James Sayle Moose Jr. (October 3, 1903 – January 19, 1989) was an American diplomat who served as ambassador to several countries.

Early life

Moose was born in

Morrilton, Arkansas Morrilton is a city in Conway County, Arkansas, Conway County, Arkansas, United States, less than northwest of Little Rock, Arkansas, Little Rock. The city is the county seat of Conway County. The population was 6,992 at the 2020 United States ce ...

in 1903. After studying at the

Kentucky Military Institute The Kentucky Military Institute (KMI) was a military University-preparatory school, preparatory school in Lyndon, Kentucky, and Venice, Florida, in operation from 1845 to 1971. Founding One of the oldest traditional military prep schools in th ...

and graduating in 1922 from the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou or MU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri, United States. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Univers ...

at 18, he married Eleanor Duncan Wood of

Maysville, Kentucky Maysville is a "Home rule in the United States, home rule" class city in Mason County, Kentucky, Mason County, Kentucky, United States, and is the county seat of Mason County. The population was 8,873 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ...

also in 1922. He then moved to Little Rock Arkansas and then to his hometown for a period of five years. In 1928 he joined the

Foreign Service Foreign Service may refer to: * Diplomatic service, the body of diplomats and foreign policy officers maintained by the government of a country * United States Foreign Service, the diplomatic service of the United States government **Foreign Service ...

Career

His diplomatic work focused on the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

. His first assignment was in

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

where he served as vice consul. Soon afterward he went to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, where he studied

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

Amharic Amharic is an Ethio-Semitic language, which is a subgrouping within the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic languages. It is spoken as a first language by the Amhara people, and also serves as a lingua franca for all other metropolitan populati ...

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

, and

Turkish Turkish may refer to: * Something related to Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities in the former Ottoman Empire * The w ...

at the

Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales (; ), abbreviated as INALCO, is a French Grand Etablissement with a specializing in the teaching of languages and cultures from the world. Its coverage spans languages of Central Europ ...

, but by 1933 he was back in the Middle East with a posting in

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

. Four years later he was posted in

Tehran Tehran (; , ''Tehrân'') is the capital and largest city of Iran. It is the capital of Tehran province, and the administrative center for Tehran County and its Central District (Tehran County), Central District. With a population of around 9. ...

, where he had his first child, James S. Moose, III. In 1942 he had his second child, Eleanor Duncan Wood Moose (Lady Whittome). In 1943, Moose became the second accredited U.S. representative to

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

(following

Bert Fish Bert Fish (October 8, 1875July 21, 1943) was an American lawyer, judge, philanthropist, and ambassador. Early life Fish originally hailed from Bedford, Indiana, but moved to Volusia County, Florida in 1881. He became the Superintendent of the V ...

) as chargé d'affaires, but the first to officially reside in

Jeddah Jeddah ( ), alternatively transliterated as Jedda, Jiddah or Jidda ( ; , ), is a List of governorates of Saudi Arabia, governorate and the largest city in Mecca Province, Saudi Arabia, and the country's second largest city after Riyadh, located ...

, where he opened the American legation on May 1, 1942. He served until mid-1944 although he remained involved in Saudi-American relations until later in 1945 including helping arrange the meeting between the King of Saudi Arabia, Abdul-Aziz

Ibn Saud Abdulaziz bin Abdul Rahman Al Saud (; 15 January 1875Ibn Saud's birth year has been a source of debate. It is generally accepted as 1876, although a few sources give it as 1880. According to British author Robert Lacey's book ''The Kingdom'', ...

, and President

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

in the Gulf of Suez in 1945. From mid 1945 to the end of 1946 he was Charge D'Affaire in Baghdad Iraq and then in 1947 was Charge D'Affaire in Damascus Syria. During the period 1947-52 he was an inspector in the Foreign Service. In 1952 he was appointed Minister and then Ambassador to Syria. In 1957, after an unsuccessful CIA coup to overthrow the Government of Syria, the Syrians demanded Moose's recall. In 1958 he was appointed US Ambassador to the Sudan where he served until 1962. After retiring from the Foreign Service in 1962, Moose served one year as a professor at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst Mass. He then retired first to Kentucky and second to Arkansas. He moved back into the family house in Morrilton Ark. and was there when he became ill and died in January 1989. His wife, Eleanor Moose, died a few months later. He is survived by his son and daughter, four grandchildren and six great-grandchildren (2016).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moose, James S. Jr. 1903 births 1989 deaths Ambassadors of the United States to Saudi Arabia Ambassadors of the United States to Sudan Ambassadors of the United States to Syria United States Foreign Service personnel

Early life

Career

See also

References