Llewellyn thompson biography

Llewellyn Thompson

American diplomat

Llewellyn E. Thompson

In office
January 23, 1967 – January 14, 1969
PresidentLyndon B. Johnson
Preceded byFoy D. Kohler
Succeeded byJacob D. Beam
In office
July 16, 1957 – July 27, 1962
PresidentDwight David Eisenhower
John F. Kennedy
Preceded byCharles E. Bohlen
Succeeded byFoy D. Kohler
In office
September 4, 1952 – July 9, 1957
PresidentDwight D. Eisenhower
Preceded byWalter J. Donnelly
Succeeded byH. Freeman Matthews
In office
October 3, 1962 – December 26, 1966
PresidentJohn F. Kennedy
Born(1904-08-24)August 24, 1904
Las Animas, Colorado
DiedFebruary 6, 1972(1972-02-06) (aged 67)
Bethesda, Maryland
SpouseJane Monroe Goelet
Alma materUniversity of Colorado at Boulder
ProfessionArtist
AwardsPresident's Award for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service (1962)

Llewellyn E. "Tommy" Thompson Jr. (August 24, 1904 – February 6, 1972) was an American diplomat. He served in Sri Lanka,&#

Notes:

[1] Jenny Thompson and Sherry Thompson, The Kremlinologist: Llewellyn E Thompson, America’s Man in Cold War Moscow (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press), 2.

[2] US Department of State, “Llewellyn E. Thompson Jr. (1904–1972),” Office of the Historian, Foreign Service Institute, https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/people/thompson-llewellyn-e.

[3] Thompson’s relatively early death and laconic personality contributed to his relative obscurity, whereas “Kennan lived to be 101, and during his long life he wrote a large number of books and articles about Russia and the Soviet Union, including two volumes of memoirs,” according to Mark Kramer in the introduction of James Goldgeier, et al., “Cold War Adviser: Llewellyn Thompson and the Making of U.S. Policy toward the Soviet Union,” Journal of Cold War Studies 21, no. 3 (2019): 222.

[4] Ibid., 235.

[5] Kramer, the editor of the Journal of Cold War Studies (MIT Press), rates this work as a “solid scholarly analysis”—see Ibid., p. 223. Robert Scheer, editor of Truthdig, describes the biography as a “firs

Archives

About Oral History

Digital Identifier

JFKOH-LET-01

Interviewee(s)

Thompson, Llewellyn E., 1904-1972

Biographical Note

(1904 - 1972) Ambassador to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (1957 - 1962); US Ambassador-at-large (1962 - 1966)

Interviewer(s)

Access Restriction Status

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Description

This interview focuses on communication between John F. Kennedy [JFK] and Chairman Khrushchev, JFK’s capabilities as President, and counsel to JFK regarding the Soviet Union, among other issues.

Date(s) of Materials

Copyright Status

Donated to the United States

Series

Series 1. John F. Kennedy Oral History Interviews, 1964-2012.

Preferred Citation

Llewellyn E. Thompson, recorded interview by Elizabeth Donahue, March 25, 1964, (page number), John F. Kennedy Library Oral History Program.

Use Restriction Note

Some of the archival materials in this collection may be subject to copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Users of these materials are advised to determine the copyright status of any document f

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