Barrows, Leland, 1906-

Leland Judd Barrows (b. Oct. 27, 1906, Lawrence, Kan.-d. Mar. 3, 1988, Washington, D.C.) was a graduate of the University of Kansas, a U.S. government employee, and a U.S. Coast Guard veteran. He married Mabel Irene Conley on March 21, 1935. He was the frist U.S. ambasador to the West African nations of Cameroon and Togo.

American diplomat; director, United States Operations Mission, South Vietnam, 1954-1958; ambassador to Cameroon, 1960-1966.

Biographical Note

Leland J. Barrows was born in Lawrence, Kansas. He received his bachelor's and master's degrees in Political Science from the University of Kansas. Before the second world war he worked in the Department of Agriculture, and during the war was Assistant Director of the War Relocation Authority.

He joined the State Department in 1947 as Deputy Director of the Office of Informational and Educational Exchange, and served in Paris, Rome, Athens, and Saigon as Chief of the International Cooperation Administration's mission. He also served as Regional Director for the Near East and South Asia. During the years 1960-1961, he served as Ambassador to Cameroon and Togo.

Upon retiring from the State Department in 1966, he joined the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh. He also served as a senior staff member at the Research Analysis Corporation, as the assistant to the president of the Washington Technical Institute, and as a member of the Center for Strategic and International Studies at Georgetown University.

He died in Washington, D.C., on March 3, 1988.