Robert Fred Ellsworth (June 11, 1926 – May 9, 2011) was an American legislator and diplomat. He served as the

United States Permanent Representative to NATO The United States permanent representative to NATO (commonly referred to as the U.S. ambassador to NATO) is the official representative of the United States Mission to NATO, United States mission to NATO. The representative has the rank of full ...

(an ambassadorial-level appointment) between 1969 and 1971. He had previously served three terms as a Republican Member of Congress from

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

, from 1961 to 1967, and as an Assistant to the President during the presidency of

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 ...

; under President

Gerald Ford Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. (born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913December 26, 2006) was the 38th president of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, Ford assumed the p ...

, he was Deputy Secretary of Defense. Ellsworth also served as assistant to the chairman of the

Federal Maritime Commission The Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates U.S. oceanborne transportation and the United States Merchant Marine. It is chaired by Louis E. Sola. History The FMC was establish ...

Life and career

Ellsworth was born in

Lawrence, Kansas Lawrence is a city in and the county seat of Douglas County, Kansas, United States, and the sixth-largest city in the state. It is in the northeastern sector of the state, astride Interstate 70 in Kansas, Interstate 70, between the Kansas River ...

, and was educated in the public schools of that city. He served in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

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 ...

and the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

. In 1945, he was graduated with a baccalaureate in engineering from the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. Two branch campuses are in the Kansas City metropolitan area on the Kansas side: the university's medical school and hospital ...

, where he had been a member of the Alpha Nu chapter of the

Beta Theta Pi Beta Theta Pi (), commonly known as Beta, is a North American social Fraternities and sororities in North America, fraternity that was founded in 1839 at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. One of North America's oldest fraternities, , it consist ...

collegiate

fraternity A fraternity (; whence, "wikt:brotherhood, brotherhood") or fraternal organization is an organization, society, club (organization), club or fraternal order traditionally of men but also women associated together for various religious or secular ...

. He then studied law at the

University of Michigan Law School The University of Michigan Law School (branded as Michigan Law) is the law school of the University of Michigan, a public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Founded in 1859, the school offers Master of Laws (LLM), Master of Comparati ...

, from which he was graduated in 1949; he practiced law in Lawrence, Kansas, and in

Springfield, Massachusetts Springfield is the most populous city in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States, and its county seat. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers: the western Westfield River, the ea ...

. The retired ambassador was admitted to the

Order of Saint John The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), is a Catholic Church, Catholic Military order (religious society), military order. It was founded in the Crusader states, crusader K ...

as a knight of honor in 1995. While serving as a congressman for , Ellsworth voted present for the 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. However, during his tenure as representative for , Ellsworth voted in favor of the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and the

Voting Rights Act of 1965 The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a landmark piece of federal legislation in the United States that prohibits racial discrimination in voting. It was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson during the height of the civil rights move ...

. On November 9, 2010, Ellsworth provided commentary to KFMB regarding an unexplained vapor trail in the airspace off the coast of Los Angeles which, at the time, was widely speculated to be a missile launch. He cautioned the news crew to wait for definitive answers from the military, then went on to theorize: "It could be a test firing of an intercontinental ballistic missile from a submarine, an underwater submarine, to demonstrate, mainly to Asia, that we could do that." Ellsworth died in

Encinitas, California Encinitas ( Spanish for "Small Oaks") is a beach city in the North County area of San Diego County, California, United States. Located in Southern California, it is approximately north of San Diego, between Solana Beach and Carlsbad, and a ...

: near the small city of

Solana Beach Solana Beach (''Solana'', Spanish for "sunny side") is a beach city in San Diego County, California, on the South Coast. Its population was at 12,940 at the 2020 U.S. census, up from 12,867 at the 2010 census. History The area was first set ...

, where he had founded and directed a research firm, Hamilton BioVentures..

References

External links

Retrieved on 2008-03-31 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ellsworth, Robert 1926 births 2011 deaths Politicians from Lawrence, Kansas Military personnel from Kansas United States presidential advisors Permanent representatives of the United States to NATO Massachusetts lawyers Kansas lawyers United States Navy officers University of Kansas alumni University of Michigan Law School alumni Nixon administration personnel Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Kansas United States deputy secretaries of defense 20th-century members of the United States House of Representatives