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George V. Allen

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This article is about the American diplomat George Venable Allen. For the British vice-chancellor, see George Vance Allen. American diplomat (1903–1970)
George V. Allen
1924 Duke University Senior Yearbook Photo
US Ambassador to Iran
In office
April 23, 1946 – February 17, 1948
PresidentHarry S. Truman
Preceded byWallace Murray
Succeeded byJohn C. Wiley
US Ambassador to Yugoslavia
In office
October 27, 1949 – March 11, 1953
PresidentHarry S. Truman
Preceded byCavendish W. Cannon
Succeeded byJames Williams Riddleberger
US Ambassador to India
In office
March 11, 1953 – November 30, 1954
PresidentDwight D. Eisenhower
Preceded byChester Bowles
Succeeded byJohn Sherman Cooper
US Ambassador to Nepal
In office
March 11, 1953 – November 30, 1954
PresidentDwight D. Eisenhower
Preceded byChester Bowles
Succeeded byJohn Cooper
US Ambassador to Greece
In office
July 26, 1956 – November 13, 1957
PresidentDwight D. Eisenhower
Preceded byCavendish W. Cannon
Succeeded byJames Williams Riddleberger
3rd Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern, South Asian, and African Affairs
In office
January 26, 1955 – August 27, 1956
Preceded byHenry A. Byroade
Succeeded byWilliam M. Rountree
3rd Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs
In office
March 31, 1948 – November 28, 1949
Preceded byWilliam Benton
Succeeded byEdward W. Barrett
Personal details
Born(1903-11-03)November 3, 1903
Durham, North Carolina
DiedJuly 11, 1970(1970-07-11) (aged 66)
Bahama, North Carolina
Alma materDuke University

George Venable Allen (November 3, 1903 – July 11, 1970) was a United States diplomat. He served as ambassador to Iran during the crisis of 1946 and was involved in managing US relations amid the Cold War with the Soviet Union. He was involved in expanding activities of the Voice of America, exporting culture and increasing US participation in the UNESCO.

Early life and career

Born in Durham, North Carolina, son of a merchant Thomas Ellis Allen and Harriet Moore, he attended Duke University—then known as Trinity College—graduating in 1924 and from Harvard University in 1929. He worked briefly as a high school teacher between 1924 and 1928 and as a newspaper reporter for the Asheville Times and Durham Herald.

He joined the Foreign Service in 1930 working first as vice consul in Kingston, Jamaica and later in Shanghai, China; Patras, Greece; and Cairo, Egypt. He served as U.S. Ambassador to Iran from 1946 to 1948. During this period he worked on preventing a Soviet-Iran oil agreement and led to the Iranian prime minister Ahmad Qavam dropping communist cabinet members. He also helped build ties with Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, playing weekly tennis matches with the monarch. He served as Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs from 1948 to 1949, U.S. Ambassador to Yugoslavia from 1949 to 1953, United States Ambassador to India and Nepal 1953–1954. While in India he, along with Dwight D. Eisenhower, supported India's rival Pakistan with military support as a deterrent against Soviet relations with India. He then served as Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern, South Asian, and African Affairs from 1953 to 1954, U.S. Ambassador to Greece 1956–1957, and Director of the U.S. Information Agency from 1957 to 1960. In 1960, Allen was named Career Ambassador.

Allen was president of the Tobacco Institute from 1960 to 1966. He defended the tobacco industry as early reports of links between cigarette smoking and cancer began to emerge.

In 1966, Allen returned to the State Department as the Director of the Foreign Service Institute. He retired in 1968.

Personal life

Despite working in the private sector from 1960-1966, Allen remained involved in foreign affairs. From 1961-1962, Allen was on the Committee on Foreign Affairs Personnel which was involved in Cold War anticommunism. He was also the President of Diplomatic and Consular Officers, Retired (DACOR) in April of 1964.

Allen appeared as himself, while serving as the Director of the Foreign Service Institute, on the February 6, 1967 episode of the game show To Tell the Truth. He deceived none, receiving all four votes from the panel.

He married Katharine Martin in 1934, author of a self-published book on their lives overseas, Foreign Service Diary. They had three children, George V. Allen, Jr., John M. Allen and Richard A. Allen, all lawyers in Washington, D.C. He died at Bahama, North Carolina and is interred in Rock Creek Cemetery in Washington D.C.

Notes

  1. "The Chanticleer [serial]". Retrieved 2015-10-18.
  2. "George V. Allen". nndb.com. Retrieved 2015-10-18.
  3. Merrill, D. (2000). "Allen, George Venable (1903-1970), diplomat". American National Biography. doi:10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.0700005.
  4. "George Venable Allen". Office of the Historian.
  5. "George V. Allen, U.S.I.A Director, Named Tobacco Institute President" (Press release). Hill and Knowlton. 1960-11-11. Retrieved 2008-08-02.
  6. "Former Senator Earle C. Clements Named Tobacco Institute President" (Press release). Tobacco Institute. 1966-02-23. Retrieved 2008-08-02.
  7. UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff, v. PHILIP MORRIS USA INC., f/k/a PHILIP MORRIS INC., et al., Defendants" (PDF). justice.gov.
  8. "George V. Allen Is Dead at 66; One of 16 Career Ambassadors". The New York Times. 1970-07-12. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-11-02.
  9. "George Allen Sworn As Head of Foreign Service Institute". State Department Newsletter: 19. March 1966 – via Hathitrust.
  10. "To Tell the Truth". CBS. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21. Retrieved April 27, 2020.
  11. Latimer, Rebecca H. (April 1968). "No Red Carpet". The Foreign Service Journal: 41.

External links

Diplomatic posts
Preceded byWallace Murray U.S. Ambassador to Iran
1946–1948 		Succeeded byJohn C. Wiley
Preceded byCavendish W. Cannon U.S. Ambassador to Yugoslavia
1949–1953 		Succeeded byJames Williams Riddleberger
Preceded byChester Bowles U.S. Ambassador to India
Also accredited to Nepal
1953–1954 		Succeeded byJohn Sherman Cooper
Preceded byCavendish W. Cannon U.S. Ambassador to Greece
1956–1957 		Succeeded byJames Williams Riddleberger
Government offices
Preceded byWilliam Benton Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs
March 31, 1948 – November 28, 1949 		Succeeded byEdward W. Barrett
Preceded byHenry A. Byroade Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern, South Asian, and African Affairs
January 26, 1955 – August 27, 1956 		Succeeded byWilliam M. Rountree
United States ambassadors to Iran Iran
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Diplomatic relations suspended since 1979 (See: Iran hostage crisis)
United States ambassadors to Greece Greece
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(1974–present)
United States ambassadors to India India
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