Foy David Kohler (February 15, 1908 – December 23, 1990) was an American diplomat who was the
United States Ambassador to the Soviet Union
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during the
Cuban Missile Crisis.
Early life
Kohler was born in
Oakwood, Ohio but the family moved to
Toledo when he was young. He attended the
University of Toledo
The University of Toledo (UToledo or UT) is a public research university in Toledo, Ohio. It is the northernmost campus of the University System of Ohio. The university also operates a Health Science campus, which includes the University of ...
and
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...
, where he graduated in 1931 with a BS in foreign studies.
He entered the
Foreign Service
Diplomatic service is the body of diplomats and foreign policy officers maintained by the government of a country to communicate with the governments of other countries. Diplomatic personnel obtains diplomatic immunity when they are accredited to o ...
and served in
Windsor (Canada),
Belgrade (Yugoslavia), and
Bucharest (Romania). He married Phyllis Penn of
Greensboro, North Carolina
Greensboro (; formerly Greensborough) is a city in and the county seat of Guilford County, North Carolina, United States. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, third-most populous city in North Carolina after Charlotte, North Car ...
in Bucharest in 1935.
Later they served in
Athens (Greece)
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh List ...
,
Cairo (Egypt),
Vietnam
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
, and
Bolivia.
[U.S. Ministers and Ambassadors to Russia](_blank)
, American Embassy, Moscow
At the end of World War II, Kohler served as the assistant chief of the Foreign Service's Division of Near Eastern Affairs.
Kohler studied Russian at
Cornell University
Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...
in 1946 and then had his first tour in
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...
from 1947-49 working for Ambassador
Walter Bedell Smith
General Walter Bedell "Beetle" Smith (5 October 1895 – 9 August 1961) was a senior officer of the United States Army who served as General Dwight D. Eisenhower's chief of staff at Allied Forces Headquarters (AFHQ) during the Tunisia Campai ...
.
[Kohart, Georgia]
Foy David Kohler Obituary
Defiance Ohio Crescent-News January 28, 2001
Ambassador to the Soviet Union
Following a tour as Director of
Voice of America
Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is the state-owned news network and international radio broadcaster of the United States of America. It is the largest and oldest U.S.-funded international broadcaster. VOA produces digital, TV, and radio content ...
, in September 1962 President
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...
named Kohler Ambassador to the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
. He and his wife moved to
Spaso House, the U.S. Ambassador’s residence in Moscow, and began a complete remodeling of the mansion.
In just a few weeks the
Cuban Missile Crisis began and Kohler found himself engaged in defusing a serious international crisis. The Americans had found that the Soviets were placing nuclear missiles in Cuba. Soviet Premier Khrushchev was not well acquainted with Kohler, and what little Khrushchev did know about him he disliked. As a result, there was little that Kohler could have done to influence Khrushchev one way or another. Even so, Kohler proved useful by efficiently transmitting important messages between the White House and the Kremlin.
After two weeks of tension over the risk of escalation,
Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and chairman of the country's Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. During his rule, Khrushchev s ...
agreed to remove the missiles.
The experience convinced both sides of the need for better communications. On June 20, 1963, the two countries agreed to set up a continuous connection over a secure transatlantic cable, as a "
hot line
A hotline is a point-to-point communications link in which a call is automatically directed to the preselected destination without any additional action by the user when the end instrument goes off-hook. An example would be a phone that automa ...
" for use in times of emergency.
On August 5, 1963, the
Limited Test Ban Treaty
The Partial Test Ban Treaty (PTBT) is the abbreviated name of the 1963 Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapon Tests in the Atmosphere, in Outer Space and Under Water, which prohibited all test detonations of nuclear weapons except for those conducted ...
, which banned nuclear testing in the atmosphere, under water, or outer space, was signed in Moscow.
Limited Test Ban Treaty (1963)
/ref> This was to be the first in a series of arms control agreements between the superpowers.
On March 6, 1967, Kohler received word that Svetlana Alliluyeva, the daughter of former Soviet leader Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...
had decided to defect to the U.S. in New Delhi
New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament Ho ...
. He had the responsibility to inform the Soviets via their Ambassador to the U.S., Anatoly Dobrynin
Anatoly Fyodorovich Dobrynin (russian: Анато́лий Фёдорович Добры́нин, 16 November 1919 – 6 April 2010) was a Soviet statesman, diplomat, and politician. He was the Soviet ambassador to the United States for more than ...
.
Kohler retired from the foreign service in 1967 with the personal rank of Career Ambassador.
After government service
The Kohlers moved to Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
and he became a professor of international studies at the Center for Advanced International Studies of the University of Miami
The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, i ...
.
He died December 23, 1990. He and Phyllis never had children.
He was a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, Beta Gamma Sigma
Beta Gamma Sigma () is the International Business Honor Society. Founded in 1913 at the University of Wisconsin, University of Illinois and the University of California, it has over 980,000 members, selected from more than 600 collegiate chapters i ...
, Delta Upsilon
Delta Upsilon (), commonly known as DU, is a collegiate men's fraternity founded on November 4, 1834 at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It is the sixth-oldest, all-male, college Greek Letter Organizations#Greek letters, Greek-let ...
, and Phi Beta Kappa
The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal ...
.
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kohler, Foy D.
Cold War diplomats
United States Career Ambassadors
Ohio State University College of Arts and Sciences alumni
People from Paulding County, Ohio
Ambassadors of the United States to the Soviet Union
20th-century American diplomats
1990 deaths
1908 births