Covey Thomas Oliver (April 21, 1913 – February 22, 2007) was a United States diplomat and law professor.

Early life and education

Oliver was born in

Laredo, Texas Laredo ( ; ) is a city in and the county seat of Webb County, Texas, United States, on the north bank of the Rio Grande in South Texas, across from Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico. Laredo has the distinction of flying seven flags (the flag of th ...

on April 21, 1913. His father, Pheneas Covey, was a rancher, and his mother, Jane Thomas Covey, was a schoolteacher. Oliver was educated at the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

, graduating in 1933. He then attended the

University of Texas School of Law The University of Texas School of Law (Texas Law) is the law school of the University of Texas at Austin. Texas Law is consistently ranked as one of the top law schools in the United States and is highly selective—registering the 8th lowest ac ...

, graduating in 1936.

Career

Upon graduating, Oliver began teaching at the

, but his job was interrupted in 1939, because of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. Because of it, Oliver moved to

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

to join the Board of Economic Warfare. In this capacity, he later served in Spain, where he was responsible for buying raw materials to keep them out of enemy hands. Oliver left the

United States Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government responsible for the country's fore ...

in 1949, becoming professor of

international law International law (also known as public international law and the law of nations) is the set of rules, norms, and standards generally recognized as binding between states. It establishes normative guidelines and a common conceptual framework for ...

at the

UC Berkeley School of Law The University of California, Berkeley, School of Law (commonly known as Berkeley Law or UC Berkeley School of Law) is the law school of the University of California, Berkeley, a public research university in Berkeley, California. It is one of 1 ...

. While teaching at Berkeley, he was also himself a student at

Columbia Law School Columbia Law School (Columbia Law or CLS) is the law school of Columbia University, a private Ivy League university in New York City. Columbia Law is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the world and has always ranked i ...

and received an S.J.D. in 1953. He taught at Berkeley until 1956 when he joined the faculty of the

University of Pennsylvania Law School The University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School (also known as Penn Law or Penn Carey Law) is the law school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is among the most selective and oldes ...

. In 1962,

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...

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 ...

appointed Oliver to the Inter-American Juridical Committee of the Organization of American States. In 1964, President

Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...

nominated Oliver as

United States Ambassador to Colombia The following is a list of ambassadors of the United States, or other chiefs of mission, to Colombia and its predecessor states. The title given by the United States State Department to this position is currently ''Ambassador Extraordinary and Mi ...

and he subsequently served in this post from August 13, 1964, until August 29, 1966. President Johnson then nominated Oliver as

Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs The Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs is the head of the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs within the United States Department of State, the foreign affairs department of the United States federal government. The Assi ...

and Oliver held this office from July 1, 1967, until December 31, 1968, serving concurrently as director of the

Alliance for Progress The Alliance for Progress ( es, Alianza para el Progreso, links=no), initiated by U.S. President John F. Kennedy on March 13, 1961, ostensibly aimed to establish economic cooperation between the U.S. and Latin America. Governor Luis Muñoz Marí ...

. In July 1968, Oliver said that "to speak of fair prices is a medieval concept, for we are in the era of free trade". Oliver left government service in 1969, returning to the University of Pennsylvania Law School. Throughout his career, he advocated U.S. adherence to international law, the

United Nations Charter The Charter of the United Nations (UN) is the foundational treaty of the UN, an intergovernmental organization. It establishes the purposes, governing structure, and overall framework of the UN system, including its six principal organs: the ...

, and the

World Court The International Court of Justice (ICJ; french: Cour internationale de justice, links=no; ), sometimes known as the World Court, is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN). It settles disputes between states in accordanc ...

. Oliver taught at the University of Pennsylvania Law School until his retirement in 1978, serving briefly as acting dean of the law school in 1978.

Retirement and death

After his retirement, for three years, Oliver taught at

Rice University William Marsh Rice University (Rice University) is a private research university in Houston, Texas. It is on a 300-acre campus near the Houston Museum District and adjacent to the Texas Medical Center. Rice is ranked among the top universities ...

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

, Texas. He then served as visiting professor at the American University and was an editor of the ''

American Journal of International Law ''The American Journal of International Law'' is an English-language scholarly journal focusing on international law and international relations. It is published quarterly since 1907 by the American Society of International Law (ASIL). The ''Jo ...

''. He was a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the American Law Institute,

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 ...

and the

Order of the Coif The Order of the Coif is an honor society for United States law school graduates. The name is a reference to the ancient English order of advocates, the serjeants-at-law, whose courtroom attire included a coif—a white lawn or silk skullcap, whi ...

. Oliver spent the rest of his life in

Inverness, California Inverness is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in western Marin County, California, United States. It is located on the southwest shore of Tomales Bay northwest of Point Reyes Station and about by road northwest of Sa ...

and Easton, Maryland. He died at his home in Easton on February 22, 2007.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oliver, Covey 1913 births 2007 deaths United States Assistant Secretaries of State People from Laredo, Texas University of Texas School of Law alumni Columbia Law School alumni University of California, Berkeley faculty University of Pennsylvania Law School faculty Rice University faculty American University faculty Ambassadors of the United States to Colombia People from Inverness, California People from Easton, Maryland Presidents of the American Society of International Law