John Archibald Calhoun (October 29, 1918 – January 21, 2000) was an American diplomat. He was the
United States Ambassador to
Chad
Chad (; ar, تشاد , ; french: Tchad, ), officially the Republic of Chad, '; ) is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic ...
from 1961 to 1963, as well as to
Tunisia from 1969 to 1972.
Biography
Early life and military career, 1918–1946
John Archibald Calhoun was born on October 29, 1918, in Berkeley,
Alameda County, California, the son of George Miller and Ellinor McKay (Miller) Calhoun. He graduated from the
University of California, Berkeley in 1939 with a B.A. in International Relations and in 1940 from the
Harvard University with a M.A. in history. He later joined the U.S Foreign Service in 1941, and became the U.S. Vice Consul in
Tijuana,
Mexico, in 1942. Later in that year, he was Vice Consul in
Cairo,
Egypt. From 1942 to 1944, he was posted in
Tehran,
Iran.
In 1944, Calhoun joined the
U.S. Navy under the Supply Corps, and served until 1946. He attended the Naval School of Military Government at
Princeton University and served in the U.S. Naval Military Government in
Okinawa,
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
.
Career in State Department, 1941-1972
In 1946, after Calhoun had left the Navy, he was the U.S. Political Advisor on German Affairs in
Berlin,
Germany, until 1949. From 1949 to 1952 he worked at the
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 nati ...
. From 1952 to 1955 he served in
Seoul,
South Korea. He attended the Air War College at Maxwell Air Force Base from 1955 to 1956. He served in
Paris,
France, with the U.S. Delegation to
NATO, from 1956 to 1957. He was the Director of Executive Secretariat at the State Department from 1957 to 1960. He was a counselor for political affairs in
Athens,
Greece, from 1960 to 1961.
In 1961, President Kennedy nominated Calhoun to be the U.S. Ambassador to Chad, where he served from 1961 to 1963. In 1963, he was reassigned to Berlin as a Minister until 1966. He was Minister Counselor for Political Affairs in
Saigon
, population_density_km2 = 4,292
, population_density_metro_km2 = 697.2
, population_demonym = Saigonese
, blank_name = GRP (Nominal)
, blank_info = 2019
, blank1_name = – Total
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,
South Vietnam
South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam ( vi, Việt Nam Cộng hòa), was a state in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975, the period when the southern portion of Vietnam was a member of the Western Bloc during part of th ...
, from 1967 to 1968, during the
Tet Offensive On July 8, 1969, he was nominated by President Nixon to be the Ambassador to Tunisia, where he served from 1969 to 1972.
Retirement and later life, 1972-2000
Calhoun retired in 1972, after 31 years in the Foreign Service, upon returning to
San Francisco. He died on January 21, 2000, at the Marin General Hospital in
San Rafael, California, of
pneumonia and
kidney failure.
HighBeam
/ref> He was a resident of Mill Valley, California
Mill Valley is a city in Marin County, California, Marin County, California, United States, located about north of San Francisco via the Golden Gate Bridge and from Napa Valley. The population was 14,231 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 ...
.
References
External links
United States Department of State: Chiefs of Mission for Chad
United States Department of State: Chad
United States Embassy in N'Djamena
{{DEFAULTSORT:Calhoun, John Archibald
Ambassadors of the United States to Chad
Ambassadors of the United States to Tunisia
University of California, Berkeley alumni
1918 births
2000 deaths
Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni
United States Foreign Service personnel
20th-century American diplomats