Robert Edward White (September 21, 1926 – January 14, 2015) was an American career diplomat who served as
US Ambassador to Paraguay (1977–1980) and
to El Salvador (1980–1981). He was recalled from El Salvador by incoming US President Ronald Reagan due to White's opposition to killings committed by the El Salvadoran military. He then became president of the
Center for International Policy.
Background and family life
He was born in
Melrose, Massachusetts
Melrose is a city located in the Greater Boston metropolitan area in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. Its population as of the 2020 census was 29,817. It is a suburb located approximately seven miles north of Boston. It is situate ...
.
[ White served in the US Navy from 1944 to 1946,][ and after the war benefitted from the ]G.I. Bill
The G.I. Bill, formally the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, was a law that provided a range of benefits for some of the returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I. (military), G.I.s). The original G.I. Bill expired in ...
.[ He graduated from Saint Michael's College in 1952,][Margaret O'Brien Steinfels]
DEATH & LIES IN EL SALVADOR: The ambassador's tale
'' Commonweal'', October 26, 2001 / Volume CXXVIII, Number 18 and after a Fulbright Scholarship
The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States cultural exchange programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people ...
graduated from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in 1954.[The American Presidency Project – ''United States Ambassador to Paraguay – Nomination of Robert E. White, October 11, 1977'']
/ref>
White died at a hospice on January 14, 2015, aged 88, due to bladder and prostate cancer. He was married to Mary-Anne White and had five children and three grandchildren.
Career
Joining the United States Foreign Service
The United States Foreign Service is the primary personnel system used by the diplomatic service of the United States federal government, under the aegis of the United States Department of State. It consists of over 13,000 professionals carr ...
in 1955, White served in a variety of positions at the State Department and in US delegations, primarily in Latin America. Postings included Colombia, Ecuador, Honduras and Nicaragua. From 1968 to 1970 he served as Peace Corps
The Peace Corps is an Independent agency of the U.S. government, independent agency and program of the United States government that trains and deploys volunteers to communities in partner countries around the world. It was established in Marc ...
deputy regional director and then regional director, for the Latin America region. From 1975 to 1977 he was Deputy U.S. Permanent Representative to the Organization of American States
The Organization of American States (OAS or OEA; ; ; ) is an international organization founded on 30 April 1948 to promote cooperation among its member states within the Americas.
Headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, the OAS is ...
.[ In October 1977 he was nominated by President ]Jimmy Carter
James Earl Carter Jr. (October 1, 1924December 29, 2024) was an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party ...
as US Ambassador to Paraguay.[
In 1992, White provided the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Trainings with a]
oral history
of his various duties in Latin America.
Paraguay (1977–1980)
1978 cable concerning operation Condor
On March 6, 2001, ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' reported the existence of a recently declassified 1978 cable from Robert White, at the time the U.S. ambassador to Paraguay
Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...
. Professor J. Patrice McSherry of Long Island University
Long Island University (LIU) is a private university in Brooklyn and Brookville, New York, United States. The university enrolls over 16,000 students and offers over 500 academic programs at its main campuses, LIU Brooklyn and LIU Post on Long I ...
described the discovery as "another piece of increasingly weighty evidence suggesting that U.S. military and intelligence officials supported and collaborated with Condor
Condor is the common name for two species of New World vultures, each in a monotypic genus. The name derives from the Quechua language, Quechua ''kuntur''. They are the largest flying land birds in the Western Hemisphere.
One species, the And ...
as a secret partner or sponsor".National Security Archive
The National Security Archive is a 501(c)(3) non-governmental, non-profit research and archival institution located on the campus of the George Washington University in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1985 to check rising government secrecy, the N ...
Operation Condor: Cable Suggests US Role
/ref>
In the cable, Ambassador White relates a conversation with General Alejandro Fretes Dávalos, chief of staff of Paraguay's armed forces, who told him that the South American
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...
intelligence
Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. It can be described as t ...
chiefs involved in Condor ''"keep in touch with one another through a U.S. communications installation in the Panama Canal
The Panama Canal () is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Caribbean Sea with the Pacific Ocean. It cuts across the narrowest point of the Isthmus of Panama, and is a Channel (geography), conduit for maritime trade between th ...
Zone which covers all of Latin America"''. This installation was "employed to co-ordinate intelligence information among the southern cone countries". White, whose message was sent to Secretary of State Cyrus Vance
Cyrus Roberts Vance (March 27, 1917January 12, 2002) was an American lawyer and diplomat who served as the 57th United States Secretary of State under President Jimmy Carter from 1977 to 1980. Prior to serving in that position, he was the United ...
