Emory Coblentz "Coby" Swank (January 29, 1922 – June 3, 2010) was the United States ambassador to

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...

from 1970 to 1973.

Personal life

Swank was born in

Frederick, MD Frederick is a city in and the county seat of Frederick County, Maryland. It is part of the Baltimore–Washington Metropolitan Area. Frederick has long been an important crossroads, located at the intersection of a major north–south Native A ...

and graduated

magna cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some So ...

from

Franklin & Marshall College Franklin & Marshall College (F&M) is a private liberal arts college in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It employs 175 full-time faculty members and has a student body of approximately 2,400 full-time students. It was founded upon the merger of Fran ...

in 1942 where he was a member of

Sigma Pi Sigma Pi () is a collegiate fraternity with 233 chapters at American universities. As of 2021, the fraternity had more than 5,000 undergraduate members and over 110,000 alumni. Sigma Pi headquarters are in Nashville, Tennessee. The fraternity ...

fraternity and

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...

. He earned his master's degree in the English Language and Literature 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 higher le ...

in 1943. He entered the U.S. Army 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 ...

and was awarded the

Bronze Star The Bronze Star Medal (BSM) is a United States Armed Forces decoration awarded to members of the United States Armed Forces for either heroic achievement, heroic service, meritorious achievement, or meritorious service in a combat zone. Wh ...

in Europe. He married Margaret Katherine (Meg) Whiting in 1949. He is described as being 5-foot-10, 170 pounds, soft-spoken, and formal in dress. For years, he did fifty pushups per day.http://www.cleveland.com/obituaries/index.ssf/2010/06/emory_c_swank_peace-minded_amb.html Emory C. Swank's obituary

State Department Career

At the end of the war Swank spent one semester as an English instructor at Franklin and Marshall. In 1946 he began his career with the

U.S. State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other nati ...

. He was fluent in Russian and French and graduated from the

National War College The National War College (NWC) of the United States is a school in the National Defense University. It is housed in Roosevelt Hall on Fort Lesley J. McNair, Washington, D.C., the third-oldest Army post still active. History The National War Colle ...

He served in China, Djakarta, and Romania. From 1961 to 1963 he was a special assistant to Secretary of State Dean Rusk. He was appointed deputy chief of mission in

Laos Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist ...

in 1964. In 1967 he was named chief deputy to ambassador Llewellyn Thompson in Moscow. In 1968 he was the U.S. signee for a space treaty between Great Britain, Russia, and the United States.

Cambodia

Swank was the first U.S. Ambassador to Cambodia after the U.S. reestablished diplomatic relations with the country in 1969. On September 7, 1970, shortly after arriving in

Phnom Penh Phnom Penh (; km, ភ្នំពេញ, ) is the capital and most populous city of Cambodia. It has been the national capital since the French protectorate of Cambodia and has grown to become the nation's primate city and its economic, indus ...

, he survived an assassination attempt when someone rolled a bomb carrying bicycle towards his car that did not got off. He did not know about the attempt until several hours later. He boosted the embassy's staff from sixty to two hundred. He passed on orders to Cambodian leader

Lon Nol Marshal Lon Nol ( km, លន់ នល់, also ; 13 November 1913 – 17 November 1985) was a Cambodian politician and general who served as Prime Minister of Cambodia The prime minister of Cambodia ( km, នាយករដ្ឋមន្ ...

but thought that the U.S. should be doing more to help the country and warned of a civil war. He clashed with State Department leaders about policy towards the country and was eventually reassigned to a dead-end desk job advising

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

. He would later say that his time in Cambodia had been the most frustrating of his career. He would spend two years advising NATO before retiring in 1975.

Cleveland Council on World Affairs

From 1977 to 1987 Swank lived in

Cleveland, OH Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

where he headed the Cleveland Council on World Affairs. He revitalized the group by forming a motivated and efficient staff, improving finances and fundraising, and attracted an array of outstanding speakers on international issues which brought in new members. He successfully applied for grants from various foundations, led a Model United Nations, and ran programs for high schools. He also helped start the Akron Council on World Affairs. After retirement he wrote a book of poems and lectured on cruise ships.

References

External links

Emory C. Swank's obituary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Swank, Emory C. 1922 births 2010 deaths Ambassadors of the United States to Cambodia Harvard University alumni United States Army personnel of World War II Franklin & Marshall College alumni National War College alumni American expatriates in Indonesia American expatriates in China American expatriates in Romania American expatriates in the Soviet Union