Roderic L. O'Connor (August 10, 1921 – October 24, 1982) was a United States
lawyer
A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...
Roderic Ladew O'Connor was raised in Manhattan, a member of a third-generation family of Irish-Catholics.Jay Franklin, ''Republicans on the Potomac: The New Republicans in Action'' (McBride Co., 1953), p. 115 He was educated at St. Paul's School in
Concord, New Hampshire
Concord () is the capital city of the U.S. state of New Hampshire and the seat of Merrimack County. As of the 2020 census the population was 43,976, making it the third largest city in New Hampshire behind Manchester and Nashua.
The village of ...
15th Expeditionary Mobility Task Force
The Fifteenth Air Force (15 AF) is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force's Air Combat Command (ACC). It is headquartered at Shaw Air Force Base. It was reactivated on 20 August 2020, merging the previous units of the Ninth Air Force ...
from March 1943 to October 1945. He flew over 50 combat missions and for his service during the war was made a Commander of the
Order of Oranje-Nassau
The Order of Orange-Nassau ( nl, Orde van Oranje-Nassau, links=no) is a civil and military Dutch order of chivalry founded on 4 April 1892 by the queen regent, Emma of the Netherlands.
The order is a chivalric order open to "everyone who has ...
by the government of the Netherlands.Lindsey Gruson, "Roderic L. O'Connor, 61, Lawyer and Former Official in State Dept.", ''New York Times'', October 27, 1982 After the war, O'Connor enrolled at Yale Law School, receiving his law degree in 1947.
After law school, O'Connor worked as an associate attorney with Kelley, Drye, Newhall & Marshall from 1947 until 1949. In 1949,
Governor of New York
The governor of New York is the head of government of the U.S. state of New York. The governor is the head of the executive branch of New York's state government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor has ...
Thomas E. Dewey
Thomas Edmund Dewey (March 24, 1902 – March 16, 1971) was an American lawyer, prosecutor, and politician who served as the 47th governor of New York from 1943 to 1954. He was the Republican candidate for president in 1944 and 1948: although ...
appointed
John Foster Dulles
John Foster Dulles (, ; February 25, 1888 – May 24, 1959) was an American diplomat, lawyer, and Republican Party politician. He served as United States Secretary of State under President Dwight D. Eisenhower from 1953 to 1959 and was briefly ...
Robert F. Wagner
Robert Ferdinand Wagner I (June 8, 1877May 4, 1953) was an American politician. He was a Democratic U.S. Senator from New York from 1927 to 1949.
Born in Prussia, Wagner migrated with his family to the United States in 1885. After graduating ...
. Dulles selected O'Connor as his administrative assistant, but served for only a few months before losing a special election to
Herbert H. Lehman
Herbert Henry Lehman (March 28, 1878 – December 5, 1963) was an American Democratic Party politician from New York. He served from 1933 until 1942 as the 45th governor of New York and represented New York State in the U.S. Senate from 194 ...
. O'Connor then traveled to Germany to provide legal advice to the United States Department of Defense.Jay Franklin, ''Republicans on the Potomac: The New Republicans in Action'' (McBride Co., 1953), p. 116
After the 1952 presidential election, John Foster Dulles became United States Secretary of State; Dulles appointed O'Connor as his special assistant in 1953. In this capacity, he accompanied Dulles to the 1954 meeting of foreign ministers in Berlin, a ninepower meeting in London in 1954 and the heads-of-Government fourpower meeting in Geneva in 1955. From 1956 to 1959, he served two terms as U.S. representative on the
Caribbean Commission The Caribbean Commission, originally the Anglo-American Caribbean Commission, was established on 9 March 1942 to improve the common social and economic problems of the region and deal with wartime issues. In 1946, the governments of the United Stat ...
.
In 1957, Secretary Dulles designated O'Connor as
Assistant Secretary of State for Security and Consular Affairs
The Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs is the head of the Bureau of Consular Affairs within the United States Department of State. The Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs reports to the Under Secretary of State for ...
; O'Connor held this office from May 28, 1957 until December 29, 1958.
O'Connor left government service, becoming vice-president of Ciba-Geigy from 1959 to 1969.
In 1969, President Richard Nixon appointed O'Connor as assistant administrator for East Asia operations of the United States Agency for International Development. In 1971, he became USAID's coordinator of supporting assistance, in which capacity he was responsible for aid to East Asia and the Middle East.
O'Connor died at the Veterans' Hospital in
Far Hills, New Jersey
Far Hills is a borough in Somerset County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States census, the population was 919,