Robert Halsey Pelletreau Jr. (born July 9, 1935) is an American former diplomat who was

United States Ambassador to Bahrain The United States ambassador to Bahrain is the official representative of the president of the United States to the head of state of Bahrain. The current Ambassador to Bahrain is Steven C. Bondy who has been serving since 9 February 2022. Unti ...

(1979–1980),

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

(1987–1991), and

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

(1991–1993), as well as the former

Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs The assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs is the head of the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs within the United States Department of State. The assistant secretary guides the operation of the U.S. diplomatic establishment in vario ...

. He currently sits on the U.S. Advisory Council of the

Israel Policy Forum The Israel Policy Forum is an American Jewish organization that works for a negotiated two-state outcome to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict through advocacy, education and policy research. The organization appeals to American policymakers in ...

. He is also a member of the

American Academy of Diplomacy The American Academy of Diplomacy is a private, nonprofit, non-partisan, elected organization whose active membership is limited to men and women who have held positions of high responsibility in crafting and implementing American foreign policy. ...

and

Council on Foreign Relations The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an American think tank focused on Foreign policy of the United States, U.S. foreign policy and international relations. Founded in 1921, it is an independent and nonpartisan 501(c)(3) nonprofit organi ...

Early years

Robert H. Pelletreau was born July 9, 1935, in Patchogue, New York. After graduating from Yale University (B.A., 1957), he served in the United States Navy Reserve from 1957 to 1958. Later he attended Harvard Law School (LL.B., 1961).

Career

Ambassador Robert H. Pelletreau entered the

Foreign Service Foreign Service may refer to: * Diplomatic service, the body of diplomats and foreign policy officers maintained by the government of a country * United States Foreign Service, the diplomatic service of the United States government **Foreign Service ...

in 1962. From 1973 to 1975 Ambassador Pelletreau was a Political Officer in

Algiers, Algeria Algiers is the capital city of Algeria as well as the capital of the Algiers Province; it extends over many communes without having its own separate governing body. With 2,988,145 residents in 2008Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Stat ...

; and served in several capacities in Jordan, Lebanon, Mauritania and Morocco. He became Deputy Chief of Mission in

Damascus, Syria Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...

in 1975. He remained in that position until 1978. A year later he became the Ambassador to the State of Bahrain until 1980. He became the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Near East and South Asia at the

Pentagon In geometry, a pentagon () is any five-sided polygon or 5-gon. The sum of the internal angles in a simple polygon, simple pentagon is 540°. A pentagon may be simple or list of self-intersecting polygons, self-intersecting. A self-intersecting ...

, 1980–1981. He was Country Director for Arabian Peninsula Affairs at the

Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs ...

, 1981–1982, and from 1983–1985 the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs at the Department of State. He appeared before the Subcommittee on Europe and the Middle East of the House Foreign Affairs Committee on September 26, 1983, addressing ''Major U.S. Interests in the Middle East''. He was Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense from 1985–1987. Afterwards, he was Ambassador to the Republic of Tunisia from 1987 to 1991. Prior to his most recent position, Ambassador Pelletreau had served as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Arab Republic of Egypt on July 31, 1991. Mr. Pelletreau, Jr. was sworn in as Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs on February 18, 1994.

Family

Pelletreau is married and has three children.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pelletreau, Robert H. 1935 births Living people Ambassadors of the United States to Egypt Ambassadors of the United States to Bahrain Yale University alumni Harvard Law School alumni Center for Contemporary Arab Studies faculty Ambassadors of the United States to Tunisia Assistant secretaries of state for Near Eastern affairs United States Foreign Service personnel 20th-century American diplomats