European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

European Coal and Steel Community The European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) was a European organization created after World War II to regulate the coal and steel industries. It was formally established in 1951 by the Treaty of Paris, signed by Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembo ...

European Economic Community The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organization created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisb ...

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

Orleans Parish, Louisiana New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

Mercer County, New Jersey Mercer County is a county located in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Its county seat is Trenton, also the state capital, but also directly borders the Philadelphia metropolitan area and is included within the Federal Communications Commission's ...

, he attended The Lawrenceville School where he graduated in 1921. He later attended New Jersey's

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

, graduating in 1925. He was also a

Rhodes Scholar The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom. Established in 1902, it is the oldest graduate scholarship in the world. It is considered among the world' ...

at

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

.

Foreign Service

He entered the foreign service and began a career that encompassed 40 years of service. His career began with a one-year stint at the State Department in Washington. From 1929 to 1931, he was the vice consul to the Embassy in Singapore. Following brief posts in Washington and Ottawa, he was assigned to the American Embassy in London, where he served as second secretary until 1941. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Butterworth was first secretary of the American Embassy in Madrid from 1942 to 1944. Concurrently, he was in charge of operations for the United States Commercial Co. for the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...

, a government entity that played war games by procuring strategic war materials, including

tungsten Tungsten, or wolfram, is a chemical element with the symbol W and atomic number 74. Tungsten is a rare metal found naturally on Earth almost exclusively as compounds with other elements. It was identified as a new element in 1781 and first isolat ...

. From 1944 to 1946 he was the U.S. Embassy counselor in Madrid. From 1946 to 1947, Mr. Butterworth served as the counselor of the U.S. Embassy in Nanking, China, where he held the rank of minister and was a political advisor to George Marshall. Following his assignment in China, Butterworth returned as director for Far Eastern Affairs. He was appointed by General Marshall to be the Assistant Secretary for Far Eastern Affairs in 1950. Butterworth later served as U.S. ambassador to Sweden, U.S. representative to the

European Coal and Steel Community The European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) was a European organization created after World War II to regulate the coal and steel industries. It was formally established in 1951 by the Treaty of Paris, signed by Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembo ...

, U.S. representative to the

European Economic Community The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organization created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisb ...

and European Atomic Energy Community. He was named a 'Career Ambassador' on March 20, 1962, one of forty-six diplomats to hold the title. In what would be his last posting, Butterworth was appointed by President

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination i ...

to be the 8th U.S. Ambassador to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

on October 4, 1962; on September 10, 1968, he would leave this posting.

Retirement

After retirement in 1968, William Walton Butterworth died on March 31, 1975, of cirrhosis of the liver. While his last residence was in

Mercer County, New Jersey Mercer County is a county located in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Its county seat is Trenton, also the state capital, but also directly borders the Philadelphia metropolitan area and is included within the Federal Communications Commission's ...

, he was buried at Metairie Cemetery, City of New Orleans,

Orleans Parish, Louisiana New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

1903 births 1975 deaths Ambassadors of the United States to Canada Ambassadors of the United States to the European Union Ambassadors of the United States to Sweden People from New Orleans United States Career Ambassadors United States Assistant Secretaries of State Lawrenceville School alumni Princeton University alumni American Rhodes Scholars United States Foreign Service personnel 20th-century American diplomats

Biography

Education

Foreign Service

Retirement