David H. Popper
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David Henry Popper (October 3, 1912 – July 24, 2008) was a diplomat and former
United States Ambassador Ambassadors of the United States are persons nominated by the president to serve as the country's diplomatic representatives to foreign nations, international organizations, and as ambassadors-at-large. Under Article II, Section 2 of the U.S ...
to
Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ge ...
(1969–73) and
Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
(1974–77). He was a member and former President of the
American Academy of Diplomacy The American Academy of Diplomacy is a private, nonprofit, non-partisan, elected organization whose active membership is limited to men and women who have held positions of high responsibility in crafting and implementing American foreign policy. ...
.


Early life

Popper was born in Manhattan, NY, and raised in
White Plains, NY (Always Faithful) , image_seal = WhitePlainsSeal.png , seal_link = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = State , subdivision_name1 = , subdivisi ...
. He and his family were
Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
. Popper entered university at the young age of 15 and graduated valedictorian of his class from
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
in 1932 and received a Harvard master's degree in government in 1934. He then went on to join the research staff of the
Foreign Policy Association The Foreign Policy Association (formerly known as the League of Free Nations Association) is a non-profit organization founded in 1918 dedicated to inspiring the American public to learn more about the world. The Foreign Policy Association aims to ...
, until the United States entered
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 opposing ...
. Popper worked in Army intelligence at a base in Miami where he traced Axis power movement and influence in
Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...
.


Diplomatic career

David H. Popper began his career as a diplomat when World War II came to an end. In September 1945 Popper joined the US State Department and was assigned to the then new bureau of
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...
affairs. He had a brief scrap with McCarthyism when he was internally investigated because some past associates and organizations of which he had been a member had leftist connections. He was briefly suspended without pay, but after an investigation that involved interviewing his former Boy Scout leaders, he was cleared. He served as Deputy Director of UN Political and Security Affairs from 1951 to 1954. He served as Director of the Office of Atlantic Political and Military Affairs from 1962 to 1965 alongside Adlai E. Stevenson, then ambassador to the United Nations. He served as US Ambassador to Cyprus (1969–73) during the administration of President
Makarios Macarius is a Latinized form of the old Greek given name Makários (Μακάριος), meaning "happy, fortunate, blessed"; confer the Latin '' beatus'' and ''felix''. Ancient Greeks applied the epithet ''Makarios'' to the gods. In other langua ...
. In 1973 he returned to
Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan ...
, to serve briefly as
Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs The Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs is the head of the Bureau of International Organization Affairs within the United States Department of State that creates and executes policy in international organizations ...
for the duration of that year. His next assignment was to be his most prominent. Popper is best known for having served as US ambassador to Chile during the Pinochet regime. His tenure began in February 1974, four months after General
Augusto Pinochet Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (, , , ; 25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean general who ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990, first as the leader of the Military Junta of Chile from 1973 to 1981, being declared President of ...
overthrew the democratically elected president
Salvador Allende Salvador Guillermo Allende Gossens (, , ; 26 June 1908 – 11 September 1973) was a Chilean physician and socialist politician who served as the 28th president of Chile from 3 November 1970 until his death on 11 September 1973. He was the fir ...
in the
1973 Chilean coup d'état The 1973 Chilean coup d'état Enciclopedia Virtual > Historia > Historia de Chile > Del gobierno militar a la democracia" on LaTercera.cl. Retrieved 22 September 2006. In October 1972, Chile suffered the first of many strikes. Among the par ...
, with tacit support from the US government. In his capacity as chief US diplomat in Chile, Popper was forced to walk the diplomatic tight-rope of balancing concerns of
human rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...
violations by the Chilean military regime with strategic geopolitical and economic objectives of the
Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
and Gerald Ford administrations. The US embassy in Chile once received a cablegram from Secretary of State
Henry Kissinger Henry Alfred Kissinger (; ; born Heinz Alfred Kissinger, May 27, 1923) is a German-born American politician, diplomat, and geopolitical consultant who served as United States Secretary of State and National Security Advisor under the presid ...
that read "Tell Popper to cut out the political science lectures" in reference to a meeting at which Popper had brought up human rights violation concerns with the Chilean defense minister. After spending three years as ambassador to Chile he finished his diplomatic career as special representative for
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 condui ...
Treaty Affairs. He retired in 1980.


Writer

In semi-retirement David Popper served as the ghost writer for former
UN Secretary-General The secretary-general of the United Nations (UNSG or SG) is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the six principal organs of the United Nations. The role of the secretary- ...
Kurt Waldheim Kurt Josef Waldheim (; 21 December 1918 – 14 June 2007) was an Austrian politician and diplomat. Waldheim was the Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1972 to 1981 and president of Austria from 1986 to 1992. While he was running for t ...
's memoirs, entitled In the Eye of the Storm. The book was published in 1986 but printing was soon terminated as Waldheim's past as a Nazi officer during World War II surfaced. The autobiography overlooked those years of Waldheim's life.


Death

Popper died at
Georgetown University Hospital MedStar Georgetown University Hospital is one of the Washington, D.C. area's oldest academic teaching hospitals. It is a not-for-profit, acute care teaching and research facility located in the Georgetown neighborhood of the Northwest Quadrant ...
of complications from a fall at the age of 95. He had outlived his wife of 56 years, Florence Maisel Popper, who died in 1992. His companion of 14 years, Olie Rauh, had died 5 months earlier in February 2008. He has three daughters, one son, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.


External links


Obituary at the Washington PostObituary at Los Angeles TimesDavid Henry Popper (1912–2008), Office of the Historian
{{DEFAULTSORT:Popper, David H. 1912 births 2008 deaths People from Manhattan 20th-century American Jews Ambassadors of the United States to Cyprus Ambassadors of the United States to Chile United States Assistant Secretaries of State Harvard University alumni People from White Plains, New York 21st-century American Jews