Donald C. Rickard (2 March 1928 – 30 March 2016) was an American diplomat for the State Department and spy for the

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

. Shortly before his death, Rickard claimed to have provided the information that led to the arrest of Nelson Mandela in 1962 due to allegations of communist influence under Mandela while he was working as a

vice-consul A consul is an official representative of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, as well as to facilitate trade and friendship between the people ...

Durban Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...

, South Africa.

Early life

Donald Rickard was born in Rangoon, Burma (now

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

), on 2 March 1928 to Samuel Harmer Rickard Jr and Ada Thomas Rickard. Samuel Harmer Rickard Jr. was the Head of English Department and President of Judson College in Rangoon from 1925-4

In 1942, he and his parents and brothers had to leave the country urgently following the

Japanese invasion of Burma The Japanese invasion of Burma was the opening phase of the Burma campaign in the South-East Asian theatre of World War II, which took place over four years from 1942 to 1945. During the first year of the campaign (December 1941 to mid-1942) ...

, walking almost 200 miles to India where they made a new home. There, Donald and his brothers attended Woodstock Christian School in

Mussoorie Mussoorie is a hill station and a municipal board, near Dehradun city in the Dehradun district of the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is about from the state capital of Dehradun and north of the national capital of New Delhi. The hill s ...

. The family later moved to the San Francisco Bay area where Rickard attended Piedmont High School and then

San Jose State University San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a public university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the oldest public university on the West Coast and the founding campus of the California State University (CSU) sy ...

. After the family moved to Pennsylvania, Rickard attended

Bucknell University Bucknell University is a private liberal arts college in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1846 as the University at Lewisburg, it now consists of the College of Arts and Sciences, Freeman College of Management, and the College of Engineering ...

from where he graduated with a degree in

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

before joining the U.S. State Department.Donald C. Rickard.
'' The Pagosa Springs Sun'', 7 April 2016. Retrieved 15 May 2016.

Career

Rickard had diplomatic appointments in Burma, Saipan, Pakistan and South Africa. He also worked for the State Department in Maryland and Washington, D.C., and in 1969 was a U.S. consular officer in Seoul, South Korea. Although a CIA agent, Rickard remained officially a State Department employee. In 1958, Rickard was appointed American vice-consul in Durban, South Africa. ;Mandela’s arrest In an interview given shortly before his death to English film director

John Irvin John Irvin (born 7 May 1940) is an English film director. Born in Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland, he began his career by directing a number of documentaries and television works, including the BBC adaptation of John le Carré's '' Tinke ...

for the film '' Mandela's Gun'', Rickard claimed to have been the person who tipped-off the South African security services about the location of Nelson Mandela using information he obtained from ANC informants. The tip-off resulted in Mandela's arrest on 5 August 1962 while traveling in a car from Durban to Johannesburg and has been seen as part of the US government's campaign against the

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a social-democratic political party in South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when the first post-apartheid election install ...

which they viewed as allied with

communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a ...

. In the interview, Rickard described Mandela as "the world's most dangerous communist outside of the Soviet Union", and someone who "had to be stopped". After Mandela's arrest and conviction he was given a life sentence, serving 27 years before he was released. He went on to become South Africa's first post-

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

president in 1994. The US has long been rumored to have played an instrumental role in the 1962 arrest - the claims have been included in a number of books relating to the modern history of South Africa and Mandela's name remained on a US terror watch list until 2008 — more than a decade after he completed his term as the first president of South Africa. National spokesman for the ANC, Zizi Kodwa, called Rickard's comments "a serious indictment", going on to say "We always knew there was always collaboration between some Western countries and the apartheid regime", and asserting that the CIA was still interfering in South African politics.CIA spy tip-off led to arrest of Mandela.
''Capital News'', 16 May 2016. Retrieved 18 May 2016. Rickard retired in 1978 and spent the rest of his life in

Pagosa Springs The Town of Pagosa Springs ( Ute language: Pagwöösa, Navajo language: Tó Sido Háálį́) is a home rule municipality that is the county seat, the most populous community, and the only incorporated municipality in Archuleta County, Colorado ...

, Colorado.Former CIA spy says he helped South Africa arrest 'communist toy' Nelson Mandela.
Aislinn Laing, ''

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are popular names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, publ ...

'', 15 May 2016. Retrieved 15 May 2016.

Family

Rickard met Elaine Grove (died 2014) at Bucknell University and they married in September 1952. They had six children, Laura, Donald Rickard II, David, Diana, Nicolette, and Jennifer.

Death

Rickard died on 30 March 2016. He was survived by his six children. A memorial service was held at St. Patrick's Episcopal Church in Pagosa Springs.

References

External links