Richard Clark Barkley

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Richard Clark Barkley (1988)

Richard Clark Barkley (born  December 23, 1932 in Chicago , Illinois , †  January 30, 2015 in Arlington , Virginia ) was a senior American diplomat . From December 1988 to the beginning of October 1990 he was the last US ambassador to the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and then from 1991 to 1994 as head of the US embassy in Turkey .

Life

Richard Barkley was born in Chicago in 1932 and completed after studying at Michigan State University , from which he graduated with a BA in 1954 , and a subsequent MA at Wayne State University in 1955, initially until 1957 military service in the United States Army . From 1959 to 1961 he worked abroad as a lecturer at the University of Maryland before he joined the foreign service in his country in 1962. From 1965 to 1967 he was Vice Consul in Santiago de los Caballeros in the Dominican Republic . After a year at Columbia University, he worked from 1968 to 1971 as an advisor to the US State Department for international relations . In the same function he worked abroad from 1971, including from 1971 to 1972 in the American embassy in Bonn and from 1972 to 1974 in the US embassy in the GDR in Berlin . After serving as personal assistant to Ambassador Ellsworth Bunker from 1974 to 1977 , he worked in the State Department's Office of Central European Affairs until 1979 .

Richard Barkley then moved to Norway , where he was deputy head of the diplomatic mission of his country from 1979 to 1982. From 1982 to 1985 he worked as a political advisor to the American embassy in Bonn. From 1985 he was deputy head of the US embassy in Pretoria , the capital of South Africa , before being nominated by President Ronald Reagan on June 10, 1988 for the post of US ambassador to the GDR. He succeeded Francis J. Meehan on December 19 of the same year and worked at the US embassy in Berlin until October 2, 1990, the eve of German reunification . He then served as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary and Head of the US Embassy in Ankara from October 9, 1991 to December 15, 1994 , after being a visiting fellow at the National Defense University .

Richard Clark Barkley died in an Arlington hospital on January 30, 2015 at the age of 82. He left behind his second wife Nina and two daughters.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Most of the biographical information comes from the text of the nomination for the post of US ambassador to the GDR: Nomination of Richard Clark Barkley To Be United States Ambassador to the German Democratic Republic. June 10, 1988 (accessed December 10, 2008)
  2. ↑ Additional information from the text of the nomination for the post of US Ambassador to Turkey: Nomination of Richard Clark Barkley To Be United States Ambassador to Turkey. July 21, 1991 (accessed December 10, 2008)
  3. ↑ Ansgar Graw: The last US ambassador to the GDR has died. In: Die Welt vom January 5, 2015 (accessed January 5, 2015).

Web links

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personal data
SURNAME Barkley, Richard Clark
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Barkley, Richard C.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American diplomat and last US ambassador to the GDR
DATE OF BIRTH December 23, 1932
PLACE OF BIRTH Chicago , Illinois
DATE OF DEATH January 30, 2015
Place of death Arlington , Virginia