Atherton, Alfred Leroy, Jr., 1921-2002

<objectXMLWrap>
<container xmlns="">
<filename>/data/source/findingAids/nyu/tamwag/photos_223.xml</filename>
<ead_entity en_type="persname">Atherton, Alfred L.</ead_entity>
</container>
</objectXMLWrap>

<p>May 08, 1979</p>

<p>The President today announced that he will nominate Alfred L. Atherton, Jr., of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States to the Arab Republic of Egypt. He would succeed Hermann F. Eilts, who is retiring from the Foreign Service.</p>

<p>Atherton is currently Ambassador at Large at the State Department.</p>

<p>He was born November 22, 1921, in Pittsburgh, Pa. He received a B.S. in 1944 and an M.A. in 1947 from Harvard University. He served in the U.S. Army from 1943 to 1945.</p>

<p>Atherton joined the Foreign Service in 1947, and served in Stuttgart, Bonn, Damascus, and Aleppo. From 1959 to 1961, he was Iraq-Jordan desk officer, then Officer in Charge for Cyprus, in the Bureau of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs at the State Department.</p>

<p>In 1961-62 Atherton took advanced economic studies at the University of California at Berkeley. From 1962 to 1965, he was economic officer in Calcutta, and from 1965 to 1966, he was Deputy Director of the Office of Near Eastern Affairs at the State Department.</p>

<p>In 1966 and 1967, Atherton was Country Director for Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria. From 1967 to 1970, he was Country Director for Israel and Arab-Israel Affairs.</p>

<p>From 1970 to 1974, Atherton was Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs. From 1974 to 1978, he was Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs. Since 1978 he has been Ambassador at Large.</p>

<p>Alfred L. Atherton Jr., 80, a Foreign Service officer and Middle East expert who helped in the negotiations that led to the 1978 Camp David peace accords between Israel and Egypt, died Oct. 30 at Sibley Memorial Hospital of complications related to cancer surgery.</p>
<p>Mr. Atherton served 38 years in the Foreign Service before retiring in 1985, and his career also included four years as ambassador to Egypt and four years as assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern and South Asian affairs. In this role, he directed one of the State Department's more critical sections, with responsibility not only for Arab-Israeli disputes but also the hostility between India and Pakistan.</p>
<p>As a Middle East peace negotiator, he was said to have been able to understand and articulate the historic grievances of Israelis and Palestinians and had the trust of both sides. In 1978, President Jimmy Carter named him ambassador-at-large for Middle East negotiations, and he spent two years as an air shuttle diplomat traveling between Middle Eastern capitals. </p>
<p>As ambassador to Egypt from 1979 to 1983, Mr. Atherton presided over what then was the largest U.S. diplomatic mission in the world, with a staff of 872 Americans and 500 Egyptians. In the wake of the Camp David accords, hundreds of Americans were dispatched to Cairo to help administer $1.5 billion a year in military and economic assistance that flowed from the United States after Egyptian President Anwar Sadat's agreement to make peace with Israel. In October 1981, midway through Mr. Atherton's tenure as ambassador, Sadat was assassinated by a commando group led by an Egyptian Army lieutenant. </p>
<p>Mr. Atherton, a resident of Washington, was born in Pittsburgh. He gradated from Harvard University and served in the Army in Europe during World War II. </p>
<p>He joined the Foreign Service in 1947, and in early assignments served in Germany, Syria and India, in addition to postings in Washington. He received a master's degree in economics from the University of California at Berkeley. </p>
<p>In the Foreign Service, he had a reputation as a tireless worker who routinely was in his office by 7:30 a.m. and rarely left before 8 o'clock at night. He worked Saturdays and parts of Sundays and was fiercely loyal to the Foreign Service as an institution. </p>
<p>In a widely publicized 1976 incident, he stepped forward to take public responsibility for leaking classified material to a magazine writer for an article on secret talks between Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger and Middle Eastern leaders. Within the State Department, it was widely suspected that Mr. Atherton had in fact taken a fall for Kissinger, but this was denied by Deputy Undersecretary of State Lawrence S. Eagleburger, who conducted an official inquiry into the leak. </p>
<p>The State Department made a public announcement that Mr. Atherton had been "severely reprimanded" by Kissinger. But the reprimand appeared to have little or no impact on Mr. Atherton's career. Shortly thereafter, Kissinger invited Mr. Atherton to lunch with the Israeli foreign minister for a discussion of important aspects of U.S. policy in the Middle East. Two years later, Carter named Mr. Atherton an ambassador. </p>
<p>Mr. Atherton's final two Foreign Service posts before retiring with the rank of career ambassador were director general of the Foreign Service and director of personnel for the State Department.</p>
<p>In his personal life, Mr. Atherton, who was known to friends and colleagues as "Roy," was a camera enthusiast who took hundreds of slide photographs at family gatherings and in his travels around the world. He had an extraordinary memory for names and faces. Family members recall an incident not long ago when Mr. Atherton was stopped in a Giant Food parking lot on Wisconsin Avenue by a man who addressed him as "Mr. Ambassador." Mr. Atherton had not seen the man in 20 years, but he addressed him by name and inquired after his wife and children. The man was the former chauffeur of the Egyptian ambassador in Washington. </p>
<p>On retiring from the Foreign Service, Mr. Atherton was director for six years of the Harkness Fellowship program of the Commonwealth Fund of New York, which subsidizes fellowships in the United States for people from the British Isles, Australia and New Zealand. </p>
<p>From 1989 to 1998, he was director of the Una Chapman Cox Foundation, which awards fellowships to Foreign Service officers.</p>
<p>He wrote articles for the op-ed pages of newspapers and was a visiting professor on Middle Eastern affairs at Hamilton, Mount Holyoke and Birmingham Southern colleges. </p>
<p>He was a member of All Souls Unitarian Church in Washington.</p>
<p>Survivors include his wife of 56 years, Betty Wylie Atherton of Washington; three children, Lynne Dat of Dallas, Reed Atherton of Albuquerque and Michael Atherton of Dallas, Ore.; three grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.</p>

