Robert V. Keeley
Encyclopedia
Ambassador Robert Vossler Keeley (born September 4, 1929) had a 34-year career in the Foreign Service of the United States
, from 1956 to 1989. He served three times as Ambassador: to Greece
(1985–89), Zimbabwe
(1980–84), and Mauritius
(1976–78). In 1978-80 he was Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, in charge of southern and eastern Africa.
Earlier in his career he had assignments as Deputy Chief of Mission in Cambodia
(1974–75) and Uganda
(1971–73), and as Deputy Director of the Interagency Task Force for the Indochina Refugees (1975–76). His other foreign postings were as Political Officer in Jordan
, Mali
, and Greece. In Washington he served as Congo (Zaire)
desk officer, and as alternate director for East Africa. At his retirement in 1989 Keeley held the rank of Career Minister.
The same year he received the Christian Herter
Award from the American Foreign Service Association
for "extraordinary accomplishment involving initiative, integrity, intellectual courage, and creative dissent." At other stages in his career he earned the Superior Honor Award (for Cambodia), a Presidential Citation (for the Refugee Task Force), and a Presidential Distinguished Service Award (for Zimbabwe). In 1985 he was elected President of the American Foreign Service Association. Keeley's foreign languages are French and modern Greek.
From November 1990 to January 1995 Ambassador Keeley served as President of the Middle East Institute
in Washington, a private, non-profit educational and cultural institution founded in 1946 to foster greater understanding in the United States of the countries of the Middle East
region from Morocco
to Central Asia
.
, was serving as the American Consul. Keeley was educated in Canada
, Greece
, Belgium
, and the United States. He graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University
in 1951, with a major in English literature under the Special Program in the Humanities. His senior thesis was a novel with a critical preface, the first such "creative writing" undergraduate dissertation authorized. He did graduate work at Princeton in English, and later, while in the Foreign Service
, he held graduate fellowships at Stanford
and at Princeton in public and international affairs. He did his military service in the U.S. Coast Guard
during the Korean War
(1953–55) as commanding officer of an 83-foot patrol boat.
in 1997, and is an artist and licensed social worker currently working for the D.C. Government in child welfare services while also engaged in drug abuse counseling on his own time. Both live in the Washington area.
of Washington, the American Foreign Service Association
, Diplomatic and Consular Officers Retired, the Princeton Club
of Washington, the Washington Institute of Foreign Affairs, the Literary Society, and the American Academy of Diplomacy
.
. In addition he works as a free-lance writer, lecturer, and consultant, based in Washington. His interests are not confined to foreign affairs, but extend to issues of domestic politics, economics, and social policy. He has written two memoirs covering portions of his career: Uganda under the rule of Idi Amin Dada (1971–73), and Greece under "the Colonels" (1966–68), both of which remain mostly unpublished because of sensitivity concerns. One chapter of the Uganda book has been published in Embassies Under Siege: Personal Accounts by Diplomats on the Front Line (Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, Georgetown University, Brassey's, 1995) entitled "Crisis Avoidance: Shutting Down Embassy Kampala, 1973."
In 1995 Ambassador Keeley founded the Five and Ten Press Inc., a publishing company whose purpose is to publish in inexpensive format (booklets and pamphlets) original articles, essays, and other short works of fiction and non-fiction rejected or ignored by the media and mainstream publishers. The press was incorporated in the District of Columbia in February 1996. The name comes from the intention to price the products of the press at between five and ten dollars a copy. The press's first publication was a pamphlet entitled D.C. Governance: It's Always Been a Matter of Race and Money, issued in December 1995, and the second was a booklet with the title Annals of Investing: Steve Forbes
vs. Warren Buffett
, published in March 1996. A third, The File: A Princeton Memoir, was published in May 1996. All three have the same author: the publisher, whose business card identifies his profession as "Consulting Iconoclast." As of October 1996 the Press began to sell its publications on a subscription basis, and also through the Internet. Subscribers have now received 12 new titles. The Press currently has more than 200 subscribers, and nearly breaks even financially.
In 2000 Keeley contributed a chapter on CIA-Foreign Service Relations to the book, National Insecurity--U.S. Intelligence After the Cold War, a work recommending reforms of the CIA, published by Temple University Press
for the Center for International Policy
. Also in 2000 Keeley edited a book for the American Academy of Diplomacy
entitled First Line of Defense--Ambassadors, Embassies and American Interests Abroad that advocates greater reliance on and better funding for American diplomacy in conflict resolution and protecting our national security. Keeley also edited two yearbooks for the 50th reunion of Princeton's Class of 1951 in the year 2001.
