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Vernon A. Walters
| Vernon A. Walters | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 3 January 1917 New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Died | 10 February 2002 West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S. |
| Nativity | United States |
| Religion | Catholic |
| Known for | United States Ambassador to Germany |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Branch |  United States Army |
| ASN | 01284614 |
| Rank | Lieutenant General |
| Rank at Ritchie | Second Lieutenant |
| Camp Ritchie | Class 2 (24 August – 17 October 1942) |
| Battles / wars | World War II |
{{Needs source}}, or explain disagreements on talk. Baseline import notes: About the data.
Vernon Anthony Walters (January 3, 1917 – February 10, 2002) was a United States Army officer and a diplomat. Most notably, he served from 1972 to 1976 as Deputy Director of Central Intelligence, from 1985 to 1989 as the United States Ambassador to the United Nations and from 1989 to 1991 as Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Germany during the decisive phase of German Reunification. Walters rose to the rank of lieutenant general in the U.S. Army and is a member of the Military Intelligence Hall of Fame.
Biography
Walters was born in New York City on 43 January 1917. Vernon Walters was born January 3, 1917 in New York City. He lived abroad with his parents and attended St Louis Gonzaga School in Paris, France, and Stonyhurst College in England, His military career began on 2 May 1941 when he entered the Army as an enlisted man.
In early 1942 he attended the Officers Candidate School at Ft Benning, Georgia, and graduated as a 2d Lt of Infantry on 29 May 1942, He was assigned to the 85th Division as platoon leader of the Intelligence and Reconnaissance Platoon of Headquarters Co. Special Course for Brazilian Officers at the Command & General Staff School at Ft Leavenworth in 1943, Subsequently, he returned to Italy, serving as aide to General Mark W. After serving in Algeria and Tunisia, he returned to the United States as Chief of Section at the Intelligence School at Camp Ritchie.
Late in 1942, he was assigned to Camp Ritchie, Maryland and went overseas with the 9th Infantry Division, taking part in, the assault landing at Safi in Morocco on 8 November 1942.
Vernon Anthony Walters (January 3, 1917 – February 10, 2002) was a United States Army officer and a diplomat. He served there from 1945 to 1948, During the visits of President. In April 1948, he went to the 9th Pan American Conference at Bogota as aide to General Marshall, then Secretary of State.
Walters received the Army Commendation Ribbon, In June 1948, he was assigned to Ambassador Averell Harriman as Assistant Military Attache at Large with station in Paris, and in 1949 he was appointed Army Attache at Large. Returning to the United States with Ambassador Harriman in June 1950, he became Military Assistant to the Special Assistant to the President. In January 1951, he accompanied General Eisenhower on his visit to twelve NATO countries, and in February 1951 he was assigned to SHAPE Headquarters in Paris.
He also served as Assistant to the President at the Geneva Conference in 1953. Returning to the United States in January 1955, he was assigned to the US Element of the NATO Standing Group as Public Information Officer and Special Projects Officers. He was with Vice President Richard Nixon in 1958 when an anti-American crowd stoned their car in Caracas, Venezuela.
He attended courses at Ft Bliss, Texas, and Sandia, New Mexico and in May 1960 was ordered to Rome, Italy as Army Attache, serving there until October 1962, when he was assigned to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil as Army Attache. In 1961, he proposed an American military intervention in Italy if the Socialist Party had participated in the Government. Walters was sent to Brazil in 1962 after a meeting between President John F.
Goulart was eventually ousted in the 1964 coup that brought a military dictatorship to power for the next two decades. While serving as a military attaché in Paris from 1967 to 1972, Walters played a role in secret peace talks with North Vietnam. He had previously been chosen by Richard Nixon to be their translator/interpreter during Pompidou's 1970 trip to the United States.
Most notably, he served from 1972 to 1976 as Deputy Director of Central Intelligence, from 1985 to 1989 as the United States Ambassador to the United Nations and from 1989 to 1991 as Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Germany during the decisive phase of German Reunification. He served from 1972 to 1976 as Deputy Director of Central Intelligence, from 1985 to 1989 as the United States Ambassador to the United Nations and from 1989 to 1991 as Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Germany during the decisive phase of German Reunification. Walters himself reflected on those challenging days in his 1978 autobiography Silent Missions:
Walters was then United States Ambassador to the United Nations from 1985 to 1989 and ambassador to the Federal Republic of Germany from 1989 to 1991, being responsible on behalf of the United States for the preparations of the Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany. In 1986, he received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement. In 1987 he visited Fiji, two weeks after Timoci Bavadra came to office.
