William B. Edmondson

William Brockway Edmondson (February 6, 1927 – December 5, 2013) was an American diplomat in the United States Foreign Service, who served as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States to the Republic of South Africa from 1978-1981.

Edmondson was born in St. Joseph, Missouri, but spent his formative years in Nebraska. After graduating from high school in Peru, Nebraska, he joined the U.S. Army, serving from 1944 to 1948 and reaching the rank of First Lieutenant. He received an A.B. from the University of Nebraska in 1950 and an M.A. from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in 1951.

Edmondson joined the United States Department of State as an intern in 1951. Later that same year he married the former Donna Elizabeth Kiechel, whom he had met at the University of Nebraska. In 1952 he was appointed as Vice Consul and deputy principal officer in Dar es Salaam, Tanganyika, where he served from 1953 to 1955. From 1955 to 1957, he was economic officer in Bern, Switzerland. In 1957-58, he pursued African area studies at Northwestern University.

From 1958 to 1960 Edmondson was an intelligence research specialist at the State Department. In 1960 and 1961 he was acting chief of the West Africa Division of the Bureau of Intelligence and Research. He was political officer in Accra, Ghana from 1961 to 1964, and officer in charge of Ghana affairs at the State Department from 1964 to 1965.

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