Foy D. Kohler
| Foy D. Kohler | |
|---|---|
 |
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| United States Ambassador to the Soviet Union | |
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In office 1962–1967 |
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| President | John F. Kennedy |
| Preceded by | Llewellyn Thompson |
| Succeeded by | Llewellyn Thompson |
| Personal details | |
| Born | February 15, 1908 Oakwood, Ohio |
| Died | December 23, 1990 Jupiter, Florida |
| Spouse(s) | Phyllis Penn |
Foy David Kohler (February 15, 1908 – December 23, 1990) was an American diplomat and career Foreign Service Officer who was Ambassador to the Soviet Union during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Kohler was born in Oakwood, Ohio but the family moved to Toledo when he was young. He attended the University of Toledo and Ohio State University, where he graduated in 1931 with a BS in foreign studies.
He entered the Foreign Service and served in Windsor (Canada), Belgrade (Yugoslavia), and Bucharest (Romania). He married Phyllis Penn of Greensboro, North Carolina in Bucharest in 1935. Later they served in Athens (Greece), Cairo (Egypt), Vietnam, and Bolivia.
Kohler studied Russian at Cornell University in 1946 and then had his first tour in Moscow from 1947-49 working for Ambassador Walter Bedell Smith.
Following a tour as Director of Voice of America, in September 1962 President John F. Kennedy named Kohler Ambassador to the Soviet Union. He and his wife moved to Spaso House, the U.S. Ambassador’s residence in Moscow, and began a complete remodeling of the mansion.
In just a few weeks the Cuban Missile Crisis began and Kohler found himself engaged in defusing a serious international crisis. The Americans had found that the Soviets were placing nuclear missiles in Cuba. After two weeks of tension over the risk of escalation, Nikita Khrushchev agreed to remove the missiles.
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Wikipedia