Charles Appleton Meyer (June 27, 1918 – August 15, 1996) was a

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

executive Executive ( exe., exec., execu.) may refer to: Role or title * Executive, a senior management role in an organization ** Chief executive officer (CEO), one of the highest-ranking corporate officers (executives) or administrators ** Executive dir ...

who served 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 As ...

from 1969 to 1973.

Biography

Meyer was born in 1918 and attended

Phillips Academy Phillips Academy (also known as PA, Phillips Academy Andover, or simply Andover) is a Private school, private, Mixed-sex education, co-educational college-preparatory school for Boarding school, boarding and Day school, day students located in ...

, graduating in 1935.Phillips Academy Alumni Profile
He then attended

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate education, undergraduate college of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Part of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Scienc ...

, graduating in 1939. After college, Meyer took a job with

Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co., commonly known as Sears ( ), is an American chain of department stores and online retailer founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosen ...

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. Meyer rose through the ranks at Sears to become Vice President responsible for Sears' operations in

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

. His first foray into government service came in 1960 when

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. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionar ...

appointed Meyer as one of six members of the National Advisory Committee on Inter-American Affairs."The Americas: Ike's Eyes and Ears", ''Time'', Mar. 14, 1960
/ref> This committee, headed by Milton S. Eisenhower, was designed to be Eisenhower's "eyes and ears" in Latin America and traveled throughout the region meeting with Latin American leaders. Meyer continued working as a Sears executive until March 1969, when President

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until Resignation of Richard Nixon, his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican ...

appointed him

.Profile from State Department Office of the Historian
/ref> Meyer held this office from April 2, 1969 until March 2, 1973. As Assistant Secretary, Meyer has been accused of intervening in the 1970 Chilean election; Meyer denied that this was the case, saying that the U.S. State Department "financed no candidates, no political parties before or after September 4

970 Year 970 ( CMLXX) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar, the 970th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' designations, the 970th year of the 1st millennium, the 70th year of the 10th century, and the 1st year ...

" Meyer left the State Department in 1973 and returned to Sears, where he worked as an executive until his retirement in 1980. He also served on the board of directors of

Lake Forest College Lake Forest College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Lake Forest, Illinois. Founded in 1857 as Lind University by a group of Presbyterian ministers, the college has been coeducatio ...

. Lake Forest College awarded Meyer an

honorary degree An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...

in 1983.List of Individuals Awarded Honorary Degrees by Lake Forest College

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Meyer, Charles A. 1918 births 1996 deaths United States assistant secretaries of state Phillips Academy alumni Harvard College alumni Sears Holdings people 20th-century American businesspeople