Hare, Raymond Arthur, 1901-

Raymond Arthur Hare was born April 3, 1901 in Martinsburg, West Virginia. He graduated from Grinnell College in 1924 and became an instructor at Robert College in Istanbul, Turkey. In 1926 he worked for the American Chamber of Commerce for the Levant before returning to the United States to join the United States Foreign Service in 1927. He studied the Arabic language at the École Nationale des Langues Orientales Vivantes in Paris and went on to postings in Beirut, Lebanon and in Tehran, Iran. In 1939 he joined the U.S. embassy in Cairo where he assisted in the work of the Lend-Lease program during World War II.

After World War II Raymond Hare served assignments to the U.S. embassy in London, as an advisor at the Dumbarton Oaks Conference, and to a post in Nepal. During 1947-1949 he served in a series of roles in the Department of State headquarters in Washington, D.C. as Chief of the Division of South Asian Affairs, Deputy Director of the Office of Near Eastern and African Affairs, and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern, South Asian, and African Affairs. He was appointed the U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia September 20, 1950. On July 3, 1953 he was appointed U.S. ambassador to Lebanon before returning to Washington, D.C. to serve as Director General of the Foreign Service during 1954-1956. On August 14, 1956 he was appointed ambassador to Egypt, which became the United Arab Republic in 1958, and in 1959 was assigned a concurrent role as U.S. envoy to Yemen.

In January 1960 Ambassador Hare returned to Washington, D.C. to serve as Deputy Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs. He acheived the rank of Career Ambassador June 24, 1960. Shortly thereafter, on February 24, 1961, he was appointed U.S. ambassador to Turkey and remained in that position until August 27, 1965. He was appointed Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs on September 11, 1965.

After his retirement on November 30, 1966 he worked as president of the Middle East Institute until 1969. He died in Washington, D.C. February 9, 1994.