Thomas Joseph Dodd Jr. (born 1935) is an American diplomat and academic who served as the

United States Ambassador to Uruguay The following is a list of United States ambassadors, or other chiefs of mission, to Uruguay. The current title given by the United States State Department to this position is Ambassador Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary. See also *Uni ...

(1993–1997) and to Costa Rica (1997–2001).

Early life and education

He gained an affinity for speaking Spanish as a teenager while going down to the docks in his hometown in

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

, where he often interacted with Spanish speaking-immigrants who worked as fishermen. He obtained his B.S.F.S from the

School of Foreign Service The Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service (SFS) is the school of international relations at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. It is considered to be one of the world's leading international affairs schools, granting degrees at bo ...

in 1957. He went on to earn his Master of Arts and PhD from

George Washington University , mottoeng = "God is Our Trust" , established = , type = Private federally chartered research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.8 billion (2022) , presi ...

, where he was also formerly an adjunct professor.Thomas J. Dodd: Former U.S. Ambassador to Uruguay

Career

He was a Second Lieutenant at

Fort Holabird Fort Holabird was a United States Army post in the city of Baltimore, Maryland, active from 1918 to 1973. History Fort Holabird was located in the southeast corner of Baltimore and northwest of the suburban developments of Dundalk, Maryland, in s ...

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

from 1958 to 1959. From 1960 to 1961, he was a Captain in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

, where he was assigned to the Military Intelligence Detachment with the

49th Armored Division The 49th Armored Division —nicknamed the "Lone Star"— was an armored division of the Texas Army National Guard during the Cold War. Active from 1947, the division formed part of the Texas Army National Guard together with the 36th Infantr ...

. He was awarded the

Army Commendation Medal The Commendation Medal is a mid-level United States military decoration presented for sustained acts of heroism or meritorious service. Each branch of the United States Armed Forces issues its own version of the Commendation Medal, with a fift ...

in 1961. Dodd has taught Latin American history and diplomacy at the

for over 30 years, where he is professor emeritus. He has written several books on Latin America and edited the papers of the Colombian diplomat Tomás Herrán. He is also the author of a biography of

Tiburcio Carias Tiburcio, the Spanish form of Tiburtius, may refer to: *Tiburcio Carías Andino (1876–1969), Honduran military strongman *Tiburcio de León, Filipino general (the Philippine Revolution and Philippine-American War) * José Tiburcio Serrizuela (bo ...

. He is a member of the Inter-American Foundation board of directors.IAF

Personal life

He is the son of the late former U.S. Senator

Thomas J. Dodd Thomas Joseph Dodd (May 15, 1907 – May 24, 1971) was an American attorney and diplomat who served as a United States Senator and Representative from Connecticut. He is the father of former U.S. Senator Christopher Dodd and Thomas J. Dodd Jr ...

and brother of former U.S. Senator

Chris Dodd Christopher John Dodd (born May 27, 1944) is an American lobbyist, lawyer, and Democratic Party politician who served as a United States senator from Connecticut from 1981 to 2011. Dodd is the longest-serving senator in Connecticut's history. ...

Books

* ''Tiburcio Carias: Portrait of a Honduran Political Leader'', Louisiana State University Press, 2005. * ''Managing Democracy in Central America: United States Election Supervision in Nicaragua, 1927-1933'',

Lynne Rienner Publishers Lynne Rienner Publishers is an independent scholarly and textbook publishing firm based in Boulder, CO. It was founded in 1984 and remains one of the few independent publishers in the US. It publishes primarily in the fields of international s ...

, 1992 * ''The Letters of Tomás Herrán and the Panama Crisis, 1900-1903''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dodd, Thomas J. Jr. Living people Walsh School of Foreign Service alumni Ambassadors of the United States to Uruguay Ambassadors of the United States to Costa Rica Dodd family 1935 births George Washington University alumni George Washington University faculty