Sheldon Vance
 Sheldon Vance    (diplomat) | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | January 18, 1917 Crookston, United States |
| Died | November 12, 1995 (Age 78) Bethesda, United States |
| Alma mater | Carleton College, Harvard Law School |
| Children | Robert Vance Stephen Vance |
| Spouse | Jean Chambers |
Sheldon Baird Vance was a US diplomat. As Ambassador to Zaire, he propped up President Mobutu.
Background
He was born in Crookston, Minnesota. He studied at Carleton College from 1935-39, and Harvard Law School.[1]
Career
Vance worked in the African Bureau of the Department of State. He was deputy chief of mission in Ethiopia from 1962 to 1966, and ambassador to Chad 1967-1969.
He was the U.S. Ambassador to Zaire from May 27, 1969, through March 26, 1974. During his tenure, he developed a close relationship with President Mobutu Sese Seko, and became an ardent and vocal supporter of the President; he also supported Mobutu's aspirations for regional leadership and advocated foreign investment in Zaire[2] and "strongly recommended" that the U.S. sell M-16s to Mobutu.[3]
According to diplomats stationed in Zaire at the time, Vance "would not permit negative analyses of the Mobutu regime to be transmitted to Washington."[4] Vance's support of Mobutu continued even after he left Zaire; shortly after retiring from the State Department, he joined a law firm representing the Zairian government.[4]
He was also briefly sent back to Zaire in 1975, after his successor, Deane Hinton (who did not get along with Mobutu) was declared persona non grata, to patch up the American-Zairian relationship, which had soured considerably during Hinton's tenure.[5] Mobutu accused the CIA of being behind an assassination plot against him, by organizing tribal dissidents and preparing black Americans equipped with sophisticated weapons for a coup.[6]
Life after Zaire
Vance was a senior adviser to the secretary of state, coordinator for international narcotics matters, and executive director of the President's Cabinet Committee on International Narcotics Control (1974–1977). After retiring from the Foreign Service in 1977, he practiced international law in the Washington, D.C. law firm of Vance, Joyce, Carbaugh and Fields (1977–1989). In later years, the Vances lived in Chevy Chase, Maryland. Vance died in Bethesda, Maryland in 1995 at the age of 78.
References
- ↑ https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/mss/mfdip/2004/2004van06/2004van06.pdf
- ↑ Young, Crawford and Thomas Turner, The Rise and Decline of the Zairian State. University of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 0-299-10110-X p. 372
- ↑ Foreign Relations, 1969-1976, Volume E-6, Documents on Africa, 1973-1976
- ↑ a b Kelly, Sean. America's Tyrant: The CIA and Mobutu of Zaire. American University Press. ISBN 1-879383-17-9 p. 200
- ↑ Young and Turner, p. 373
- ↑ https://www.nytimes.com/1975/06/22/archives/envoy-denies-us-plotted-in-zaire-expelled-ambassador-says-mobutu.html
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