<p>Career Foreign Service Officer</p>
<p>States of Residence: Florida, Pennsylvania</p>
<p>1. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs</p>
<p>Appointed: April 25, 1974 </p>
<p>Entry on Duty: April 27, 1974 </p>
<p>Termination of Appointment: April 13, 1978 </p>
<p>2. Ambassador at Large </p>
<p>Appointed: April 7, 1978 </p>
<p>Entry on Duty: April 11, 1978 </p>
<p>Termination of Appointment: May 22, 1979 </p>
<p>3. Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary (Egypt) </p>
<p>Appointed: May 17, 1979 </p>
<p>Presentation of Credentials: July 2, 1979 </p>
<p>Termination of Mission: Left post on November 12, 1983 </p>
<p>4. Career Ambassador </p>
<p>Appointed: December 11, 1981 </p>
<p>5. Director General of the Foreign Service </p>
<p>Appointed: November 18, 1983 </p>
<p>Entry on Duty: December 2, 1983 </p>
<p>Termination of Appointment: December 28, 1984</p>

<p>Alfred Leroy "Roy" Atherton Jr. (November 22, 1921 – October 30, 2002) was a United States Foreign Service Officer and diplomat. He served as United States Ambassador to Egypt in 1979–1983.</p>

<p>Early life: Atherton was born November 22, 1921, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy. He received a B.S. in 1944 and an M.A. in 1947 from Harvard University. He served in the U.S. Army from 1943 to 1945.</p>

