Charles Francis Darlington, Jr. (September 13, 1904 – April 11, 1986)Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014 (database on-line). Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2011. was an American diplomat and economist. He was United States Ambassador to Gabon from 1961 to 1964. Darlington was ambassador to Gabon during the 1964 coup d'état. He published books on his experiences in Africa including ''African Betrayal'' (1968).

Early life and career

Darlington was born September 13, 1904, in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

. He earned an undergraduate degree from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

and traveled overseas to pursue graduate studies at

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and the

University of Geneva The University of Geneva (French: ''Université de Genève'') is a public university, public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded in 1559 by French theologian John Calvin as a Theology, theological seminary. It rema ...

. Darlington served as a gold expert in the economic and financial section at the

League of Nations The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...

headquarters in

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

, from 1928 to 1931. Shortly after, he worked at the

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Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

. Upon returning to the US in 1935, Darlington served the

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as assistant chief of the Division of Trade Agreements until 1939. He then served as foreign exchange manager for the

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Overseas Corporation until 1942. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Darlington saw action in North Africa and Italy, as a lieutenant commander in the Navy. After the war, he spent 15 years as an international oil executive. Darlington was named Ambassador to Gabon by President Kennedy in 1961 and served in the post for four years. He was a part of JFK's last official White House meeting on November 21, 1963.

References

1904 births 1986 deaths Ambassadors of the United States to Gabon Harvard University alumni People from Manhattan {{US-diplomat-stub