William D. Rogers

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William Dill Rogers, Sr. (born May 12, 1927 in Wilmington , Delaware ; † September 22, 2007 in Upperville , Virginia ) was an American diplomat who served, among other things, as Vice Undersecretary and Head of Department for Inter-American Affairs ( Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs ) during the administration of US President Gerald Ford , the US foreign policy in Latin America decisively certain, and then from 1976 to 1977 as Secretary of State for Business, enterprise and agricultural Affairs ( Under Secretary of State for economic, Business, and agricultural Affairs ) held one of the highest positions in the US State Department .

Life

Degree, lawyer and Alliance for Progress

Rogers worked in a shipyard that manufactured warships while attending St. Andrews School in Middletown during the Second World War in the summer of 1942 and 1943 . After graduating from school in 1944, he began an undergraduate degree at Princeton University , which he completed in 1948 with a Bachelor of Arts (BA). A subsequent study of law at Yale University , he finished in 1951 with a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.).

After his legal approval in Washington, DC Rogers worked as an employee of Charles Edward Clark , a former dean of the Law Faculty ( Law School ) Yale University and a judge at the US Court of Appeals , and subsequently for Stanley Forman Reed , who as a judge of the Supreme United States Supreme Court acted. He then joined the law firm Arnold, Fortas & Porter as a partner .

In 1961, Rogers, who was a member of the Democratic Party , first became special advisor and then deputy coordinator of the USA in the Alliance for Progress , an agreement on economic cooperation between North and South America that was initiated in 1961 by then US President John F. Kennedy . The aim of the agreement was to prevent other countries in Latin and South America from cooperating with the Soviet Union against the background of the Cuban Revolution . He resigned from this position in 1965 to protest President Lyndon B. Johnson's decision to invade the Dominican Republic and Vietnam . Afterwards he worked again as a lawyer in the law firm Arnold, Fortas & Porter .

Assistant Secretary of State and Under Secretary of State

After Henry Kissinger became Secretary of State in the cabinet of President Richard Nixon on September 22, 1973 , Kissinger asked him to accept a position as legal advisor to the State Department. However, Rogers declined because he turned down a job for Nixon. After Nixon's resignation due to the Watergate affair on August 9, 1974, however, he took on a renewed request by Kissinger as legal advisor in the government of President Gerald Ford.

A few weeks later, on October 7, 1974, Rogers succeeded Jack B. Kubisch as Vice-Undersecretary of State for Inter-American Affairs ( Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs ) . In this role, between the end of 1974 and the end of 1975, he held secret talks with the government of Cuba to relativize foreign policy relations. He also prepared the contracts for the handover of the Panama Canal and the Panama Canal Zone to Panama . Because of the upcoming presidential election on November 2, 1976 , Ford refused to sign the agreement. After his electoral defeat and the victory of the Democrat Jimmy Carter , on September 7, 1977, he signed the Torrijos-Carter treaties .

As early as June 18, 1976, Rogers took over from Charles W. Robinson the office of Under Secretary of State for Economic, Business, and Agricultural Affairs , while Harry W. Shlaudeman Assistant Secretary of State for Inter- American Affairs was. As such, he dealt not only with economic policy aid for Latin America, but together with Great Britain and South Africa also with an aid package for Rhodesia . He held the post of Undersecretary of State until shortly before the end of the Carter administration on December 31, 1976.

Professor at the University of Cambridge and advisory work

Rogers, who subsequently re-worked as a lawyer and 1982 and 1983, a professor at the University of Cambridge held, in 1989 Vice Chairman of Kissinger founded consultancy Kissinger Associates and advised US President George HW Bush on legal issues for United States invasion of Panama on December 20, 1989.

In addition to his legal work, Rogers was a board member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Cordell Hull Institute. He also committed himself to the American Academy of Diplomacy, the American Society of International Law ASIL (American Society of International Law) , the Aspen Institute , the Campaign for American leadership in the Middle East (Campaign for American Leadership in the Middle East) and the Center for Inter-American Relations .

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personal data
SURNAME Rogers, William D.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rogers, William Dill Sr. (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American diplomat and lawyer
DATE OF BIRTH May 12, 1927
PLACE OF BIRTH Wilmington , Delaware
DATE OF DEATH September 22, 2007
Place of death Upperville , Virginia