Malcolm Toon: Difference between revisions

Malcolm Toon
Malcolm Toon
United States Ambassador to Czechoslovakia
	In office; July 31, 1969 – October 11, 1971
President	Richard Nixon
Preceded by	Jacob D. Beam
Succeeded by	Albert W. Sherer, Jr.
United States Ambassador to Yugoslavia
	In office; October 23, 1971 – March 11, 1975
President	Richard Nixon; Gerald Ford
Preceded by	William Leonhart
Succeeded by	Laurence H. Silberman
United States Ambassador to Israel
	In office; July 10, 1975 – December 27, 1976
President	Gerald Ford
Preceded by	Kenneth B. Keating
Succeeded by	Samuel W. Lewis
United States Ambassador to the Soviet Union
	In office; January 18, 1977 – October 16, 1979
President	Gerald Ford; Jimmy Carter
Preceded by	Walter John Stoessel Jr.
Succeeded by	Thomas J. Watson Jr.
Personal details
Born	July 4, 1916; Troy, New York, U.S.
Died	February 12, 2009 (aged 92); Pinehurst, North Carolina, U.S.
Spouse	Elizabeth Jane Taylor (died 1996)
Children	3
Education	Tufts University (BA, MA);

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Malcolm Toon (July 4, 1916 – February 12, 2009)^[1] was an American diplomat who served as a Foreign Service Officer in Moscow in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, during the Cold War, ultimately becoming the ambassador to the Soviet Union.

Life[edit]

Toon was born July 4, 1916, in Troy, New York, where his father was a stonecutter, shortly after his parents had emigrated from Scotland.^[2]^[3] The family returned to Scotland when he was 6, before then resettling in Northborough, Massachusetts. Toon received an A. B. Degree from Tufts University in 1937, and an M.A. degree from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy of Tufts University in 1938.^[2] He served in the United States Navy from 1942 to 1946.^[4] In the Pacific Ocean theater of World War II, he was a PT boat skipper, and received the Bronze Star Medal for valor.^[5]

A resident of Southern Pines, North Carolina, Toon was married to Elizabeth Jane Taylor until her death in 1996. They are interred at Arlington National Cemetery.^[2] Toon died at a hospital in Pinehurst, North Carolina on February 12, 2009, aged 92. His death was reported in local media at the time, but was not reported nationally, despite his prominence as a diplomat.^[2] The New York Times said it had not received any word of his death in 2009, and Toon's obituary, first prepared in or around 2006, was not published until 2017.^[2]

Career[edit]

After the war, Toon joined the United States Foreign Service, receiving postings in Poland, Haiti, and Hungary, before being trained in the Russian language at the Embassy of the United States, Moscow in the 1950s.^[2]

In 1965, Toon had become the U.S. embassy's third-ranking official when the Russians made accusations that was running a spy ring, which were officially denied, and he was not expelled.^[2] He then became the head of the State Department's Soviet Affairs office.^[2]

Toon was the ambassador to Czechoslovakia from 1969 to 1971, Yugoslavia from 1971 to 1975, Israel from 1975 to 1976, and the Soviet Union from 1977 to 1979.

He participated in SALT II talks from 1977 to 1979 and the American-Soviet Summit in Vienna in 1979. At the summit, Toon learned that President Jimmy Carter had chosen Thomas Watson Jr., a business executive, as his replacement, leading Toon to publicly criticize making ambassadors out of those without any State Department experience.^[2] Secretary of State Cyrus Vance then negotiated SALT II with Soviet Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin without Toon, causing an upset Toon to publicly question the agreement's verification procedure.^[2] President Carter signed the treaty but when Soviet-American relations deteriorated he withdrew it from consideration by the U.S. Senate.^[2]^[6]

In the 1990s, Toon co-chaired the U.S.–Russia Joint Commission on POW/MIAs with Russian general Dmitri Volkogonov. An article about Toon's briefing of the U.S. press corps in Moscow 1977-79 was published in the Foreign Service Journal in June 2011.^[7]

References[edit]

