The Foreign Service Journal, March 2015

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MARCH 2015 73 in Melrose, Mass. He served in the U.S. Navy as a radio operator in the Pacific during World War II. He attended St. Michael’s College in Vermont on the G.I. Bill, graduating in 1952, and completed a master’s degree in 1954 at The Fletcher School at Tufts University in Medford, Mass. Mr. White joined the Foreign Service in 1955 and served in a variety of posi- tions related to Latin America. He was posted in Colombia, Ecuador, Honduras and Nicaragua; served as regional direc- tor of the Peace Corps; and was a U.S. representative to the Organization of American States. He was ambassador to Paraguay from 1977 to 1980, when he was transferred to El Salvador. In 1980, when El Salvador was erupt- ing in guerrilla war and military violence, the Carter administration sent Mr. White into the maelstrom as its new ambas- sador, hoping he could help the U.S.- backed government there find a reformist middle ground and prevent a full-scale revolution. Instead, Ambassador White became a controversial and outspoken critic of assassinations and massacres being carried out by American-trained military units and private death squads. His views cost him his diplomatic career, but earned him the respect of many Salva- dorans. Amb. White, who once said he was inspired to join the Foreign Service by a “quotient of idealism,” worked to promote human rights, economic reform and political negotiations between leftist rebels and El Salvador’s civil-military junta. Unable to keep silent as security abuses mounted, Amb. White began denouncing the rightist military and land-owning establishments in diplo- matic cables, then in interviews and congressional testimony. That outspoken posture drew praise from human rights groups but death threats in El Salvador. In 1981, less than two weeks after President Ronald Reagan took office, Amb. White was removed from his post after coming into conflict with Secretary of State Alexander M. Haig Jr. He soon retired from the Foreign Service after a 25-year career, asserting that he had been forced out for political reasons. Once free of the constraints of diplo- macy, Amb. White spent much of the next three decades speaking his mind on U.S. policy and official abuses in Latin America. During this time he held a series of jobs, including a professorship at Simmons College in Massachusetts and a senior associate position at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, D.C. In 1989, Amb. White was named president of the Center for International Policy, a think-tank that advocates coop- eration, transparency and accountability in global relations. It was a position he held until the time of his death. He also visited numerous countries, from Haiti to Afghanistan, with delegations to monitor elections and human rights. Amb. White was given the Colonel Donald Cook Award, bestowed on those who unselfishly give of themselves in ser- vice to others, and an honorary doctor of political science degree from Providence College in Providence, R.I. He was predeceased by his son, Kevin White, and daughter Laura White. Survivors include his wife of 59 years, Maryanne Cahill White of Alexan- dria, Va.; three children: Chris White of Manassas, Va.; Claire White of Cam- bridge, Mass.; and Mary Lou White of Evanston, Ill.; a brother, David White of Alexandria, Va.; and three grandchil- dren. n Take AFSA With You! Change your address online, visit us at www.afsa.org/ address Or Send changes to: AFSAMembership Department 2101 E Street NW Washington, DC 20037 Moving?