Landau, George W., 1920-

American diplomat; ambassador to Paraguay, 1972-1977, Chile, 1977-1982, and Venezuela, 1982-1985.

Biographical/Historical Note

George W. Landau was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1920. He became a naturalized citizen of the United States of America in 1943. In 1942, he joined the United States Army as a private and had achieved the rank of Captain by the end of his active duty in 1947. His fluency in German and his Austrian origin made him valuable to the United States Military Intelligence Service in Austria during World War II. In 1947, Landau became an active reserve officer until he retired as a Colonel in 1975.

From 1942 to 1955, George W. Landau was an assistant vice-president at Inta-Mar Shipping Corp, in charge of the Latin-American Division of the international freight forwarder. In 1955, he worked in Colombia as the general manager of a distributor for Chrysler. In 1957, he entered the Foreign Service of the U.S. Department of State and was stationed in Montevideo, Uruguay, as the commercial attaché and chief of the economic section until 1962. From 1962 to 1965 he worked as the supervising political officer in Madrid, Spain. He attended the Canadian National Defense College in Ontario from 1965-1966.

Between 1966 and 1972, Landau worked as the country director in the Office of Spanish and Portuguese Affairs at the State Department in Washington. He became the ambassador to Paraguay in 1972 and remained there until 1977. His career as ambassador to Paraguay was marked by the controversy surrounding the Letelier Case. Orlando Letelier, the former Chilean defense minister in the government of Salvador Allende, was assassinated in Washington, DC in 1976. Landau served as the ambassador to Chile from 1977 until 1982. His career in Chile was defined by his involvement in the resolution of the Beagle Channel Conflict between Chile and Argentina regarding control of islands and waterways strategically located off the southern edge of Tierra del Fuego. He was nominated as the ambassador to Guatemala in 1980, but the nomination was aborted. Landau served as the ambassador to Venezuela from 1982 to 1985.

From 1985 to 1993, he was the President of the Council of the Americas and Americas Society. During his time with the council he served on the boards of several private companies with interests in South America. In 1993, Landau retired as President of the council and moved to Florida with his wife, Mary Landau.