Robinson McIlvaine
| Robinson McIlvaine | |
|---|---|
| United States Ambassador to Dahomey | |
|
In office 31 July 1961 – 19 March 1964 |
|
| Preceded by | R. Borden Reams |
| Succeeded by | Clinton E. Knox |
| United States Ambassador to Guinea | |
|
In office 27 October 1966 – 25 September 1969 |
|
| United States Ambassador to Kenya | |
|
In office 30 September 1969 – 4 April 1973 |
|
| Preceded by | Glenn W. Ferguson |
| Succeeded by | Anthony D. Marshall |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
17 July 1913 Downingtown, Pennsylvania |
| Died | 24 June 2001 (aged 87) Washington, DC. |
| Profession | Diplomat |
| Military service | |
| Service/branch | United States Navy |
Robinson McIlvaine (17 July 1913 – 24 June 2001) was a career US diplomat who was President of the African Wildlife Foundation from 1978 to 1982.
McIlvaine was born in Downingtown, Pennsylvania in 1913. He graduated from Harvard College. McIlvaine served in the U.S. Navy in Panama prior to the Attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. He was made commanding officer of a submarine chaser in the Guadalcanal area, and later became captain of a destroyer escort on Atlantic convoy duty, reaching the rank of Commander.
McIlvaine's first wife, Jane McClary, was a writer for the Times Herald and Fortune magazine. After they married, in 1946 McIlvaine became the owner, editor and publisher of The Archive, a Downingtown weekly that had been founded 1853 but was no longer much more than an advertising sheet, with 1,750 subscribers. Jane wrote a book about their years at the paper called It Happens Every Thursday. The book was made into a movie starring John Forsythe and Loretta Young, and then into a television series.
While an editor, McIlvaine became active in Republican politics. Leaving the paper, he joined the State Department in 1953 as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs. He held the posts of Deputy Chief of Mission in Lisbon and Director of the Inter-Departmental Seminar. He became Chairman of the U.S. Section of the Caribbean Commission.
McIlvaine was Consul General at Leopoldville in the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1960 to 1961. In July 1960 McIlvaine responded to the White House inquiry on the first President, Patrice Lumumba. He said "Lumumba is an opportunist and not a communist". In 1961 McIlvaine was appointed Ambassador to Dahomey (now Benin), holding the post until March 19, 1964. McIlvaine's name was submitted in 1966 for the post of Ambassador to Senegal, but was rejected by President Lyndon Johnson who was against having another Harvard graduate for the post. However, when his friend Averell Harriman submitted his name for Ambassador to Guinea nobody else wanted the job and he was accepted.
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