carey Estes Kefauver (;
July 26, 1903 – August 10, 1963) was an American politician from Tennessee. A member of the Democratic Party, he served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1939 to 1949 and in the Senate from 1949 until his d ...
(
D—
TN) to become
president of the United States
The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...
, with Kefauver losing the primaries to
Adlai Stevenson.
From 1958 to 1961, Donnelley served as Special Assistant to the
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 of ...
(
Christian Herter
Christian Archibald Herter (March 28, 1895December 30, 1966) was an American diplomat and Republican politician who was the 59th Governor of Massachusetts from 1953 to 1957 and United States Secretary of State from 1959 to 1961. His moderate t ...
and later
C. Douglas Dillon
Clarence Douglas Dillon (born Clarence Douglass Dillon; August 21, 1909January 10, 2003) was an American diplomat and politician, who served as U.S. Ambassador to France (1953–1957) and as the 57th Secretary of the Treasury (1961–1965). He w ...
). When C. Douglas Dillon was named
United States Secretary of the Treasury
The United States secretary of the treasury is the head of the United States Department of the Treasury, and is the chief financial officer of the federal government of the United States. The secretary of the treasury serves as the principal a ...
, Donnelley remained Dillon's assistant, moving with his boss to the
United States Department of the Treasury
The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States, where it serves as an executive department. The department oversees the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and t ...
.
In 1966, President
Lyndon Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...
nominated Donnelley as
Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs
Assistant may refer to:
* Assistant (by Speaktoit), a virtual assistant app for smartphones
* Assistant (software), a software tool to assist in computer configuration
* Google Assistant, a virtual assistant by Google
* ''The Assistant'' (TV seri ...
and Donnelley held this office from March 22, 1966 until January 31, 1969. As such, he was the spokesman of the
United States Department of State
The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other n ...
at the height of the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
.
External links
Photo of Dixon Donnelley from Life magazine
References
Oral History Interview of Dixon Donnelley at the Miller Center website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Donnelley, Dixon
1915 births
1982 deaths
American newspaper reporters and correspondents
United States Assistant Secretaries of State
People from Forest Hills, Queens
Columbia University alumni
New York Daily News people
20th-century American non-fiction writers