H. Freeman Matthews

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H. Freeman Matthews (1956)

Harrison Freeman Matthews (born May 26, 1899 in Baltimore , Maryland , † October 19, 1986 in Washington, DC ) was an American diplomat who was, among other things, the United States Ambassador to Sweden , the Netherlands and Austria and the on March 7, 1956 the title Career Ambassador was awarded. As Deputy United States Under Secretary of State , he served between January 20 and 21, 1953 as Acting Secretary of State.

Life

Studies and entry into the diplomatic service

Harrison Freeman Matthews did military service in the US Navy Reserve in 1918 and then began an undergraduate degree at Princeton University , which he completed in 1921 with a Bachelor of Arts (BA). He completed a subsequent postgraduate course at Princeton University in 1922 with a Master of Arts (MA) and then studied abroad from 1922 to 1923 at the École libre des sciences politiques in Paris . After his return he joined the US State Department and was first secretary at the embassy in Hungary between 1924 and 1926 and then from 1926 to 1929 third secretary at the embassy in Colombia. After working between 1930 and 1933 as assistant to the head of the Department for Latin American Affairs in the Foreign Ministry, he served as first secretary at the embassy in Cuba from 1933 to 1937 . In 1937 he moved to the embassy in France , where he was also first secretary and from 1938 to 1940 consul . During this time he acted after the replacement of Claude Bowers by Alexander W. Weddell from 13 April to 15 June 1939 as interim chargé (charge d'affaires ad interim) of the Embassy in Spain.

After a subsequent assignment between 1940 and 1941 as first secretary at the embassy to the Vichy government , Matthews was embassy counselor at the embassy in the United Kingdom from 1941 to 1943 . He then returned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where he was Chief, Division of European Affairs from 1943 to 1944 , and then from 1944 to 1947 as Director, Office of European Affairs, Head of the Department for European Affairs. During this time, in 1945 he was also a representative of the State Department in the Joint Commission for Civil Affairs at the Joint American-British Operations and Planning Staff CCS ( Combined Chiefs of Staff ) . He was also an advisor to US President Franklin D. Roosevelt at the Yalta Conference (February 4 to 11, 1945) and to US President Harry S. Truman at the Potsdam Conference (July 17 to August 2, 1945 ).

Ambassador to Sweden, the Netherlands and Austria

On July 21, 1947, H. Freeman Matthews, succeeding Louis G. Dreyfus, Jr. to the ambassador in Sweden appointed. Although he took the oath of office, he did not take up this office. Rather, he was appointed the first United States Ambassador to Sweden on September 20, 1947 during a break in the US Senate session , and there he presented his letter of accreditation on December 5, 1947 . On December 9, 1947, he was confirmed by the US Senate and remained in this post until May 24, 1950, when William Walton Butterworth succeeded him. After his return from July 5, 1950 to September 30, 1953, he was Deputy Vice Secretary of State (Deputy United States Under Secretary of State ) and acted as such between January 20 and 21, 1953 as Acting Secretary of State during the change of government from President Harry S. Truman to President Dwight D. Eisenhower .

Then Matthews was appointed Ambassador of the United States to the Netherlands on October 1, 1953 during a break in the Senate session , replacing Selden Chapin , where he delivered his credentials on November 25, 1953. On January 26, 1954, he was confirmed in this capacity by the US Senate and remained there until June 11, 1957, whereupon Philip Young replaced him. During this time, alongside James Clement Dunn , Loy W. Henderson and Robert Daniel Murphy, on March 7, 1956, he was one of the first to be named on August 5, 1955 by an additional law of the US Congress on Foreign Affairs (Foreign Service act of 1946) was awarded the title of Career Ambassador . Most recently, he was appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States to Austria on August 5, 1957, as the successor to Llewellyn E. Thompson , and delivered his letter of accreditation there on September 4, 1957. He kept this post of ambassador until he left the diplomatic service on May 25, 1962 and was then replaced by James W. Riddleberger . Subsequently, between 1962 and 1968 he held the post of chairman of the US-American section in the Permanent Joint Board on Defense for the USA and Canada .

In his first marriage he was married to Elizabeth Luke Matthews until her death in 1955. From this marriage, the sons Thomas Luke "Tom" Matthews and H. Freeman Matthews, Jr., who was also a diplomat and participated, among other things, in the Camp David Agreement . After his death he was buried in Friends Cemetery in his birthplace, Baltimore. His second marriage was to Helen Skouland, who died in 1966.

publication

  • Memories of Passing Era , 1973

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Chiefs of Mission for Spain
  2. ^ Chiefs of Mission for Sweden
  3. ^ Chiefs of Mission for Netherlands
  4. ^ Career Ambassadors
  5. ^ Chiefs of Mission for Austria
  6. ^ H. Freeman Matthews Jr., 78, Who Worked on Camp David Accords, Dies . In: The New York Times, July 26, 2006
personal data
SURNAME Matthews, H. Freeman
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Matthews, Harrison Freeman (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American diplomat
DATE OF BIRTH May 26, 1899
PLACE OF BIRTH Baltimore , Maryland
DATE OF DEATH October 19, 1986
Place of death Washington, DC