Honorable George Platt Waller Jr. |
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George Platt Waller Jr. in 1946
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Born |
Montgomery, Alabama |
September 7, 1889
Died | February 26, 1962 | (aged 72)
Nationality | American |
Alma mater |
Marion Military Institute University of Virginia |
Occupation | United States Consul |
Years active | 1913-? |
Political party | Democratic |
Awards |
Order of the Redeemer (Knight) Luxembourg War Cross |
George Platt Waller Jr. (September 7, 1889 – February 26, 1962) was an American diplomat and the United States Chargé d'Affaires in Luxembourg during World War II.
George Platt Waller Jr. was born to George Platt and Susan Theresa Jones in Montgomery, Alabama on September 7, 1889. He was home schooled and attended public school until he enrolled in Marion Military Institute in 1905 until 1907. Afterwards he attended the University of Virginia, graduating in 1912. He worked as a principal of a high school in Chilhowie, Virginia from 1912–1913.
Waller was appointed American vice-consul in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia on 13 February 1913. From there he was appointed vice-consul in Karlsbad, Bohemia in July 1914. Waller quickly requested a transfer after Austria–Hungary entered World War I. Finding himself unable to remain neutral and yet express the sympathy necessary for a wartime post, Waller hoped to be sent to a post "in an English–speaking country outside of Canada." He wrote to his superiors that "On the other hand, by heredity, environment and ways of thought, my sympathies are, in the larger sense, fully with the Anglo Saxons and in a time like the present I am quite sure that I should be of vastly greater service among such a people." The State Department considered the request for several months, until the transfer was finally approved by Secretary of State Robert Lansing. The decision was urged by Consul Wallace J. Young and Ambassador Frederic Courtland Penfield, the latter considering Waller's attitude "seriously embarrassing." Waller was subsequently moved and served as senior vice-consul in Athens, Greece from 1915–1919.