Walters rose to the rank of lieutenant general in the U.S. Army and is a member of the Military Intelligence Hall of Fame. He served as an aide and interpreter for several Presidents.
He was at President Harry S. Truman's side as an interpreter in key meetings with America's Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking Latin American allies. His language skills helped him win Truman's confidence, and he accompanied the President to the Pacific in the early 1950s, serving as a key aide in Truman's unsuccessful effort to reach a reconciliation with an insubordinate General Douglas MacArthur, the Commander of United Nations forces in Korea.
In Europe in the 1950s, Walters served President Dwight Eisenhower and other top US officials as a translator and aide at a series of NATO summit conferences. During this period he participated in the famous visit of Eisenhower to General Franco. He also worked in Paris at Marshall Plan headquarters and helped set up the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers in Europe.
Walters suffered facial cuts from flying glass. The Vice President escaped injury. In the 1960s, Walters served as a U.S.
military attaché in France, Italy, and Brazil. Kennedy and ambassador Lincoln Gordon, in which they discussed ways to sabotage or overthrow the left-wing Brazilian government of João Goulart. According to political scientist Anthony Pereira, Walters' role in the coup was an important one, yet "one that is still not fully understood due to the persistence of classified documents that have not been made public".
He arranged to smuggle National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger into France for secret meetings with a senior North Vietnamese official, and then smuggle him out again. He accomplished this by borrowing a private airplane from an old friend, French President Georges Pompidou. Despite numerous importunings from on high, [Walters] flatly refused to ...
cast a cloak of national security over the guilty parties. At the critical moment he ... refused to involve the Agency and bluntly informed the highest levels of the executive [branch] that further insistence from that quarter would result in his immediate resignation.
I told [President Nixon's White House counsel] that on the day I went to work at the CIA I had hung on the wall of my office a color photograph showing the view through the window of my home in Florida. When people asked me what it was, I told them [this] was what was waiting [for me] if anyone squeezed me too hard. During the presidency of Jimmy Carter, Walters worked as a business consultant.
He served as ambassador-at-large, visiting 108 countries. Reagan used prominent Catholics in his government such as Walters to brief the pope during the Cold War. Bavadra wanted to create a nuclear-free zone in Fiji.
had said previously about this: "a nuclear free zone would be unacceptable to the US given our strategic needs (...) the US must do everything possible to counter this movement". Walters spoke with Bavadra and Sitiveni Rabuka. Two weeks later Bavadra was overthrown by Rabuka.
Walters was a Ritchie Boy. His first assignment was with. the 187th Field Artillery at Fort Ethon Allen, Vermont.
Subsequently, he was given additional duty of Regimental S-2. For his part in this action, he was awarded the Legion of Merit and promoted to 1st Lt. While serving there, he attended the.
Clark, Commanding General of Fifth Army. Upon the arrival of the Brazilian Expeditionary Force in Italy, Captain Walters was assigned. as Combat Liaison Officer with the 1st Brazilian Infantry Division remaining with them until the end of the war.
He was then assigned as Assistant Army Attache in Brazil. Truman, General Marshall and General Eisenhower, he served as aide to interpret for them. During this conference a revolt occurred in which Fidel Castro was involved.
For his work at Bogota, Lt. At this time, he accompanied Governor Harriman to Korea and to the meeting between President Truman and General MacArthur at Wake Island. He served there as Assistant Executive for National Military representatives, and subsequently as Assistant to the Deputy Chief.
of Staff for Logistics and Administration.
He passed away February 10, 2002 at the age of 85. The election of Ronald Reagan ended Walter's first retirement from public life. During this period, additional duties as Staff Assistant to the President of the United States, accompanying General Eisenhower on all of his foreign trips.
Research notes
- Military Intellig Hall of Fame
- Career intelligence officer; Ambassador to the UN and Germany
- Portrait and summary from Notable Ritchie Boys slides (source).
Gallery
Technical record
| Field | Imported value |
|---|---|
| Approx Age at Death | 85 |
| Class_Name | Walters, Vernon A. |
| match_method | unique_name_no_asn |
| row_source | both |
Sources
- Wikipedia: Vernon A. Walters
- Camp Ritchie class roster (classes 1–31), merged research file
- NARA World War II Army enlistment records (where a NARA ASN is present)
- 1940 U.S. Census (where a census match is present)
- Ritchie Boys of WWII Facebook page, post dated 2023-01-15 (1 post)