, was concerned that the US connection to Condor might be revealed during the then ongoing investigation into the deaths of Orlando Letelier and his American colleague, Ronni Moffitt. "It would seem advisable", he suggests, "to review this arrangement to ensure that its continuation is in US interest".[
]
El Salvador (1980–1981)
By the time White was appointed to be the ambassador in El Salvador, he was already well-known as a promoter of human rights because of his time in Paraguay. He was posted to El Salvador
El Salvador, officially the Republic of El Salvador, is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador's capital and largest city is S ...
during the first years of that country's brutal 12-year civil war. He was harshly critical of the Salvadorian government and accused the military and paramilitaries (widely alleged to have close ties) of committing widespread atrocities against civilians, many of which were later factually confirmed. He once called prominent military figure Roberto D'Aubuisson
Roberto D'Aubuisson Arrieta (; 23 August 1943 – 20 February 1992) was a Salvadoran military officer, neo-fascist politician, and death squad leader. In 1981, he co-founded and became the first leader of the far-right Nationalist Republican ...
a "pathological killer". D'Aubuisson was widely suspected of collaboration with death squad killings including the assassination of Archbishop Óscar Romero
Óscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez (15 August 1917 – 24 March 1980) was a prelate of the Catholic Church in El Salvador. He served as Auxiliary Bishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Salvador, Archdiocese of San Salvador, the Titular ...
. White also accused José Napoleón Duarte
José Napoleón Duarte Fuentes (23 November 1925 – 23 February 1990) was a El Salvador, Salvadoran politician who served as President of El Salvador from 1 June 1984 to 1 June 1989. He was mayor of San Salvador before running for president in ...
, El Salvador's president from 1984 to 1989 of being a CIA
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...
asset.[
He was dismissed by the new ]Reagan administration
Ronald Reagan's tenure as the 40th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1981, and ended on January 20, 1989. Reagan, a Republican from California, took office following his landslide victory over ...
in 1981. He wrote of his ouster:
In 1981, as the ambassador to El Salvador, I refused a demand by the secretary of state, Alexander M. Haig Jr., that I use official channels to cover up the Salvadoran military's responsibility for the murders of four American churchwomen. I was fired and forced out of the Foreign Service.
Post-diplomatic career
After retiring from the Foreign Service Foreign Service may refer to:
* Diplomatic service, the body of diplomats and foreign policy officers maintained by the government of a country
* United States Foreign Service, the diplomatic service of the United States government
**Foreign Service ...
in 1981, White served as a Senior Associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP) is a nonpartisan international affairs think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C., with operations in Europe, South Asia, East Asia, and the Middle East, as well as the United States. Foun ...
. He was also Professor of International Relations at Simmons College in Boston,[ and an election observer in Haiti's 1987 general election.][ He was at one time President of the International Center for Development Policy, a Washington, D.C.–based think tank.
In 1990, he joined the Center for International Policy as the President][ and presided at conferences, led delegations to several Latin American and Caribbean countries and published numerous studies regarding U.S. policy towards the region. In 1999, he stated his criticism of U.S. policy:]In the name of anticommunism, U.S.-supported armies suppressed democracy, free speech, and human rights in El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama. Torture and assassination of democratic leaders, including presidential candidates, journalists, priests and union officials became commonplace.
Additionally, White led an ongoing effort to reform U.S. intelligence agencies.
Awards
* St. Michael's Col. Cook award.
* Honorary degree of Doctor of Political Science from Providence College
Providence College is a Private university, private Roman Catholic university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1917 by the Dominican Order and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence, it offers 47 undergraduate Academic ...
Providence College
Providence College is a Private university, private Roman Catholic university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1917 by the Dominican Order and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence, it offers 47 undergraduate Academic ...
Honorary Degree Citations
/ref>
In popular culture
In the 1983 TV movie dramatizing the murder of the four missionaries '' Choices of the Heart'', Ambassador White is portrayed by Mike Farrell
Michael Joseph Farrell Jr. (born February 6, 1939) is an American actor, best known for his role as Captain B.J. Hunnicutt on the television series '' M*A*S*H'' (1975–83). In addition, Farrell was a producer of '' Patch Adams'' (1998) starr ...
.
In Oliver Stone
William Oliver Stone (born ) is an American filmmaker. Stone is an acclaimed director, tackling subjects ranging from the Vietnam War and American politics to musical film, musical Biographical film, biopics and Crime film, crime dramas. He has ...
's 1986 film dramatization of the Salvadoran Civil War, '' Salvador'', the character "Ambassador Tom Kelly" (played by Michael Murphy) is based on Robert White, who appeared in the 62-minute retrospective documentary ''Into the Valley of Death'', which was included on the 2001 DVD release of ''Salvador''. Despite pointing out some of the fictional aspects of ''Salvador'', White was complimentary of Stone's film overall by noting that it captured the pervading sense of doom that surrounded the real-life events. In the documentary, White also re-iterated his criticisms of the activities of US intelligence and the Reagan administration
Ronald Reagan's tenure as the 40th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1981, and ended on January 20, 1989. Reagan, a Republican from California, took office following his landslide victory over ...
in El Salvador.
References
External links
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Center for International Policy
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:White, Robert
Ambassadors of the United States to El Salvador
1980 murders of U.S. missionaries in El Salvador
People of the Salvadoran Civil War
Ambassadors of the United States to Paraguay
Operation Condor
Cold War diplomats
Simmons University faculty
Saint Michael's College alumni
1926 births
2015 deaths
United States Foreign Service personnel
American expatriates in Colombia
American expatriates in Honduras
American expatriates in Ecuador
American expatriates in Nicaragua