William J. Porter
Encyclopedia
William James Porter was a United States
diplomat
who from 1971 to 1973 headed the U.S. delegation to the Paris Peace Talks to end the Vietnam War
.
, England
on September 1, 1914, the son of a Royal Navy
officer who died during World War I
. After his father's death, his mother moved to Fall River, Massachusetts
to join relatives. He took a secretarial course at the Thibodeau College of Business Administration in Fall River 1930-32. Porter became a naturalized American citizen in 1936.
After a chance meeting with United States Minister to Hungary
John Flournoy Montgomery
, Montgomery invited Porter to come with him to Budapest
as his private secretary in 1936. The next year, 1937, Porter joined the United States Foreign Service
. As a Foreign Service Officer
, Porter served in Baghdad
1937-41; Beirut
1941-43; and Damascus
1943-46. While serving in Syria
, he met and married Eleanore Henry, an United States Army
nurse from Philadelphia, who was posted in Cairo
. He spent 1946-47 at the United States Department of State
in Washington, D.C.
as Palestine
Desk Officer. He returned to the field in Nicosia
1947-50. In 1951, he was special assistant to the Chief of Voice of America
, and then spent 1951-53 as Officer-in-Charge of Greek Affairs at the State Department.
Porter spent 1953-57 at the American Embassy in Rabat
; there, he was a first-hand witness to Moroccan independence in 1956. He was then the Director of the State Department's Office of North African Affairs from 1957 to 1961, and then Director of Voice of America 1961-62.
In 1962, President of the United States
John F. Kennedy
appointed Porter as the first-ever United States Ambassador to Algeria
in the wake of Algerian independence. He showed such skill in handling both French and Algerian officials that United States Ambassador to South Vietnam
Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr.
asked that Porter be assigned to Saigon. He served as Deputy Ambassador to South Vietnam from 1965 to 1967. In 1967, President Lyndon Johnson appointed Porter United States Ambassador to South Korea and Porter held this post until 1971.
In 1971, President Richard Nixon
selected Porter to replace David K. E. Bruce
as head of the U.S. delegation at the Paris Peace Talks. Before those talks were ended, in 1973, Nixon named Porter Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, with Porter holding this office from February 2, 1973 until February 18, 1974. Nixon then named Porter United States Ambassador to Canada, with Porter filling this post from March 13, 1974 until December 16, 1975.
President Gerald Ford
then selected Porter as United States Ambassador to Saudi Arabia; Porter presented his credentials on February 21, 1976 and left this post on May 27, 1977.
Porter retired to Westport Point, Massachusetts in 1977. He died of cancer
at the Rose Hawthorne Lathrop
Home in Fall River, Massachusetts on March 15, 1988.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
diplomat
Diplomat
A diplomat is a person appointed by a state to conduct diplomacy with another state or international organization. The main functions of diplomats revolve around the representation and protection of the interests and nationals of the sending state, as well as the promotion of information and...
who from 1971 to 1973 headed the U.S. delegation to the Paris Peace Talks to end the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
.
Biography
William J. Porter was born in StalybridgeStalybridge
Stalybridge is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Tameside in Greater Manchester, England, with a population of 22,568. Historically a part of Cheshire, it is east of Manchester city centre and northwest of Glossop. With the construction of a cotton mill in 1776, Stalybridge became one of...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
on September 1, 1914, the son of a Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
officer who died during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. After his father's death, his mother moved to Fall River, Massachusetts
Fall River, Massachusetts
Fall River is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, in the United States. It is located about south of Boston, southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, and west of New Bedford and south of Taunton. The city's population was 88,857 during the 2010 census, making it the tenth largest city in...
to join relatives. He took a secretarial course at the Thibodeau College of Business Administration in Fall River 1930-32. Porter became a naturalized American citizen in 1936.
After a chance meeting with United States Minister to Hungary
United States Ambassador to Hungary
This is a list of ambassadors of the United States to HungaryUntil 1867 Hungary had been part of the Austrian Empire, when the empire became Austria-Hungary. Hungary had no separate diplomatic relations with other nations...
John Flournoy Montgomery
John Flournoy Montgomery
John Flournoy Montgomery was an American businessman and diplomat. His sole diplomatic posting was as U.S. Minister to Hungary, between 1933 and 1941...
