Robert Newbegin II (February 5, 1905 – November 15, 1991) was an American diplomat. Born in

Bangor, Maine Bangor ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Maine and the county seat of Penobscot County. The city proper has a population of 31,753, making it the state's 3rd-largest settlement, behind Portland (68,408) and Lewiston (37,121). Modern Bangor ...

, he was raised in

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...

and graduated from

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

. He entered the Foreign Service in 1929 and served in Berlin, Montevideo, Mexico City, Istanbul, Ankara, Santo Domingo, Bogota and Paris, as well as Washington. He was appointed a Foreign Service inspector in 1952, director of the Office of Middle American Affairs in the State Department in 1954 and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for personnel in 1956. Newbegin served as U.S. Ambassador to

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...

from 1958 to 1960, when he became Ambassador to

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

. He retired from the Foreign Service in 1962, but was a State Department negotiator on the

Panama Canal The Panama Canal ( es, Canal de Panamá, link=no) is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a conduit ...

treaty the next year. While Ambassador to Haiti in 1961, Newbegin was recalled to Washington prior to the inauguration of dictator

François Duvalier François Duvalier (; 14 April 190721 April 1971), also known as Papa Doc, was a Haitian politician of French Martiniquan descent who served as the President of Haiti from 1957 to 1971. He was elected president in the 1957 general election on ...

, in protest of his fraudulent election. A Marine colonel stationed in Haiti once referred to Newbegin as an "extremely decisive and strong-willed Ambassador", a judgement echoed in other sources. In a state department briefing during the recall, however, Newbegin expressed the opinion that there was no credible opposition in Haiti to Duvalier, and thus that the recall would have little positive effect. Newbegin was right, in that the US cut off economic assistance in 1962 and Duvalier appointed himself President for Life in 1964. While ambassador, Newbegin instituted a French-language training programme among US government personnel there, and urged Americans to step up their contributions to Haitian charities.Charles T. Williamson, The US Naval Mission to Haiti 1959-1963, pp. 163-170; http://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v12/d367

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Newbegin, Robert United States Department of State officials Ambassadors of the United States to Honduras Ambassadors of the United States to Haiti Yale University alumni 1905 births 1991 deaths People from Bangor, Maine United States Foreign Service personnel 20th-century American diplomats American expatriates in Germany American expatriates in Uruguay American expatriates in Mexico American expatriates in Turkey American expatriates in the Dominican Republic American expatriates in Colombia American expatriates in France