<p>Diplomatic career: Atherton joined the U.S. Foreign Service in 1947, and served in Stuttgart, Bonn, Damascus, and Aleppo. From 1959 to 1961, he was Iraq-Jordan desk officer, then Officer in Charge for Cyprus, in the Bureau of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs at the State Department.</p>
<p>In 1961-62 Atherton took advanced economic studies at the University of California at Berkeley. From 1962 to 1965, he was economic officer in Calcutta, and from 1965 to 1966, he was Deputy Director of the Office of Near Eastern Affairs at the State Department.</p>
<p>In 1966 and 1967, Atherton was Country Director for Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria.</p>
<p>From 1967 to 1970, he was Country Director for Israel and Arab-Israel Affairs.</p>
<p>From 1970 to 1974, Atherton was Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs. From 1974 to 1978, he was Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs. He was a member of the U.S. negotiating team at the Camp David summit in September 1978. The summit produced the Camp David Accords. He served as United States Ambassador to Egypt from 1979 to 1983.</p>
<p>From 1991 to 1992, Atherton served at Hamilton College as Sol M. Linowitz Visiting Professor of Government. There, he taught a small seminar on the history and dynamics of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
<p>He died at Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington, in 2002.</p>

<p>Career timeline:</p>
<p>1983-1985 US State Department Director General of the Foreign Service</p>
<p>1979-1983 US Ambassador to Egypt</p>
<p>1978-1979 US Ambassador at Large</p>
<p>1974-1978 US Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs</p>
<p>1970-1974 US State Department Deputy Asst. Secy. for Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs </p>
<p>1967-1970 US State Department Country director for Israel and Arab-Israel Affairs </p>
<p>1966-1967 US State Department Country director for Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria </p>
<p>1965-1966 US State Department Deputy Director of the Office of Near Eastern Affairs </p>
<p>1962-1965 US State Department Economic Officer, Calcutta </p>
<p>1959-1961 US State Department Iraq-Jordan Desk, International Relations Office </p>
<p>1956-1959 US State Department Consul, Aleppo </p>
<p>1952-1956 US State Department Second Secretary-Vice Consul, Damascus </p>
<p>1949-1952 US State Department Political Reports Office, Bonn </p>
<p>1947-1949 US State Department Vice Consul, Stuttgart</p>

<p>BIOGRAPHY OF Alfred L. ATHERTON, JR.</p>
<p>Position for which considered: Ambassador to the Arab Republic of Egypt.</p>
<p>Present position: Ambassador at Large.</p>
<p>Office address: Department of State, Washington, D.C.</p>
<p>Born: November 22, 1921, Pittsburgh, Pa.</p>
<p>Legal residence: Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.</p>
<p>Marital status: Married.</p>
<p>Family: Wife: former Betty Wylie; children, Lynne, Michael, and Reed.</p>
<p>Education: B.S. 1944, M.A. 1947, Harvard University.</p>
<p>Language ability: German and French.</p>
<p>Experience:</p>
<p>Military, 1943–45: U.S. Army, first lieutenant.</p>
<p>Government:</p>
<p>1947: Appointed FS0-6.</p>
<p>1947-49: Consular, political officer, Stuttgart:</p>
<p>1949-52: Political officer, Bonn. </p>
<p>1951: FS0-5. </p>
<p>1953-56: Political officer, Damascus. </p>
<p>1954: FSO-4. </p>
<p>1956: FS0-5. </p>
<p>1957–58: Principal officer, Aleppo. </p>
<p>1958: FSO-4. </p>
<p>1959-61: Iraq-Jordan desk officer, then officer in charge for Cyprus, Bureau of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs.</p>
<p>1961-62: Advanced economic studies, University of California at Berkeley.</p>
<p>1962: FSO-3. </p>
<p>1962-65: Economic officer, Calcutta. </p>
<p>1965-66: Deputy Director, Office of Near Eastern Affairs, Bureau of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs.</p>
<p>1966-67: Country Director for Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria.</p>
<p>1967–70: Country Director for Israel, Arab-Israel Affairs. </p>
<p>1969: FS0-1. </p>
<p>1970–74: Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs.</p>
<p>1974: FSO-career minister.</p>
<p>1974–78: Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs.</p>
<p>1978 to present: Ambassador at Large.</p>
<p>Awards: National Civil Service Award, Superior Honor Award, 1971 (Department of State).</p>
<p>Membership: Council on Foreign Relations</p>