^ "Toon, Former Ambassador, Dies". The Pilot. February 20, 2009. Retrieved May 2, 2017.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k Goldstein, Richard (May 1, 2017). "Malcolm Toon Made Waves as a Diplomat, but His Death Went Largely Unreported". The New York Times. p. B14. Retrieved May 3, 2017.
^ Nominations of Carl J. Gilbert and Malcolm Toon: Hearing, Ninety-first Congress, First Session. May 5, 1969. U.S. GovernmentPrint. Office. 1969.
^ Carter, Jimmy (January 1, 1977). Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Jimmy Carter, 1977. Best Books on. pp. 715–. ISBN 978-1-62376-764-8.
^ Congressional Record, V. 147, Pt. 8, June 12, 2001 to June 25 2001. Government Printing Office. November 2005. pp. 10647–. ISBN 978-0-16-075093-9.
^ "Corrections: May 3, 2017". New York Times. May 3, 2017. Retrieved May 3, 2017.
^ Knight, Robin (June 2011). "Malcolm Toon and the Moscow Press" (PDF). Foreign Service Journal: 39–43. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 8, 2011. Retrieved July 2, 2011.

External links[edit]

U.S. State Department Archives (People)
Malcolm Toon has been interviewed as part of Frontline Diplomacy: The Foreign Affairs Oral History Collection of the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training, a site at the Library of Congress.
Appearances on C-SPAN

Diplomatic posts
Preceded by Jacob D. Beam	United States Ambassador to Czechoslovakia 1969–1971	Succeeded by Albert W. Sherer, Jr.
Preceded by William Leonhart	United States Ambassador to Yugoslavia 1971–1975	Succeeded by Laurence H. Silberman
Preceded by Kenneth B. Keating	United States Ambassador to Israel 1975–1976	Succeeded by Samuel W. Lewis
Preceded by Walter John Stoessel, Jr.	United States Ambassador to the Soviet Union 1977–1979	Succeeded by Thomas J. Watson, Jr.

[1] "Toon, Former Ambassador, Dies". The Pilot. February 20, 2009. Retrieved May 2, 2017.

[NYTobit-2] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k Goldstein, Richard (May 1, 2017). "Malcolm Toon Made Waves as a Diplomat, but His Death Went Largely Unreported". The New York Times. p. B14. Retrieved May 3, 2017.

[3] Nominations of Carl J. Gilbert and Malcolm Toon: Hearing, Ninety-first Congress, First Session. May 5, 1969. U.S. GovernmentPrint. Office. 1969.

[Jimmy1977-4] Carter, Jimmy (January 1, 1977). Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Jimmy Carter, 1977. Best Books on. pp. 715–. ISBN 978-1-62376-764-8.

[5] Congressional Record, V. 147, Pt. 8, June 12, 2001 to June 25 2001. Government Printing Office. November 2005. pp. 10647–. ISBN 978-0-16-075093-9.

[6] "Corrections: May 3, 2017". New York Times. May 3, 2017. Retrieved May 3, 2017.

[7] Knight, Robin (June 2011). "Malcolm Toon and the Moscow Press" (PDF). Foreign Service Journal: 39–43. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 8, 2011. Retrieved July 2, 2011.

