Ronald Dwight Godard (born July 8, 1942) is an American retired diplomat who was a career Foreign Service Officer with the grade of Minister Counselor. He was given the temporary rank of Ambassador in July 1998.

Early life

Godard was born in

Anadarko, Oklahoma Anadarko is a city in Caddo County, Oklahoma, United States. The city is fifty miles southwest of Oklahoma City. The population was 5,745 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Caddo County. History Anadarko got its name when its post off ...

on July 8, 1942. He moved around often as a child due to his father’s work in the oil business and they moved to

Odessa, Texas Odessa is a city in and the county seat of Ector County, Texas, United States. It is located primarily in Ector County, although a small section of the city extends into Midland County. Odessa's population was 114,428 at the 2020 census, mak ...

when he was in the ninth grade. After graduating from high school in Odessa, he went on to study at Odessa College. Godard was inspired by his history teacher Mary Jane Gentry and his plan was to study history and become a professor. He graduated from the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

in Austin with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history and a Master of Arts degree in Latin American Studies.

Career

On January 8, 2001, Godard was sworn-in as Ambassador to

Guyana Guyana ( or ), officially the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern mainland of South America. Guyana is an indigenous word which means "Land of Many Waters". The capital city is Georgetown. Guyana is bordered by the ...

. Previous assignments included Deputy Permanent Representative to the

Organization of American States The Organization of American States (OAS; es, Organización de los Estados Americanos, pt, Organização dos Estados Americanos, french: Organisation des États américains; ''OEA'') is an international organization that was founded on 30 April ...

(OAS) at the same time he served as Deputy Chief of Mission of the U.S. Mission to the OAS; Deputy Chief of Mission and then Acting Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in

Buenos Aires, Argentina Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

and the same positions in

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. He was close to retiring from the Foreign Service in 2003 when he was assigned to be Diplomat-in-Residence to the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). For a year he was recruiting for the Department of State and taught an honors seminar on international affairs. In October 2015, when the United Nations General Assembly took a vote on ending the Cuban Embargo, the US was one of only two countries to vote against lifting the embargo. At the time, Godard was the U.S. senior adviser for Western Hemisphere affairs and he said “Cuban leaders would be "mistaken" if they thought the vote would further efforts to improve relations between the two countries. He added that normalization of relations will take "years of persistence and dedication on both sides."”

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Godard, Ronald 1942 births Living people University of Texas at Austin College of Liberal Arts alumni People from Anadarko, Oklahoma People from Odessa, Texas Ambassadors of the United States to Guyana Ambassadors of the United States to Argentina Ambassadors of the United States to Nicaragua University of Illinois Chicago faculty Organization of American States people United States Foreign Service personnel 21st-century American diplomats