, Montgomery invited Porter to come with him to Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
as his private secretary in 1936. The next year, 1937, Porter joined the United States 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...
. As a Foreign Service Officer
Foreign Service Officer
A Foreign Service Officer is a commissioned member of the United States Foreign Service. As diplomats, Foreign Service Officers formulate and implement the foreign policy of the United States. FSOs spend most of their careers overseas as members of U.S. embassies, consulates, and other diplomatic...
, Porter served in Baghdad
Baghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
1937-41; Beirut
Beirut
Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...
1941-43; and Damascus
Damascus
Damascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...
1943-46. While serving in Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
, he met and married Eleanore Henry, an United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
nurse from Philadelphia, who was posted in Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
. He spent 1946-47 at the United States Department of State
United States Department of State
The United States Department of State , is the United States federal executive department responsible for international relations of the United States, equivalent to the foreign ministries of other countries...
in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
as Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
Desk Officer. He returned to the field in Nicosia
Nicosia
Nicosia from , known locally as Lefkosia , is the capital and largest city in Cyprus, as well as its main business center. Nicosia is the only divided capital in the world, with the southern and the northern portions divided by a Green Line...
1947-50. In 1951, he was special assistant to the Chief of Voice of America
Voice of America
Voice of America is the official external broadcast institution of the United States federal government. It is one of five civilian U.S. international broadcasters working under the umbrella of the Broadcasting Board of Governors . VOA provides a wide range of programming for broadcast on radio...
, and then spent 1951-53 as Officer-in-Charge of Greek Affairs at the State Department.
Porter spent 1953-57 at the American Embassy in Rabat
Rabat
Rabat , is the capital and third largest city of the Kingdom of Morocco with a population of approximately 650,000...
; there, he was a first-hand witness to Moroccan independence in 1956. He was then the Director of the State Department's Office of North African Affairs from 1957 to 1961, and then Director of Voice of America 1961-62.
In 1962, President of the United States
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
appointed Porter as the first-ever United States Ambassador to Algeria
United States Ambassador to Algeria
The Ambassador of the United States to Algeria is the official representative of the President of the United States to the head of state of Algeria....
in the wake of Algerian independence. He showed such skill in handling both French and Algerian officials that United States Ambassador to South Vietnam
United States Ambassador to South Vietnam
After World War II, France attempted to regain control of Vietnam, which they had lost to Japan in 1940. Following the First Indochina War, the country was split into two parts, the north and the south. The southern part was named The State of Vietnam under the leadership of Bảo Đại...
Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr.
Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr.
Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. was a Republican United States Senator from Massachusetts and a U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, South Vietnam, West Germany, and the Holy See . He was the Republican nominee for Vice President in the 1960 Presidential election.-Early life:Lodge was born in Nahant,...
asked that Porter be assigned to Saigon. He served as Deputy Ambassador to South Vietnam from 1965 to 1967. In 1967, President Lyndon Johnson appointed Porter United States Ambassador to South Korea and Porter held this post until 1971.
In 1971, President Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
selected Porter to replace David K. E. Bruce
David K. E. Bruce
David Kirkpatrick Este Bruce was an American diplomat, and the only American to serve as Ambassador to France, the Republic of Germany and the United Kingdom.-Biography:...
as head of the U.S. delegation at the Paris Peace Talks. Before those talks were ended, in 1973, Nixon named Porter Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, with Porter holding this office from February 2, 1973 until February 18, 1974. Nixon then named Porter United States Ambassador to Canada, with Porter filling this post from March 13, 1974 until December 16, 1975.
President Gerald Ford
Gerald Ford
Gerald Rudolph "Jerry" Ford, Jr. was the 38th President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977, and the 40th Vice President of the United States serving from 1973 to 1974...
then selected Porter as United States Ambassador to Saudi Arabia; Porter presented his credentials on February 21, 1976 and left this post on May 27, 1977.
Porter retired to Westport Point, Massachusetts in 1977. He died of cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
at the Rose Hawthorne Lathrop
Rose Hawthorne Lathrop
Rose Hawthorne Lathrop was an American Roman Catholic religious sister and social worker.-Biography:Born in Lenox, Massachusetts, to Nathaniel Hawthorne and his wife Sophia Peabody, she was educated in London, Paris, Rome and Florence. She married author George Parsons Lathrop in 1871; both...
Home in Fall River, Massachusetts on March 15, 1988.