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@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2022}}
-{{Infobox US Ambassador
+{{short description|American diplomat}}
+{{Infobox officeholder
 | name=Malcolm Toon
 | image=MalcolmToon.jpg
@@ Line 33: / Line 35: @@
 | term_end4=October 16, 1979
 | president4=[[Gerald Ford]]<br>[[Jimmy Carter]]
-| predecessor4=[[Walter John Stoessel, Jr.]]
+| predecessor4=[[Walter John Stoessel Jr.]]
-| successor4=[[Thomas J. Watson, Jr.]]
+| successor4=[[Thomas J. Watson Jr.]]
-| birth_date=July 4, 1916
+| birth_date={{birth date|1916|7|4}}
-| birth_place=Troy, New York
+| birth_place=[[Troy, New York]], U.S.
-| death_date=February 12, 2009 (aged 92)
+| death_date={{death date and age|2009|2|12|1916|7|4}}
-| death_place=Pinehurst, NC
+| death_place=[[Pinehurst, North Carolina]], U.S.
+| spouse={{marriage|Elizabeth Jane Taylor||1996|end = died}}
-| party=
-| spouse=
+| children=3
+| education = {{ubl|[[Tufts University]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]], [[Master of Arts|MA]])}}
-| profession=
-| religion=
-| footnotes=
 }}
-'''Malcolm Toon''' (July 4, 1916 – February 12, 2009)<ref>{{cite news | url = http://www.thepilot.com/news/toon-former-ambassador-dies/article_b8457c9f-368a-5f77-8407-617022b1de79.html | title= Toon, Former Ambassador, Dies | work = ''[[The Virginian-Pilot|The Pilot]]'' | date = February 20, 2009 | accessdate= May 2, 2017}}</ref> was an American [[diplomat]] who served as a [[Foreign Service Officer]] in [[Moscow]] in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, during the [[Cold War]], ultimately becoming the ambassador to the [[Soviet Union]].
+'''Malcolm Toon''' (July 4, 1916 – February 12, 2009)<ref>{{cite news | url = http://www.thepilot.com/news/toon-former-ambassador-dies/article_b8457c9f-368a-5f77-8407-617022b1de79.html | title= Toon, Former Ambassador, Dies | work = [[The Virginian-Pilot|The Pilot]] | date = February 20, 2009 | access-date= May 2, 2017}}</ref> was an American [[diplomat]] who served as a [[Foreign Service Officer]] in Moscow in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, during the [[Cold War]], ultimately becoming the ambassador to the [[Soviet Union]].
 ==Life==
-Toon was born July 14, 1916 in [[Troy, New York]], where his father was a stonecutter, shortly after his parents had emigrated from [[Scotland]].<ref name=NYTobit>{{cite news|last1=Goldstein|first1=Richard|title=Malcolm Toon Made Waves as a Diplomat, but His Death Went Largely Unreported|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/01/world/europe/malcolm-toon-dead-us-ambassador-to-soviet-union.html|accessdate=3 May 2017|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=1 May 2017|page=B14}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Nominations of Carl J. Gilbert and Malcolm Toon: Hearing, Ninety-first Congress, First Session. May 5, 1969|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xFIYYq7nk7IC|year=1969|publisher=U.S. GovernmentPrint. Office}}</ref>  The family returned to Scotland when he was 6, before then resettling in [[Northborough, Massachusetts]]. Toon received an [[A. B. Degree]] from Tufts University in 1937, and an [[M.A. degree]] from the [[Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy]] of [[Tufts University]] in 1938.<ref name=NYTobit/> He served in the [[United States Navy]] from 1942 to 1946.<ref name="Jimmy1977">{{cite book|author=Carter, Jimmy|title=Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Jimmy Carter, 1977|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=blHVAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA715|date=1 January 1977|publisher=Best Books on|isbn=978-1-62376-764-8|pages=715–}}</ref> In the [[Pacific Ocean theater of World War II]], he was a [[PT boat]] skipper, and received the [[Bronze Star Medal]] for valor.<ref>{{cite book|title=Congressional Record, V. 147, Pt. 8, June 12, 2001 to June 25 2001|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s4Mr9J8dOscC&pg=PA10647|date=November 2005|publisher=Government Printing Office|isbn=978-0-16-075093-9|pages=10647–}}</ref>
+Toon was born July 4, 1916, in [[Troy, New York]], where his father was a stonecutter, shortly after his parents had emigrated from [[Scotland]].<ref name=NYTobit>{{cite news|last1=Goldstein|first1=Richard|title=Malcolm Toon Made Waves as a Diplomat, but His Death Went Largely Unreported|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/01/world/europe/malcolm-toon-dead-us-ambassador-to-soviet-union.html|access-date=May 3, 2017|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=May 1, 2017|page=B14|url-access = limited}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Nominations of Carl J. Gilbert and Malcolm Toon: Hearing, Ninety-first Congress, First Session. May 5, 1969|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xFIYYq7nk7IC|year=1969|publisher=U.S. GovernmentPrint. Office}}</ref>  The family returned to Scotland when he was 6, before then resettling in [[Northborough, Massachusetts]]. Toon received an [[A. B. Degree]] from Tufts University in 1937, and an [[M.A. degree]] from the [[Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy]] of [[Tufts University]] in 1938.<ref name=NYTobit/> He served in the [[United States Navy]] from 1942 to 1946.<ref name="Jimmy1977">{{cite book|author=Carter, Jimmy|title=Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Jimmy Carter, 1977|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=blHVAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA715|date=January 1, 1977|publisher=Best Books on|isbn=978-1-62376-764-8|pages=715–}}</ref> In the [[Pacific Ocean theater of World War II]], he was a [[PT boat]] skipper, and received the [[Bronze Star Medal]] for valor.<ref>{{cite book|title=Congressional Record, V. 147, Pt. 8, June 12, 2001 to June 25 2001|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s4Mr9J8dOscC&pg=PA10647|date=November 2005|publisher=Government Printing Office|isbn=978-0-16-075093-9|pages=10647–}}</ref>
-He was married to Elizabeth Jane Taylor (died 1996) and they are interred at [[Arlington National Cemetery]].<ref name=NYTobit/>  Eight years after his death, Toon's [[obituary]] was published by ''[[The New York Times]]''.<ref name=NYTobit/>
+A resident of [[Southern Pines, North Carolina]], Toon was married to Elizabeth Jane Taylor until her death in 1996. They are interred at [[Arlington National Cemetery]].<ref name=NYTobit/> Toon died at a hospital in [[Pinehurst, North Carolina]] on February 12, 2009, aged 92. His death was reported in local media at the time, but was not reported nationally, despite his prominence as a diplomat.<ref name = NYTobit/> ''[[The New York Times]]'' said it had not received any word of his death in 2009, and Toon's obituary, first prepared in or around 2006, was not published until 2017.<ref name=NYTobit/>
