Nathaniel Davis, American diplomat, died from cancer he was , 86

Nathaniel Davis  served in the United States Foreign Service and the Peace Corps for 36 years died from cancer he was , 86.

(April 12, 1925 – May 16, 2011)

Early years

Davis was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He graduated from Brown University in 1944. That year he obtained a commission as an ensign in the U.S. Navy. He served aboard the aircraft carrier Lake Champlain until 1946. He taught at the The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and received his doctorate there in 1960.

Diplomatic career

Davis joined the foreign service in 1947. From 1962 to 1965, he was an assistant to Peace Corps director Sargent Shriver and eventually became the deputy director. He left the Peace Corps in 1965.
He served as Lyndon Johnson's senior advisor on Soviet and Eastern European affairs, and as the Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs in the Ford administration from 1975-1976. He also served as the United States Envoy to Bulgaria (1965–1966), and Ambassador to Guatemala (1968–1971), Ambassador to Chile (1971–1973), and Ambassador to Switzerland (1976–1977) and Director General of the Foreign Service (1973–1975), among other postings.

Resignation

Main article: Operation IA Feature

Operation IA Feature, a covert Central Intelligence Agency operation, authorized U.S. government support for Jonas Savimbi's UNITA and Holden Roberto's FNLA militants in Angola. President Gerald Ford approved the program on July 18, 1975 despite strong opposition from officials in the State Department, most notably Davis, and the CIA. Two days prior to the program's approval Davis told Henry Kissinger, the Secretary of State, that he believed maintaining the secrecy of IA Feature would be impossible. Davis correctly predicted the Soviet Union would respond by increasing its involvement in Angola, leading to more violence and negative publicity for the United States. When Ford approved the program Davis resigned.^[2] John Stockwell, the CIA's station chief in Angola, echoed Davis' criticism saying the program needed to be expanded to be successful, but the program was already too large to be kept out of the public eye. Davis' deputy and former U.S. ambassador to Chile, Edward Mulcahy, also opposed direct involvement. Mulcahy presented three options for U.S. policy towards Angola on May 13, 1975. Mulcahy believed the Ford administration could use diplomacy to campaign against foreign aid to the Communist MPLA, refuse to take sides in factional fighting, or increase support for the FNLA and UNITA. He warned however that supporting UNITA would not sit well with Mobutu Sese Seko, the ruler of Zaire.^[3][4][5]

Lawsuit

When the film, Missing was released by Universal Studios in 1982, Davis, then the United States Ambassador to Chile from 1971 to 1973, filed a USD $150 million libel suit against the director and the studio. Although he was not named directly in the movie (he had been named in the book). The court eventually dismissed Davis's suit. The film was removed from the market during the lawsuit but re-released upon dismissal of the suit. ^[6]

Academia, retirement, and death

Between 1977-1983 he taught at the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, where one of his students was Oliver North.^[7] He was the Alexander and Adalaide Hixon Professor of the Humanities Emeritus at Harvey Mudd College where he taught political science from 1983 until his retirement in 2002.^[8][9] On May 16, 2011, David succumbed to cancer at age 86 in Claremont, California.^[7]

 

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