Cabot, John M. (John Moors), 1901-1981

John M. Cabot was born on December 11, 1901, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. During his career, Cabot was a United States Ambassador to five nations between 1954 and 1965, spending much time in Latin America. During his forty-one year career in the Foreign Service, Cabot served as Assistant Secretary of State for Latin American Affairs during the Eisenhower Administration, Consul General in Shanghai, China until its communist takeover, and as charge d'affaires in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. There it is believed that Cabot's work was responsible for the division between Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union, thus preventing Yugoslavia's communization. After retiring in 1966, Cabot served as a lecturer and consultant on law, diplomacy, and foreign service at Tufts University in Massachusetts and at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. His books include two volumes describing his experiences in the foreign service, Toward Our Common American Destiny and The First Line of Defense. He also wrote The Racial Conflict in Transylvania. Cabot died on February 23, 1981, in Washington, D.C.

Biographical Note John Moors Cabot was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts on December 11, 1901. The son of prominent Bostonians, Godfrey Lowell and Maria Moors Cabot, John Cabot attended Browne & Nichols School (Cambridge) and the Pomfret School (Connecticut). He graduated from Harvard University in 1923 (A.B.), and from Brasenose College, of Oxford University in 1925 (B.Litt). In 1926, Cabot joined the United States Foreign Service and eventually served as an ambassador to Sweden, Columbia, Brazil, and Poland, among other prominent diplomatic appointments in Peru, the Dominican Republic, the Netherlands, Mexico, China, Guatemala, Yugoslavia, and Argentina. In 1956, Cabot received an honorary doctorate degree from Tufts University and spoke at the commencement ceremony. He retired from government service in 1966 and began lecturing at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, as well as the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. Cabot died in February 1981.