 ==Career==
-After the war, Toon joined the [[United States Foreign Service]], receiving postings in [[Poland]], [[Haiti]], and [[Hungary]], before being trained in the [[Russian language]] at the [[Embassy of the United States, Moscow]] in the 1950s.<ref name=NYTobit/>
+After the war, Toon joined the [[United States Foreign Service]], receiving postings in [[Poland]], [[Haiti]], and [[Hungary]], before being trained in the Russian language at the [[Embassy of the United States, Moscow]] in the 1950s.<ref name=NYTobit/>
 In 1965, Toon had become the U.S. embassy's third-ranking official when the Russians made accusations that was running a spy ring, which were officially denied, and he was not expelled.<ref name=NYTobit/>  He then became the head of the State Department's Soviet Affairs office.<ref name=NYTobit/>
-Toon was the [[ambassador]] to [[Czechoslovakia]] from 1969 to 1971, [[Yugoslavia]] from 1971 to 1975, [[Israel]] from 1975 to 1976, and the [[Soviet Union]] from 1977 to 1979.
+Toon was the ambassador to [[Czechoslovakia]] from 1969 to 1971, [[Yugoslavia]] from 1971 to 1975, Israel from 1975 to 1976, and the [[Soviet Union]] from 1977 to 1979.
-He participated in [[SALT II]] talks from 1977 to 1979 and the American-Soviet Summit in [[Vienna]] in 1979. At the summit, Toon learned that President [[Jimmy Carter]] had chosen [[Thomas Watson Jr.]], a business executive, as his replacement, leading Toon to publicly criticized making ambassadors out of those without any State Department experience.<ref name=NYTobit/> Secretary of State [[Cyrus Vance]] then negotiated SALT II with Soviet Ambassador [[Anatoly Dobrynin]] without Toon, causing an upset Toon to publicly question the agreement's verification procedure.<ref name=NYTobit/>  President Carter signed the treaty but when Soviet-American relations deteriorated he withdrew it from consideration by the U.S. Senate.<ref name=NYTobit/><ref>{{cite news | work = New York Times | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/02/pageoneplus/corrections-may-3-2017.html |title = Corrections: May 3, 2017 | date= May 3, 2017 | accessdate = May 3, 2017}}</ref>
+He participated in [[SALT II]] talks from 1977 to 1979 and the American-Soviet Summit in [[Vienna]] in 1979. At the summit, Toon learned that President [[Jimmy Carter]] had chosen [[Thomas Watson Jr.]], a business executive, as his replacement, leading Toon to publicly criticize making ambassadors out of those without any State Department experience.<ref name=NYTobit/> Secretary of State [[Cyrus Vance]] then negotiated SALT II with Soviet Ambassador [[Anatoly Dobrynin]] without Toon, causing an upset Toon to publicly question the agreement's verification procedure.<ref name=NYTobit/>  President Carter signed the treaty but when Soviet-American relations deteriorated he withdrew it from consideration by the U.S. Senate.<ref name=NYTobit/><ref>{{cite news | work = New York Times | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/02/pageoneplus/corrections-may-3-2017.html |title = Corrections: May 3, 2017 | date= May 3, 2017 | access-date = May 3, 2017}}</ref>
-In the 1990s, Toon co-chaired the U.S.-Russian Joint Commission on POW/MIAs with Russian general [[Dmitri Volkogonov]]. An article about Toon's briefing of the U.S. press corps in Moscow 1977-79 was published in the [[Foreign Service Journal]] in June 2011.<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.afsa.org/FSJ/0611/files/assets/downloads/publication.pdf | title= Malcolm Toon and the Moscow Press | first= Robin | last =Knight  |journal=Foreign Service Journal | date = June 2011 |accessdate=July 2, 2011 | pages = 39–43 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110808210234/http://www.afsa.org/fsj/0611/files/assets/downloads/publication.pdf |archivedate=August 8, 2011 }}</ref>
+In the 1990s, Toon co-chaired the [[U.S.–Russia Joint Commission on POW/MIAs]] with Russian general [[Dmitri Volkogonov]]. An article about Toon's briefing of the U.S. press corps in Moscow 1977-79 was published in the ''[[Foreign Service Journal]]'' in June 2011.<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.afsa.org/FSJ/0611/files/assets/downloads/publication.pdf | title= Malcolm Toon and the Moscow Press | first= Robin | last =Knight  |journal=Foreign Service Journal | date = June 2011 |access-date=July 2, 2011 | pages = 39–43 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110808210234/http://www.afsa.org/fsj/0611/files/assets/downloads/publication.pdf |archive-date=August 8, 2011 }}</ref>
 ==References==
@@ Line 70: / Line 70: @@
 * [https://2001-2009.state.gov/r/pa/ho/po/11682.htm#Toon#Toon U.S. State Department Archives (People)]
 * Malcolm Toon has been interviewed as part of [http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/diplomacy/index.html Frontline Diplomacy: The Foreign Affairs Oral History Collection of the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training], a site at the [https://www.loc.gov/ Library of Congress].
-*{{C-SPAN|Malcolm Toon}}
+*{{C-SPAN|23225}}
 {{s-start}}
@@ Line 87: / Line 87: @@
 {{s-aft|after=[[Thomas J. Watson, Jr.]]}}
 {{s-end}}
+{{US Ambassadors to Czech Republic}}
 {{US Ambassadors to Israel}}
 {{US Ambassadors to Russia}}
@@ Line 96: / Line 96: @@
 [[Category:1916 births]]
 [[Category:2009 deaths]]
+[[Category:20th-century American diplomats]]
 [[Category:Ambassadors of the United States to Czechoslovakia]]
 [[Category:Ambassadors of the United States to Israel]]
+[[Category:Ambassadors of the United States to Yugoslavia]]
 [[Category:Ambassadors of the United States to the Soviet Union]]
-[[Category:Ambassadors of the United States to Yugoslavia]]
+[[Category:American people of Scottish descent]]
-[[Category:20th-century American diplomats]]
+[[Category:Burials at Arlington National Cemetery]]
+[[Category:Military personnel from Troy, New York]]
+[[Category:People from Southern Pines, North Carolina]]
+[[Category:The Fletcher School at Tufts University alumni]]
 [[Category:Tufts University alumni]]
-[[Category:American naval personnel of World War II]]
-[[Category:Military personnel from Troy, New York]]
-[[Category:Burials at Arlington National Cemetery]]
-[[Category:The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy alumni]]
 [[Category:United States Foreign Service personnel]]
+[[Category:United States Navy personnel of World War II]]