United States Foreign Service
The United States Foreign Service is a component of the United States federal government under the aegis of the United States Department of State. It consists of approximately 11,500 professionals carrying out the foreign policy of the United States and aiding U.S...
, from 1956 to 1989. He served three times as Ambassador: to Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
(1985–89), Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...
(1980–84), and Mauritius
Mauritius
Mauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar...
(1976–78). In 1978-80 he was Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, in charge of southern and eastern Africa.
Earlier in his career he had assignments as Deputy Chief of Mission in Cambodia
Cambodia
Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...
(1974–75) and Uganda
Uganda
Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...
(1971–73), and as Deputy Director of the Interagency Task Force for the Indochina Refugees (1975–76). His other foreign postings were as Political Officer in Jordan
Jordan
Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...
, Mali
Mali
Mali , officially the Republic of Mali , is a landlocked country in Western Africa. Mali borders Algeria on the north, Niger on the east, Burkina Faso and the Côte d'Ivoire on the south, Guinea on the south-west, and Senegal and Mauritania on the west. Its size is just over 1,240,000 km² with...
, and Greece. In Washington he served as Congo (Zaire)
Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a state located in Central Africa. It is the second largest country in Africa by area and the eleventh largest in the world...
desk officer, and as alternate director for East Africa. At his retirement in 1989 Keeley held the rank of Career Minister.
The same year he received the Christian Herter
Christian Herter
Christian Archibald Herter was an American politician and statesman; 59th governor of Massachusetts from 1953 to 1957, and United States Secretary of State from 1959 to 1961.-Early life:...
Award from the American Foreign Service Association
American Foreign Service Association
The American Foreign Service Association is the professional association certified by the United States Department of State, the Commercial Service, Foreign Agricultural Service, and U.S. Agency for International Development to represent members of the United States Foreign Service. AFSA's history...
for "extraordinary accomplishment involving initiative, integrity, intellectual courage, and creative dissent." At other stages in his career he earned the Superior Honor Award (for Cambodia), a Presidential Citation (for the Refugee Task Force), and a Presidential Distinguished Service Award (for Zimbabwe). In 1985 he was elected President of the American Foreign Service Association. Keeley's foreign languages are French and modern Greek.
From November 1990 to January 1995 Ambassador Keeley served as President of the Middle East Institute
Middle East Institute
The Middle East Institute is a non-partisan think tank and cultural center in Washington, DC. Founded in 1946, MEI is the oldest institution in Washington dedicated exclusively to the study of the Middle East. Its founder, architect and philanthropist George Camp Keiser, assembled a team of...
in Washington, a private, non-profit educational and cultural institution founded in 1946 to foster greater understanding in the United States of the countries of the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
region from Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
to Central Asia
Central Asia
Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...
.
Early life, education, and military service
Keeley was born in Beirut, Lebanon, where his late father, American diplomat James Hugh Keeley, Jr.James Hugh Keeley, Jr.
James Hugh Keeley, Jr. was an American diplomat. He graduated from the American University of Beirut in 1931. He served in the United States Foreign Service from 1920 until his retirement in the early 1960s, most notably as the United States' second envoy to the newly independent nation of...
, was serving as the American Consul. Keeley was educated in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
, Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
, and the United States. He graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
in 1951, with a major in English literature under the Special Program in the Humanities. His senior thesis was a novel with a critical preface, the first such "creative writing" undergraduate dissertation authorized. He did graduate work at Princeton in English, and later, while in the Foreign Service
United States Foreign Service
The United States Foreign Service is a component of the United States federal government under the aegis of the United States Department of State. It consists of approximately 11,500 professionals carrying out the foreign policy of the United States and aiding U.S...
, he held graduate fellowships at Stanford
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
and at Princeton in public and international affairs. He did his military service in the U.S. Coast Guard
United States Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard is a branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven U.S. uniformed services. The Coast Guard is a maritime, military, multi-mission service unique among the military branches for having a maritime law enforcement mission and a federal regulatory agency...
during the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
(1953–55) as commanding officer of an 83-foot patrol boat.
Family
Keeley is married to the former Louise Benedict Schoonmaker and they have two children. Michal, the daughter, a 1976 graduate of Princeton in psychology, is an editor. Chris, the son, earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in photography from the Corcoran School of Art in 1988 and a Master's in Social Work from Catholic UniversityThe Catholic University of America
The Catholic University of America is a private university located in Washington, D.C. in the United States. It is a pontifical university of the Catholic Church in the United States and the only institution of higher education founded by the U.S. Catholic bishops...
in 1997, and is an artist and licensed social worker currently working for the D.C. Government in child welfare services while also engaged in drug abuse counseling on his own time. Both live in the Washington area.
