Llewellyn Thompson

Infobox US Ambassador
name=Llewellyn E. Thompson


imagesize=
order=
ambassador_from=United States
country=Austria
term_start=1955
term_end=1957
predecessor=
successor=
president=
order2=
ambassador_from2=United States
country2=the Soviet Union
term_start2=July 16, 1957
term_end2=July 27, 1962
president2=
predecessor2=Charles E. Bohlen
successor2=Foy D. Kohler
order3=
ambassador_from3=United States
country3=the Soviet Union
term_start3=January 23, 1967
term_end3=January 14, 1969
president3=
predecessor3=Foy D. Kohler
successor3=Jacob D. Beam
birth_date=1904
birth_place=Las Animas, Colorado
death_date=1972
death_place=
party=
spouse=
profession=
religion=
footnotes=

Llewellyn E. "Tommy" Thompson Jr. (1904 - 1972), was a United States diplomat. He served in Sri Lanka [http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/thompson6.html Thompson's entry] in The Political Graveyard] , Austria, and for a lengthy period in the Soviet Union where his tenure saw some of the most significant events of the Cold War.

Thompson was born in Las Animas, Colorado, the son of a rancher [http://moscow.usembassy.gov/links/ambassadors.php U.S. Ministers and Ambassadors to Russia] , US Embassy in Moscow biography] . Thompson studied at the University of Colorado [http://www.cualum.org/heritage/virtual_tour/hall_alumni.html "Hall of Alumni"] , University of Colorado Alumni Association website, URL retrieved November 4 2006] and in 1928 he joined the foreign service. He was second secretary at the US Embassy in Moscow from 1941, and remained in the city with a skeleton staff when the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941 forced the US Embassy to withdraw to Kuybyshev.

Thompson was the U.S. Ambassador to Austria from 1955-1957 and to Soviet Union from 1957 to 1962 and again between 1967 and 1969. He held a number of other positions throughout his U.S. foreign service career, including being the pivotal participant in the formulation of Johnson administration nuclear weapon non-proliferation policy. He also testified before the Warren Commission, which was investigating the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

During the Cuban Missile Crisis the US received two messages from Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, one quite conciliatory and the other much more hawkish. Thompson, who had lived with Khrushchev and his wife for a timeRobert McNamara, interviewed in "The Fog of War"] and knew him well, advised Kennedy to react to the first message, saying the second had probably been written with generals looking over Khrushchev's shoulder. Thompson's belief was that Khrushchev would be willing to withdraw the Soviet missiles as long as he could portray the avoidance of a U.S. invasion of Cuba as a strategic success.

Thompson's wife, Jane Monroe Goelet, an artist, brought art from the State Department's Art in Embassies Program to the Ambassador's residence at Spaso House. This program exhibits original works by U.S. citizens in the public areas of Ambassador’s residences all over the world.

Thompson died of cancer in 1972 and is buried in his hometown of Las Animas. U.S. Route 50 through Las Animas is named "Ambassador Thompson Boulevard".

External links

* [http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Plains/4897/ambassador.html?20064 Detailed biography of Thompson]
* [http://aiep.state.gov/ Art in Embassies Program]

References