v t e United States Ambassadors to the Czech Republic
Czechoslovakia (1919–1992)	Crane Einstein Ratshesky White Wright Carr Biddle Steinhardt Jacobs Briggs Wadsworth Johnson Allison Ravndal Wailes Horsey Beam Toon Sherer Byrne Meehan Matlock Luers Niemczyk Temple Black Basora
Czech Republic (1993–present)	Basora Walker Shattuck Stapleton Cabaniss Graber Eisen Schapiro King Sabet

v t e United States Ambassadors to Russia
Russian Empire (1780–1917)	Dana Adams Pinkney Campbell Middleton Randolph Buchanan Wilkins J. Clay Dallas Cambreleng Todd Ingersoll Bagby Brown Seymour Pickens Appleton C. Clay Cameron C. Clay Curtin Orr Jewell Boker Stoughton Foster Hunt Taft Lothrop Tree C. Smith White Breckinridge Hitchcock Tower McCormick Meyer Riddle Rockhill Guild Marye Francis
Soviet Union (1933–1991)	Bullitt Davies Steinhardt Standley Harriman W. Smith Kirk Kennan Bohlen Thompson Kohler Thompson Beam Dubs Stoessel Toon Watson Hartman Matlock Strauss
Russian Federation (1991–present)	Strauss Pickering Collins Vershbow Burns Beyrle McFaul Tefft Huntsman Sullivan Tracy

Authority control databases
International	FAST VIAF
National	United States
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