William M. Rountree

William Manning Rountree, Jr. (March 28, 1917 – November 3, 1995) was an American diplomat.

William M. Rountree (left) and Laudo Natel, governor of São Paulo state, 1971.
Arquivo Público do Estado de São Paulo

He was born in Swainsboro, Georgia to William Manning Rountree, Sr. and Clyde Branan Rountree on March 28, 1917. William Sr. died when his son, the youngest in a family of seven children, was eighteen months old. The family moved to Atlanta when William Jr. was six, where he attended high school. After graduating from high school in 1935, Rountree got a job with the United States Department of the Treasury where he held various clerical and accounting positions. He later became involved with the lend-lease program.[1]

In 1942 he transferred to the United States Department of State and was assigned to Cairo, Egypt where he helped organize World War II aid programs. This led to a long diplomatic career in which Rountree specialized in the Middle East and South Asia. During 1948 and 1949 he was assigned to the U.S. Embassy in Athens, Greece, where he helped administer U.S. aid programs to the Greek army which was fighting Communist insurgents. He later held positions in Turkey and Iran. In 1956 he became Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern, South Asian and African Affairs. In this position he helped develop U.S. policy involving the Suez crisis in November 1956 and the U.S. intervention in Lebanon in 1958. Rountree served as Ambassador to Pakistan (1959–62), Sudan (1962–65), South Africa (1965–70), and Brazil (1970–73). He retired in May 1973 and settled in Gainesville, Florida, where he died of cancer on November 3, 1995.[2]

References
  1. Johnson, Niel M. (September 20, 1989). "Oral History Interview with William M. Rountree". Harry S Truman Presidential Library. Retrieved September 13, 2015.
  2. "W. M. Rountree, 78, A U.S. Ambassador From 1959 to 1973". New York Times. November 8, 1995. Retrieved September 13, 2015.
Government offices
Preceded by
George V. Allen		 Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern, South Asian, and African Affairs
August 30, 1956 – July 6, 1959		 Succeeded by
G. Lewis Jones
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by
James M. Langley		 United States Ambassador to Pakistan
1959–1962		 Succeeded by
Walter P. McConaughy
Preceded by
James S. Moose, Jr.		 United States Ambassador to Sudan
1962–1965		 Succeeded by
William H. Weathersby
Preceded by
Joseph C. Satterthwaite		 United States Ambassador to South Africa
1966–1970		 Succeeded by
John G. Hurd
Preceded by
Charles Burke Elbrick		 United States Ambassador to Brazil
1970–1973		 Succeeded by
John Hugh Crimmins
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