John Cooper Wiley (September 26, 1893 – February 3, 1967) was a United States Foreign Service officer and ambassador.

Career

Wiley was born in

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

while his father served there as U.S. Consul. He was educated by tutors, and studied at

Union College Union College is a Private university, private liberal arts college in Schenectady, New York. Founded in 1795, it was the first institution of higher learning chartered by the New York State Board of Regents, and second in the state of New York, ...

Columbia Law School Columbia Law School (Columbia Law or CLS) is the law school of Columbia University, a private Ivy League university in New York City. Columbia Law is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the world and has always ranked ...

, and

Georgetown University Law Center The Georgetown University Law Center (Georgetown Law) is the law school of Georgetown University, a private research university in Washington, D.C. It was established in 1870 and is the largest law school in the United States by enrollment a ...

. While at Union College he joined the Theta chapter of the

Psi Upsilon Psi Upsilon (), commonly known as Psi U, is a Fraternities and sororities in North America, North American fraternity,''Psi Upsilon Tablet'' founded at Union College on November 24, 1833. The fraternity reports 50 chapters at colleges and univers ...

fraternity. He entered the

United States Foreign Service The United States Foreign Service is the primary personnel system used by the diplomatic service of the United States federal government, under the aegis of the United States Department of State. It consists of over 13,000 professionals carr ...

in 1915 and served in several positions in Europe and South America. In 1938 he was the Chargé d'Affaires ad interim in

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

and Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

and

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and t ...

(the last ambassador before the Soviet occupation in 1940). He went on to appointments as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Colombia,

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, In recognized minority languages of Portugal: :* mwl, República Pertuesa is a country located on the Iberian Peninsula, in Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Macaronesian ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkm ...

, and

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Co ...

Retirement

He retired in 1953 and resided in the Georgetown area of Washington, D.C. He died in Washington on February 3, 1967. He was buried at

Crown Hill Cemetery Crown Hill Cemetery is a historic rural cemetery located at 700 West 38th Street in Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana. The privately owned cemetery was established in 1863 at Strawberry Hill, whose summit was renamed "The Crown", a high poi ...

in Indianapolis.

Family

He was the son of Congressman

John M. Wiley John McClure Wiley (August 11, 1841 – August 13, 1912) was a U.S. Representative from New York. Biography Born in Derry, Ireland, Wiley immigrated to the United States in 1850 with his parents, who settled in Erie County, New York. He a ...

, and the grandson of John J. Cooper, who served as Indiana State Treasurer. John Cooper Wiley was married to Irena Monique Baruch (1906-1972), a well-known sculptor and portrait painter.

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wiley, John Cooper Ambassadors of the United States to Austria Ambassadors of the United States to Colombia Ambassadors of the United States to Portugal Ambassadors of the United States to Iran Ambassadors of the United States to Panama 1893 births 1967 deaths Ambassadors of the United States to Estonia Ambassadors of the United States to Latvia People from Georgetown (Washington, D.C.) United States Foreign Service personnel 20th-century American diplomats American expatriates in France