James Williams Riddleberger (September 21, 1904 – October 17, 1982) was an American diplomat and 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 ...

. During his career, he served three ambassadorships: in Austria, Yugoslavia and Greece.

Biography

Early life and education

Riddleberger was born in Washington D.C. on September 21, 1904. He earned a B.A, from Randolph-Macon College in 1924 and MA in Foreign Service from

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...

in 1926. He also attended

American University The American University (AU or American) is a private federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Its main campus spans 90 acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, mostly in the Spring Valley neighborhood of Northwest D.C. AU was charte ...

from 1926–27 and was an assistant professor for international relations at Georgetown University from 1926 to 1929. Before joining the Foreign Service in 1929, he worked for the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

and

Tariff Commission The Tariff Commission was established in the United Kingdom in December 1903 by Joseph Chamberlain. The Commission was set up under the auspices of the Tariff Reform League. William Hewins the economist and first director of the London School of Ec ...

Career

Riddleberger began his foreign service career in Geneva, where he served as Vice Consul and later as Consul at the

League of Nations The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference that ...

and Berlin as Third Secretary(1936–37) and Second Secretary(1937–41). He served as chief of the Central European Affairs division during the Second World War. After the war, he became the chief political adviser to General

Lucius D. Clay General Lucius Dubignon Clay (April 23, 1898 – April 16, 1978) was a senior officer of the United States Army who was known for his administration of occupied Germany after World War II. He served as the deputy to General of the Army Dwight D ...

and later to

John J. McCloy John Jay McCloy (March 31, 1895 – March 11, 1989) was an American lawyer, diplomat, banker, and a presidential advisor. He served as Assistant Secretary of War during World War II under Henry Stimson, helping deal with issues such as German sa ...

in occupied Germany. He was then transferred to Paris in 1950 to serve as a senior political advisor aiding in the administration of the

Marshall Plan The Marshall Plan (officially the European Recovery Program, ERP) was an American initiative enacted in 1948 to provide foreign aid to Western Europe. The United States transferred over $13 billion (equivalent of about $ in ) in economic re ...

. He served as director of the Bureau of German Affairs before beginning a four-year term as ambassador to Yugoslavia. After Yugoslavia broke away from the Soviet orbit of influence in 1948, Riddleberger was credited with persuading

Josip Broz Tito Josip Broz ( sh-Cyrl, Јосип Броз, ; 7 May 1892 – 4 May 1980), commonly known as Tito (; sh-Cyrl, Тито, links=no, ), was a Yugoslav communist revolutionary and statesman, serving in various positions from 1943 until his deat ...

to rebuff coaxing by

Nikita Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and chairman of the country's Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. During his rule, Khrushchev s ...

to return. As Ambassador to Greece, he worked to smooth relations between Greece and Turkey in their dispute over

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

Death

Riddleberger died from heart attack at Shenandoah County Memorial Hospital, at the age of 78. His daughter, Antonia Riddleberger, was married to diplomat

Monteagle Stearns Monteagle "Monty" Stearns (December 5, 1924 – May 14, 2016) was an American diplomat and author. He served as Ambassadors of the United States, Ambassador to Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast; 1976–79) and United States Ambassador to Greece, G ...

(1924–2016), who served as United States Ambassador to Greece from August 1981 through September 1985.

Obituaries

* Chicago Tribune, October 19, 1982. * Washington Post, October 19, 1982.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Riddleberger, James Williams 1904 births 1982 deaths Ambassadors of the United States to Austria Ambassadors of the United States to Greece Ambassadors of the United States to Yugoslavia United States Career Ambassadors United States Foreign Service personnel