Richard Clark Barkley (December 23, 1932 – January 30, 2015) was a United States diplomat. From December 1988 until October 1990, he was the last

United States Ambassador to East Germany The United States had diplomatic relations with the nation of East Germany (the German Democratic Republic) from 1974 to 1990. Listed below are the head U.S. diplomatic agents to East Germany, their diplomatic rank, and the effective start and en ...

. After that, from 1991 to 1994, he was the

United States Ambassador to Turkey The United States has maintained many high level contacts with Turkey since the 19th century. Ottoman Empire Chargé d'Affaires *George W. Erving (before 1831) * David Porter (September 13, 1831 – May 23, 1840) Minister Resident * David Port ...

Biography

After studying at

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the fi ...

, Barkley graduated in 1954 with a

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

, and immediately after that he began a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

program at

Wayne State University Wayne State University (WSU) is a public research university in Detroit, Michigan. It is Michigan's third-largest university. Founded in 1868, Wayne State consists of 13 schools and colleges offering approximately 350 programs to nearly 25,000 ...

which he completed in 1955. Barkley then served until 1957 in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

.Bio data mostly from
Nomination of Richard Clark Barkley To Be United States Ambassador to the German Democratic Republic. June 10, 1988
(consulted 10 December 2008) From 1959 to 1961 he worked abroad teaching for the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...

, then in 1962 he entered the U.S. diplomatic corps.

Foreign Service Career

From 1965 to 1967 he was vice-consul in

Santiago de los Caballeros Santiago de los Caballeros (; '' en, James, son of Zebedee, Saint James of the Knights''), often shortened to Santiago, is the second-largest city in the Dominican Republic and the fourth-largest city in the Caribbean by population. It is the cap ...

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares wit ...

. After a year 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 ...

he worked from 1968 to 1971 in the

State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government responsible for the country's fore ...

international relations International relations (IR), sometimes referred to as international studies and international affairs, is the scientific study of interactions between sovereign states. In a broader sense, it concerns all activities between states—such as ...

. In the same function, he worked overseas starting in 1971, including from 1971 to 1972 at the Embassy in Bonn, West Germany and from 1972 to 1974 in the U.S. embassy in East Berlin in

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

. From 1974 to 1977 he served as personal assistant of the ambassador

Ellsworth Bunker Ellsworth F. Bunker (May 11, 1894 – September 27, 1984) was an American businessman and diplomat (including being the ambassador to Argentina, Italy, India, Nepal and South Vietnam). He is perhaps best known for being a hawk on the war in Vietn ...

and then in 1979 he began working in the

Office of Central European Affairs An office is a space where an organization's employees perform administrative work in order to support and realize objects and goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a position within an organization with specific du ...

. Then Barkley moved to

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

, where from 1979 to 1982 he ran the embassy there. From 1982 to 1985 he was a political advisor at the U.S. embassy in Bonn. He was then at the United States Embassy in South Africa, then in June 1988 he was made Ambassador to East Germany. He followed

Francis J. Meehan Francis Joseph Meehan (14 February 1924 – 7 May 2022) was an American diplomat who served as the United States Ambassador to several of the Eastern Bloc states during his career. His final posting was as United States Ambassador to East Germ ...

in the post starting in December and worked in that function until October 2, 1990, the eve of

German reunification German reunification (german: link=no, Deutsche Wiedervereinigung) was the process of re-establishing Germany as a united and fully sovereign state, which took place between 2 May 1989 and 15 March 1991. The day of 3 October 1990 when the Ge ...

. After that from October 1991-December 1994 he led the

Embassy of the United States, Ankara A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually deno ...

.Nomination of Richard Clark Barkley To Be United States Ambassador to Turkey. July 21, 1991
(retrieved 10 December 2008)

Family

Richard Clark Barkley was married and the father of two daughters.Ambassador RICHARD C. BARKLEY
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barklay, Richard Clark Ambassadors of the United States to Turkey Ambassadors of the United States to East Germany 20th-century American diplomats 1932 births 2015 deaths People from Chicago Michigan State University alumni Wayne State University alumni University of Maryland, College Park faculty