Pelletreau, Robert H. (Robert Halsey), Jr., 1935-

Ambassador Robert H. Pelletreau, Jr. was born July 9, 1935 in Patchogue, New York. After graduating from Yale University (B.A., 1957), he served in the United States Navy Reserve from 1957 to 1958. Later he attended Harvard Law School (LL.B., 1961). He entered the Foreign Service in 1962. From 1973 to 1975 Ambassador Pelletreau was a Political Officer in Algiers, Algeria and served in several capacities in Jordan, Lebanon, Mauritania and Morocco. He became Deputy Chief of Mission in Damascus, Syria in 1975 and remained in that position until 1978. A year later he became the Ambassador to Bahrain and served there until 1980 when he was appointed Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Near East and South Asia at the Pentagon. From 1981-1982 he was Country Director for Arabian Peninsula Affairs at the Department of State and from 1983–1985 the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs at the Department of State. He was Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense from 1985 to 1987. Afterwards, he was Ambassador to the Republic of Tunisia from 1987 to 1991 and to Egypt from 1991 until 1993. In 1994 Ambassador Pelletreau was sworn appointed Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs, a post he held until 1997.