Affiliations
Keeley's current affiliations are: the Cosmos ClubCosmos Club
The Cosmos Club is a private social club in Washington, D.C., founded by John Wesley Powell in 1878. In addition to Powell, original members included Clarence Edward Dutton, Henry Smith Pritchett, William Harkness, and John Shaw Billings. Among its stated goals is "The advancement of its members in...
of Washington, the American Foreign Service Association
American Foreign Service Association
The American Foreign Service Association is the professional association certified by the United States Department of State, the Commercial Service, Foreign Agricultural Service, and U.S. Agency for International Development to represent members of the United States Foreign Service. AFSA's history...
, Diplomatic and Consular Officers Retired, the Princeton Club
Princeton Club
The Princeton Club is a group of clubs which aims to serve the alumni and faculty of Princeton University along with their spouses and families. There are many active Princeton Clubs across the United States and throughout the world.-List of Princeton Clubs:...
of Washington, the Washington Institute of Foreign Affairs, the Literary Society, and the American Academy of Diplomacy
American Academy of Diplomacy
The American Academy of Diplomacy is a private, non-profit, non-partisan, elected organization whose active membership is limited to men and women who have held positions of high responsibility in crafting and implementing American foreign policy...
.
Current work
Currently, Keeley is Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Council for the National InterestCouncil for the National Interest
The Council for the National Interest is a 501 organization in the United States advocating a "new direction for U.S. Middle East policy." With its sister organization the Council for the National Interest Foundation it works to educate about and promote what it describes as "even handed...
. In addition he works as a free-lance writer, lecturer, and consultant, based in Washington. His interests are not confined to foreign affairs, but extend to issues of domestic politics, economics, and social policy. He has written two memoirs covering portions of his career: Uganda under the rule of Idi Amin Dada (1971–73), and Greece under "the Colonels" (1966–68), both of which remain mostly unpublished because of sensitivity concerns. One chapter of the Uganda book has been published in Embassies Under Siege: Personal Accounts by Diplomats on the Front Line (Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, Georgetown University, Brassey's, 1995) entitled "Crisis Avoidance: Shutting Down Embassy Kampala, 1973."
In 1995 Ambassador Keeley founded the Five and Ten Press Inc., a publishing company whose purpose is to publish in inexpensive format (booklets and pamphlets) original articles, essays, and other short works of fiction and non-fiction rejected or ignored by the media and mainstream publishers. The press was incorporated in the District of Columbia in February 1996. The name comes from the intention to price the products of the press at between five and ten dollars a copy. The press's first publication was a pamphlet entitled D.C. Governance: It's Always Been a Matter of Race and Money, issued in December 1995, and the second was a booklet with the title Annals of Investing: Steve Forbes
Steve Forbes
Malcolm Stevenson "Steve" Forbes, Jr. is an American editor, publisher, and businessman. He is the editor-in-chief of business magazine Forbes as well as president and chief executive officer of its publisher, Forbes Inc. He was a Republican candidate in the U.S. Presidential primaries in 1996...
vs. Warren Buffett
Warren Buffett
Warren Edward Buffett is an American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. He is widely regarded as one of the most successful investors in the world. Often introduced as "legendary investor, Warren Buffett", he is the primary shareholder, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. He is...
, published in March 1996. A third, The File: A Princeton Memoir, was published in May 1996. All three have the same author: the publisher, whose business card identifies his profession as "Consulting Iconoclast." As of October 1996 the Press began to sell its publications on a subscription basis, and also through the Internet. Subscribers have now received 12 new titles. The Press currently has more than 200 subscribers, and nearly breaks even financially.
In 2000 Keeley contributed a chapter on CIA-Foreign Service Relations to the book, National Insecurity--U.S. Intelligence After the Cold War, a work recommending reforms of the CIA, published by Temple University Press
Temple University Press
Temple University Press is a university press publishing house that is part of Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.The press was founded in 1969....
for the Center for International Policy
Center for International Policy
The Center for International Policy is a non-profit public policy research and advocacy think tank with offices in Washington, D.C. and New York City. It was founded in 1975 in response to the Vietnam War. The Center describes its mission as "promoting a U.S...
. Also in 2000 Keeley edited a book for the American Academy of Diplomacy
American Academy of Diplomacy
The American Academy of Diplomacy is a private, non-profit, non-partisan, elected organization whose active membership is limited to men and women who have held positions of high responsibility in crafting and implementing American foreign policy...
entitled First Line of Defense--Ambassadors, Embassies and American Interests Abroad that advocates greater reliance on and better funding for American diplomacy in conflict resolution and protecting our national security. Keeley also edited two yearbooks for the 50th reunion of Princeton's Class of 1951 in the year 2001.