James David McGee (born 1949) is an American diplomat who served as U.S. Ambassador to Zimbabwe,

Swaziland Eswatini, formally the Kingdom of Eswatini, also known by its former official names Swaziland and the Kingdom of Swaziland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by South Africa on all sides except the northeast, where ...

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

, and

the Comoros The Comoros, officially the Union of the Comoros, is an archipelagic country made up of three islands in Southeastern Africa, located at the northern end of the Mozambique Channel in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city is Moro ...

Early life

McGee was born in

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 ...

, Illinois. He joined the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

in 1968 and in 1969, he attended the

Defense Language Institute The Defense Language Institute (DLI) is a United States Department of Defense (DoD) educational and research institution consisting of two separate entities which provide linguistic and cultural instruction to the Department of Defense, other f ...

in Monterey, California to learn

Vietnamese Vietnamese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia * Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam ** Overseas Vietnamese, Vietnamese people living outside Vietna ...

. He served with the 6994th Security Squadron flying aboard

EC-47 The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota ( RAF designation) is a military transport aircraft developed from the civilian Douglas DC-3 airliner. It was used extensively by the Allies during World War II. During the war the C-47 was used for troop ...

aircraft in Vietnam during the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

, earning three Distinguished Flying Crosses. He left the Air Force in 1974. He graduated from

Indiana University Bloomington Indiana University Bloomington (IU Bloomington, Indiana University, IU, IUB, or Indiana) is a public university, public research university in Bloomington, Indiana, United States. It is the flagship university, flagship campus of Indiana Univer ...

with a bachelor's degree in political science in 1977. He is married to Shirley Jean French McGee.Former Ambassador's to The Kingdom of Swaziland, James D. McGee
U.S. Embassy to

Foreign service

He previously served as the third Secretary and Vice Consul at the American Embassy in

Lagos Lagos ( ; ), or Lagos City, is a large metropolitan city in southwestern Nigeria. With an upper population estimated above 21 million dwellers, it is the largest city in Nigeria, the most populous urban area on the African continent, and on ...

, Nigeria from 1982 to 1984, Administrative Officer at the American Consulate General in Lahore, Pakistan from 1984 to 1986, Second Secretary and Supervisory General Services Officer at the American Embassy in The Hague,

The Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

from 1986 to 1989, Administrative Officer at the American Consulate General in Bombay, India from 1989 to 1991,

U.S. 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 o ...

's Special Assistant in the Bureau of Finance and Management Policy from 1991 to 1992, Administrative Counselor in

Bridgetown Bridgetown (UN/LOCODE: BB BGI) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Barbados. Formerly The Town of Saint Michael, the Greater Bridgetown area is located within the Parishes of Barbados, parish of Saint Michael, Barbados, Saint Mic ...

, Barbados from 1992 to 1995, Administrative Counselor at the American Embassy in

Kingston Kingston may refer to: Places * List of places called Kingston, including the six most populated: ** Kingston, Jamaica ** Kingston upon Hull, England ** City of Kingston, Victoria, Australia ** Kingston, Ontario, Canada ** Kingston upon Thames, ...

, Jamaica from 1995 to 1998, Administrative Counselor in

Abidjan Abidjan ( , ; N'Ko script, N'ko: ߊߓߌߖߊ߲߬) is the largest city and the former capital of Ivory Coast. As of the Demographics of Ivory Coast, 2021 census, Abidjan's population was 6.3 million, which is 21.5 percent of the overall population ...

, Côte d'Ivoire from 1998 to 2001, and ambassador to Swaziland from 2002 to 2004. McGee became the U.S. ambassador to Madagascar on October 24, 2004, and took on the additional role of ambassador to

on March 5, 2006.Zimbabwe: Dell replacement announced
July 26, 2007. AllAfrica.
July 25, 2007. New Zimbabwe. McGee was confirmed by the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

in October 2007 and succeeded

Christopher Dell Christopher William Dell (born 1956) is an American diplomat who served as the U.S. ambassador to Angola, Zimbabwe, and Kosovo. Early life and education Born in Hackensack, New Jersey, Dell moved with his family to Holmdel Township, New Jersey ...

as U.S. Ambassador to Zimbabwe, serving in that position from 2007 to 2009. James McGee was threatened with expulsion from Zimbabwe by the president,

Robert Mugabe Robert Gabriel Mugabe (; ; 21 February 1924 – 6 September 2019) was a Zimbabwean revolutionary and politician who served as Prime Minister of Zimbabwe from 1980 to 1987 and then as President from 1987 to 2017. He served as Leader of th ...

, after McGee had told the press of politically inspired attacks by Mugabe's government against political activists in anticipation of the run-off election between Mugabe and his rival,

Morgan Tsvangirai Morgan Richard Tsvangirai (; ; 10 March 1952 – 14 February 2018) was a Zimbabwean politician who was Prime Minister of Zimbabwe from 2009 to 2013. He was president of the Movement for Democratic Change, and later the Movement for Democrati ...

References

External links

Amb. McGee's Department of State Bio
* {{DEFAULTSORT:McGee, James D. 1949 births Living people 20th-century African-American people 21st-century African-American people 21st-century American diplomats Ambassadors of the United States to Madagascar Ambassadors of the United States to the Comoros Ambassadors of the United States to Eswatini Ambassadors of the United States to Zimbabwe Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United States) Indiana University Bloomington alumni United States Air Force airmen United States Air Force personnel of the Vietnam War African-American diplomats American expatriates in Nigeria American expatriates in Pakistan American expatriates in the Netherlands American expatriates in India American expatriates in Jamaica American expatriates in Ivory Coast Diplomats from Chicago United States Foreign Service personnel