The Foreign Service Journal, January-February 2014

88 JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2014 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL human condition: how to understand it; how to try to improve it; and how we really mess up from time to time.” Fluent in Spanish and Russian, and an accomplished violinist, Staples was a graduate of Mexico City College. He did intensive postgraduate work in Russian at the State Department’s Foreign Service Institute and the U.S. Army “Detachment R” in Oberammergau, Germany. Staples received a number of presi- dential and other awards for his work, including the U.S. Agency for Inter- national Development Distinguished Honor Award. For his work in develop- ment as the USAID mission director in Islamabad, the Pakistan government awarded him its highest civil honor, the Quaid-e-Izam. Family and friends remember Mr. Staples as a hero and mentor, whose steadfast character, quiet strength and generous spirit touched and guided all who knew and loved him. Widowed in 1978 by the passing of his first wife, Charlotte, Staples is survived by his wife of 20 years, Judy; his three children, John Staples, Kathleen Staples and husband Darby Bannard, and Peter Staples and wife Paula; his grandchil- dren, Lt. Nathan Staples, Emily Staples, Andrew Staples and Trevor Bannard; his brother, Murray Staples (and sister- in-law Mary) of Riverside, Calif.; and his devoted nephews Richard, David, Gregory, and niece Marysue. n WilliamHealy Sullivan , 90, a retired Foreign Service officer and the last American ambassador to Iran, died on Oct. 11 of unknown causes. William Sullivan was born in Crans- ton, R.I., in 1922; his father was a dental surgeon and his mother was a school- teacher. He attended Brown University, from which he graduated as salutatorian and Class Orator, and joined the Navy in 1943. During World War II, Mr. Sullivan’s ship, the USS Hambleton, participated in the invasion of Normandy on D-Day and the siege of Okinawa, as well as the surrender of Japan in Yokohama Harbor. After the war, Mr. Sullivan received a joint graduate degree from the Fletcher School at Tufts University and Harvard University. He married a fellow Fletcher student, Marie Johnson, and joined the Foreign Service. During a 32-year Foreign Service career, Mr. Sullivan served as ambas- sador to Laos and to the Philippines, and helped initiate and coordinate the Paris Peace talks that ended American involvement in the VietnamWar. His posts included Bangkok, Calcutta and Tokyo, where he served as political adviser to General Douglas MacArthur during the American occupation and in the embassy after the occupation ended. Mr. Sullivan also served as liaison to the Sixth Fleet in Naples, and on the embassy staff in Rome and The Hague. During the Kennedy administration, he was Averell Harriman’s aide in talks in Geneva on neutrality in Laos, as well as in later negotiations with the Soviet Union on the Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and during the Cuban Missile Cri- sis. In 1964, he served briefly as deputy chief of mission in Saigon. In late 1964, at the age of 42, Mr. Sulli- van was accredited as U.S. ambassador to Laos. In an effort to limit civilian casual- ties and the potential for armed conflict there, he took an active role in directing U.S. bombing of the Ho Chi Minh Trail. This earned him the nickname “the Field Marshal,” as well as some resentment from senior officers in the U.S. military command in South Vietnam. Another aspect of his tenure in Laos was the initiation of the Paris Peace talks that led to the U.S. military departure from South Vietnam. Vientiane was one of the few cities where both the United States and North Vietnammaintained diplomatic posts, and because of Ambas- sador Sullivan’s prior contact with the Viet Cong in Thailand, he was able to open discussions that led to formal negotiations in Paris. While in Laos he also worked on negotiations that helped pave the way for diplomatic relations with China. In 1969, Amb. Sullivan left Laos and returned to the United States, where he coordinated the Paris Peace talks from positions on the National Security Coun- cil and at the State Department. Speaking of the negotiations that ultimately led to agreement, Henry Kissinger recalls: “In that small group of talented colleagues who carried unconscionably difficult burdens with such skill and panache, Bill Sullivan will always remain in my mind as the best of the best,” citing his “ability, cool competence and insights.” Amb. Sullivan served as chief of mission in the Philippines from 1973 to 1977. During the fall of Saigon in 1975, when tens of thousands of Vietnamese refugees converged on the Philippines, he helped coordinate their reception and ultimate resettlement in other countries. A significant number of the refugees came aboard ships of the former South Vietnamese navy, and the new Viet- namese government demanded that Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos refuse to receive the ships, because they belonged to the nation of Vietnam. Amb. Sullivan pointed out to Mr. Marcos that the ships were of American origin, and that the terms under which South Vietnam had acquired them dictated that should that government cease to exist, the ships reverted to U.S. ownership.