Christopher Hallowell Phillips (December 6, 1920 – January 10, 2008) was an American diplomat and politician who served as

United States Ambassador to Brunei The United States ambassador to Brunei is the official representative of the president of the United States and the Federal government of the United States, American government to the House of Bolkiah, monarch and government of Brunei. The positio ...

and was a member of the

Massachusetts Senate The Massachusetts Senate is the upper house of the Massachusetts General Court, the bicameral state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The Senate comprises 40 elected members from 40 single-member senatorial districts in the st ...

Early life

Phillips was born on December 6, 1920, to

William William is a masculine given name of Germanic languages, Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman Conquest, Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle ...

and Caroline Astor (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Drayton) Phillips (1880–1965) at the American Legation in

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

. His siblings included Beatrice Schermerhorn Phillips (1914–2003), who married Rear Adm. Elliott Bowman Strauss (1903-2003), William Phillips, Jr. (1916–1991), who married Barbara Holbrook (1915–1997), Drayton Phillips (1917–1985), who married Evelyn Gardiner, and Anne Caroline Phillips (1922–2016), who married John Winslow Bryant (1914–1999). Phillips father twice served as

United States Under Secretary of State Under Secretary of State (U/S) is a title used by senior officials of the United States Department of State who rank above the United States Assistant Secretary of State, Assistant Secretaries and below the United States Deputy Secretary of State, ...

and was the U.S. ambassador to

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

, and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. Phillips was a member of the Boston Brahmin family and his ancestors included the first

Mayor of Boston The mayor of Boston is the head of the municipal government in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Boston has a mayor–council government. Boston's mayoral elections are nonpartisan (as are all municipal elections in Boston), and elect a m ...

John Phillips, abolitionist

Wendell Phillips Wendell Phillips (November 29, 1811 – February 2, 1884) was an American abolitionist, labor reformer, temperance activist, advocate for Native Americans, orator, and attorney. According to George Lewis Ruffin, a black attorney, Phillip ...

, and

Phillips Academy Phillips Academy (also known as PA, Phillips Academy Andover, or simply Andover) is a Private school, private, Mixed-sex education, co-educational college-preparatory school for Boarding school, boarding and Day school, day students located in ...

and

Phillips Exeter Academy Phillips Exeter Academy (often called Exeter or PEA) is an Independent school, independent, co-educational, college-preparatory school in Exeter, New Hampshire. Established in 1781, it is America's sixth-oldest boarding school and educates an es ...

founders Samuel Phillips, Jr., and John Phillips. He was a descendant of the Rev. George Phillips of Watertown, the progenitor of the New England Phillips family in America. Through his mother, Phillips was a grandson of Charlotte Augusta Astor (1858–1920) and J. Coleman Drayton (1852–1934), and a great-grandson of William Backhouse Astor Jr. (1829–1892) and Caroline Webster Schermerhorn (1830–1908). Phillips attended a number of schools during his youth, including

Avon Old Farms Avon Old Farms School is a boarding school for boys located in Avon, Connecticut, United States. Theodate Pope Riddle, one of America's first female architects, founded the school in 1927. History The school's conception dates to a few year ...

. In 1939, he enrolled in

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate education, undergraduate college of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Part of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Scienc ...

but left the school after his freshman year to attend

Montana State University Montana State University (MSU) is a public land-grant research university in Bozeman, Montana, United States. It enrolls more students than any other college or university in the state. MSU offers baccalaureate degrees in 60 fields, master's d ...

and work on a ranch as a cowboy.

Career

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Phillips then served four years in the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

. During the Allied

Occupation of Japan Japan was occupied and administered by the Allies of World War II from the surrender of the Empire of Japan on September 2, 1945, at the war's end until the Treaty of San Francisco took effect on April 28, 1952. The occupation, led by the ...

, Phillips established food distribution policies. In 1946, Phillips returned to Harvard. He graduated with the class of 1948 and wanted to go into politics, however, he took a job as a City Hall reporter the ''Beverly Evening Times'' instead to support his wife and 2-year-old daughter.

Political career

In 1948, Beverly Mayor Daniel E. McLean convinced Phillips to run for a seat in the Massachusetts Senate. Phillips defeated incumbent J. Elmer Callahan in the Republican primary and was reelected twice, serving until 1953.

