Robert Newbegin II (February 5, 1905 – November 15, 1991) was an American diplomat. Born in Bangor, Maine, he was raised in

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and graduated from

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. He entered the Foreign Service in 1929 and served in Berlin, Montevideo, Mexico City, Istanbul, Ankara, Santo Domingo, Bogota and Paris, as well as Washington. He was appointed a Foreign Service inspector in 1952, director of the Office of Middle American Affairs in the State Department in 1954 and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for personnel in 1956. Newbegin served as U.S. Ambassador to Honduras from 1958 to 1960, when he became Ambassador to Haiti. He retired from the Foreign Service in 1962, but was a State Department negotiator on the

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treaty the next year. While Ambassador to Haiti in 1961, Newbegin was recalled to Washington prior to the inauguration of dictator François Duvalier, in protest of his fraudulent election. A Marine colonel stationed in Haiti once referred to Newbegin as an "extremely decisive and strong-willed Ambassador", a judgement echoed in other sources. In a state department briefing during the recall, however, Newbegin expressed the opinion that there was no credible opposition in Haiti to Duvalier, and thus that the recall would have little positive effect. Newbegin was right, in that the US cut off economic assistance in 1962 and Duvalier appointed himself President for Life in 1964. While ambassador, Newbegin instituted a French-language training programme among US government personnel there, and urged Americans to step up their contributions to Haitian charities.Charles T. Williamson, The US Naval Mission to Haiti 1959-1963, pp. 163-170; http://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v12/d367

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Newbegin, Robert United States Department of State officials Ambassadors of the United States to Honduras Ambassadors of the United States to Haiti Yale University alumni 1905 births 1991 deaths People from Bangor, Maine United States Foreign Service personnel 20th-century American diplomats American expatriates in Germany American expatriates in Uruguay American expatriates in Mexico American expatriates in Turkey American expatriates in the Dominican Republic American expatriates in Colombia American expatriates in France