Douglas Henderson (ambassador)

Douglas Henderson (October 15, 1914 – July 14, 2010) was an American diplomat, economist and government official. He was the United States Ambassador to Bolivia during Marxist revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara's ill-fated 1966-1967 guerrilla insurgency in that country.

Douglas Henderson was born in Newton, Massachusetts on October 15, 1914. He was one of seven children and grew up in the nearby town of Weston, Massachusetts in a home built by his father, a professional carpenter. Henderson's family was hit hard by the Great Depression and following his graduation at age 16 from Weston High School in 1931 he worked several odd-jobs to support his family before he was able to obtain a scholarship to attend Boston University where he studied economics, graduating Phi Beta Kappa in 1940. The following year he went on to receive a master's degree in law and diplomacy from the Fletcher School at Tufts College in Medford, Massachusetts and participated in the Ph.D program there while also employed as an instructor of history. Following America’s entry into World War II he left the university to pursue a diplomatic career, joining the United States Foreign Service in 1942. That same year he married Dorothy Frances, a dietician from Winthrop, Massachusetts.

Henderson’s initial diplomatic assignments saw him appointed to various consular posts in Latin America: Nogales, Mexico (1942–1943) Arica, Chile (1943) and Cochabamba, Bolivia (1943–1947). Henderson was next posted to the Department of Commerce in Washington, DC where he worked as a financial analyst for the American Republics Branch of the Office of International Economics (1947–1950). It was while serving in this position that he authored a significant section of President Harry S. Truman's 1949 inaugural address which laid the groundwork for the creation of the State Department's so-called "Point Four Program", designed to increase the sharing of American scientific and industrial expertise with underdeveloped countries. Following his service at the Commerce Department, Henderson was appointed First Secretary of the US Embassy in Bern, Switzerland (1950–1956). He returned to the United States after being named Assistant Director of the State Department's Economic Defense Administration (1956–1959). After participating in the Foreign Service Institute’s Senior Officers’ Training Course, Henderson was next assigned to the American embassy in Lima, Peru first as the Chief Economics Officer (1960–1962) and later promoted to the position of Chargé d'affaires (1962–1963). When the Peruvian military overthrew the pro-American government of Manuel Prado in a July 1962 coup, the administration of President John F. Kennedy responded by withdrawing its ambassador, leaving Henderson as the de facto chief of the US embassy in Lima. His skillful and competent service in the tumultuous months following the coup, during which US-Peruvian relations were severely strained, brought Henderson to the attention of his superiors in Washington. On November 8, 1963 Henderson was appointed to serve as United States Ambassador to Bolivia by President John F. Kennedy. His appointment was reconfirmed by President Lyndon B. Johnson following Kennedy’s assassination later that same month, making him the first American graduate of the Fletcher School to achieve the rank of ambassador.

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