Diplomatic service

During the 1952 presidential election, Phillips served on the Massachusetts Eisenhower for President Committee. In October 1953, Phillips resigned his Senate seat to serve as the deputy to the Assistant Secretary of State for United Nations Affairs. On October 15, 1954, Phillips was appointed Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Affairs. Phillips left the State Department in 1957 following his appointment as vice chairman of

United States Civil Service Commission The United States Civil Service Commission was a government agency of the federal government of the United States. It was created to select employees of federal government on merit rather than relationships. In 1979, it was dissolved as part of ...

, under Chairman

Harris Ellsworth Mathew Harris Ellsworth (September 17, 1899 – February 7, 1986) was an American newspaperman and politician who served six terms as a Republican U.S. congressman from Oregon from 1943 to 1957. He subsequently served as chairman of the United St ...

, a former

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

from Oregon. In 1958, he returned to the State Department when he was appointed by President Eisenhower as the United States Representative to the

United Nations Economic and Social Council The United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) is one of six principal organs of the United Nations, responsible for coordinating the economic and social fields of the organization, specifically in regards to the fifteen specialized ...

. He was confirmed by the

U.S. Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and House have the authority under Article One of the ...

on January 29, 1958. In this role, he sponsored a proposal for a worldwide inventory of the investments, and results achieved so far, in technical assistance to less developed nations by the International Bank for Recovery and Development and the

International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution funded by 191 member countries, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. It is regarded as the global lender of las ...

. He also supported a resolution favoring freedom of information, including

freedom of the press Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the fundamental principle that communication and expression through various media, including printed and electronic Media (communication), media, especially publication, published materials, shoul ...

. In 1970, President

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until Resignation of Richard Nixon, his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican ...

nominated Phillips to serve as the Deputy Permanent Representative of the United States to the

United Nations Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, an ...

, serving under the Permanent Representative of the United States,

Charles W. Yost Charles Woodruff Yost (November 6, 1907 – May 21, 1981) was a career U.S. Ambassador who was assigned as his country's representative to the United Nations from 1969 to 1971. Early life and education Yost was born in Watertown, New York. ...

. Previous to that, he was deputy to the previous Permanent Representative William B. Buffum, who left to become the U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon. Phillips served in that role until 1973. From 1973 until his retirement in 1986, he served as founding president of the U.S.-China Business Council. On October 10, 1989, president

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushBefore the outcome of the 2000 United States presidential election, he was usually referred to simply as "George Bush" but became more commonly known as "George H. W. Bush", "Bush Senior," "Bush 41," and even "Bush th ...

appointed Phillips to serve as the United States Ambassador to Brunei succeeding Thomas C. Ferguson. He presented his credentials on November 28, 1989, and remained in this position until he left his post on October 31, 1991, and himself was succeeded by

Donald Ensenat Donald Burnham Ensenat (born February 4, 1946) is a retired American diplomat. Until his retirement in 2007, he served as United States Chief of Protocol at the United States Department of State. Personal Ensenat is a native of New Orleans, Lou ...

. Following his retirement, he became a trustee of the

American Institute in Taiwan The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT; ) is the ''de facto'' embassy of the United States of America in Taiwan. AIT is a wholly owned subsidiary of the federal government of the United States in Taiwan with Congressional oversight. The AIT was ...

Personal life

While in Montana, he met Mabel Bernice Olsen (1919–1995), whom he married in 1943. She served as president of the United Nations Delegations Women's Club, a cultural, philanthropic and social organization, from 1971 to 1973. Together, they had three children before her death in 1995: * Victoria P. Phillips * Miriam O. Phillips * David W. Phillips On November 29, 1997, Phillips remarried to Sydney (née Watkins) Osborne at Ascension Memorial Church in Ipswich. Sydney was a real-estate broker who was the daughter of the Alida W. Watkins and Julian L. Watkins. Her previous marriage ended in divorce. Phillips died on January 10, 2008, at the Addison Gilbert Hospital in

Gloucester, Massachusetts Gloucester ( ) is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. It sits on Cape Ann and is a part of North Shore (Massachusetts), Massachusetts's North Shore. The population was 29,729 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. Census. ...

, due to complications from a stomach ulcer. At the time of his death, Phillips was living in

Ipswich, Massachusetts Ipswich is a coastal town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 13,785 at the 2020 census. Home to Willowdale State Forest and Sandy Point State Reservation, Ipswich includes the southern part of Plum Island. A res ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Phillips, Christopher H 1920 births 2008 deaths Phillips family (New England) Christoper

Christopher Christopher is the English language, English version of a Europe-wide name derived from the Greek language, Greek name Χριστόφορος (''Christophoros'' or ''Christoforos''). The constituent parts are Χριστός (''Christós''), "Jesus ...