- John Gunther Dean
John Gunther Dean (born
February 24 ,1926 inGermany ) is a distinguished careerUnited States diplomat . From 1974-1988, Dean served as the United States Ambassador to five different nations under four different U.S. Presidents.Early years
Dean was born in
Breslau ,Germany , into a prominentJewish family. As a child, he attended the exclusive Von Zawatzki Schule in Breslau. Escaping the rise ofNazism , the family left Germany in December 1938 and arrived in the U.S. in February. In March 1939, the family changed its name from "Dienstfertig" to "Dean" before the City Court of New York. They eventually arrived in Kansas City,Missouri , where his father briefly lectured at theUniversity of Kansas . Graduating from high school in Kansas City at the age of 16, he went on toHarvard University . In 1944, John Gunther Dean became a naturalized United States citizen. Mr. Dean interrupted his education and served in theUnited States Army from 1944-1946, utilizing his language skills with the Office of Military Intelligence. He then returned to Harvard and obtained his undergraduate degree (B.S. Magna Cum Laude, 1947). He received his doctorate in law from theSorbonne (1949), and returned to Harvard again to obtain a graduate degree in international relations (M.A., 1950).In 1950, John Gunther Dean worked in government service as an economic analyst with the European Headquarters of the
Economic Cooperation Administration inParis ,France . From 1951-1953 he was an industrial analyst with ECA inBrussels ,Belgium . From 1953-1956 he was assistant economic commissioner with the International Cooperation Administration in French Indo-China with accreditation inSaigon ,Phnom Penh , andVientiane .Foreign Service career
Mr. Dean passed the Foreign Service Examination in 1954. He formally began his service as an officer with the
U.S. Department of State in the spring of 1956. From 1956-1958 he served as a political officer inVientiane ,Laos , and then from 1959-1960 he opened the first American consulate inLomé ,Togo . From 1960-1961 he wasCharge d'Affaires inBamako ,Mali , and then became the officer in charge of Mali-Togo affairs in the Department of State from 1961-1963. In 1963 Mr. Dean was an adviser to the U.S. delegation to the 18th Session of theUnited Nations General Assembly , and during 1964-1965 he was an international relations officer in the NATO section of the Department of State. Dean went to Paris in 1965 as a political officer and served there until 1969. From 1969-1970 he was a fellow at Harvard's Center for International Affairs inCambridge, Massachusetts . He was then detailed to the U.S. military as Deputy to the Commander of Military Region 1 in Vietnam where he served as Regional Director forCivil Operations and Development Service (CORDS) until 1972. While in Danang, Vietnam, he helped to protect the famous Cham museum for which he was officially thanked in 2005 by the Vietnamese and French authorities. From 1972-1974 he was the deputy chief of mission/Chargé d’Affaires in Vientiane, Laos. He is credited for having helped the establishment of a coalition government which saved thousands of lives after the fall of Saigon in 1975.Career as Ambassador
*1974-1975 United States Ambassador to the
Khmer Republic
*1975-1978 United States Ambassador toDenmark
*1978-1981 United States Ambassador toLebanon
*1981-1985 United States Ambassador to the Kingdom ofThailand
*1985-1988United States Ambassador to India Ambassador Dean retired from the U.S. Foreign Service in 1989. Dean's freelancing efforts to get the Reagan Administration to reverse its policies on Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India angered high administration officials, and he left government service soon thereafter.
Notes
Dean speaks four languages, including English, French, German, and Danish. He was the first U.S. Ambassador to Denmark who learned and spoke Danish, thus gaining significant respect from its people. He is married to the French-born Martine Duphenieux, and they have three grown children. He now lives in Switzerland and France but remains active on foreign affairs issues and comes to the U.S. often.
While stationed in Paris (1965-69), Dean played a major role in bringing the U.S.-North Vietnam peace talks to Paris in 1968.
In Lebanon, Dean was helpful in obtaining the release of the first American hostages in Teheran.
In India, Dean helped bring about the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan according to an agreed time table.
External links
* [http://www.jimmycarterlibrary.org/library/oralhistory/clohproject/dean.phtml John Gunther Dean's Oral History Transcripts at the Jimmy Carter Library]
* [http://www.gestog.com/inventory%20.htm John Gunther Dean's Inventory]
(11 linear feet of documents he donated to the U.S. National Archives in 2004 and 2005 are partially available to the public at the Jimmy Carter Library.
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