Clifton Reginald Wharton, Sr. (1899-1990)
Clifton R. Wharton, one of the first African-Americans to hold a professional position in the U.S. State Department, was born in 1899 in Baltimore, Maryland. Described as a “scholastic marvel,” Wharton attended English High School in Boston, Massachusetts, skipped college, and was accepted to Boston University Law School, where he received a Bachelor’s degree in Law in 1920 and a Master’s degree in Law in 1923. After practicing for two years in Boston, he moved to Washington, D.C., in 1924, where he took a position as an examiner with the Veterans Bureau. He later worked as a law clerk in the State Department’s legal section. While there, he took an aptitude test for the position of foreign service officer, scoring in the top 15 percent.
Mr. Wharton’s 40-year career with the State Department spanned an era of profound change in U.S. foreign policy and in the bureaucracy that managed that policy. Initially, Wharton’s career opportunities were limited to relatively insignificant posts traditionally assigned to African-American diplomats. For 25 years, he worked in Liberia, the Canary Islands, Madagascar, and the Azores in a rotation of small tropical countries known as the “Negro Circuit.”
His first break from this pattern occurred in 1949 when he was assigned to a diplomatic post in Lisbon, Portugal. The following year, he was named consul general in Lisbon, and three years later, he was appointed consul general in Marseille, France. He remained there until 1957.
Wharton’s international activities were impacted by events in the United States. In the 1950s, U.S. diplomats were often faced with international condemnation for the nation’s treatment of African-American citizens. The incident in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1957, for example, where nine young Black students entering school were confronted by a mob of bigots, was a major propaganda disaster for the United States.
In 1958, President Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed Wharton as Minister to Romania, which was another major breakthrough. Wharton, at that time, was the highest-ranking Black diplomat in the U.S. foreign service. Then, in early 1961, Eisenhower appointed him Ambassador to Norway. This was the first time an African American held such a post in a European nation. Mr. Wharton’s appointments in both Romania and Norway were in part due to the government’s strategy of placing prominent African Americans in international posts in an attempt to counter the ill effects of international outrage over domestic racial discrimination.
President John F. Kennedy named Wharton the U.S. representative to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and a delegate to the United Nations. The NATO post was also a first for African Americans. Wharton retired in 1964 as one of the first merit-based foreign service officers appointed to an ambassadorship.
Clifton Wharton first married Harriet Banks, an educator, social worker, and community organizer, with whom he raised three sons, Clifton, Jr., William, Richard, and a daughter, Mary. They divorced sometime before 1949, and he married Evangeline Spears. Clifford Wharton, Sr., a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, died on April 23, 1990 in Phoenix, Arizona. He was 90. On May 30, 2006, the United States Postal Service issued a stamp depicting Wharton in its Distinguished American Diplomats commemorative series.
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Clifton Reginald Wharton Sr. | |
|---|---|
 | |
| 6th United States Ambassador to Norway | |
| In office March 2, 1961 – September 4, 1964 | |
| President | John F. Kennedy Lyndon B. Johnson |
| Preceded by | Frances E. Willis |
| Succeeded by | Margaret Joy Tibbetts |
| 22nd United States Minister to Romania | |
| In office March 7, 1958 – October 21, 1960 | |
| President | Dwight D. Eisenhower |
| Preceded by | Robert H. Thayer |
| Succeeded by | William A. Crawford |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Clifton Reginald Wharton May 11, 1899 Baltimore, Maryland |
| Died | April 25, 1990 (aged 90) Phoenix, Arizona |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Boston University School of Law (LL.M.) |
| Profession | Career Diplomat |
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Clifton Reginald Wharton Sr. (May 11, 1899 – April 25, 1990) was an American diplomat, and the first African American diplomat to become an ambassador by rising through the ranks of the Foreign Service rather than by political appointment such as Frederick Douglass.[1] He also became the first Black Foreign Service Officer to become chief of a diplomatic mission.[2]
Personal life
[edit]He married Harriet Banks; they had four children.[3] His son Clifton Reginald Wharton Jr. is a noted economist and executive who also served in the State Department as Deputy Secretary of State during the Clinton administration, and before that as president of Michigan State University.
Wharton was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.
Career
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Born in Baltimore to William Bowman Wharton and Rosalind Griffin, Wharton received his law degree in 1920 and an advanced law degree in 1923 from Boston University School of Law. He practiced in Boston before joining the US State Department as a law clerk in August of 1924. He was the only Black professional in the Department at the time.[4] He was left alone by his coworkers; he only had lunch with a coworker once during this period. He took the Foreign Service examination the first time it was given and received high marks on the written tests. Wharton was appointed to the Foreign Service on March 20, 1925 and was the first Black Foreign Service Officer.[4][5] Wharton went on to be Vice Consul in Monrovia (1927–1929), Consul in Las Palmas (1932–1938), Minister to Romania (1958–1961) and Ambassador to Norway (1961–1964).[6][7]
Unlike the other new Foreign Service officers, Wharton was immediately sent to post in Monrovia upon appointment as opposed to attending the Foreign Service Institute for training. He was originally supposed to go on a cargo ship with only two cabins. After refusing to go, the Department then arranged for transportation via a White Star-Cunard ocean liner.[4] The Department claimed it was due to an urgent need in Liberia, but many Black newspapers were skeptical.[4] Wharton was unsurprised to be sent to Monrovia, as it was a post in the "Negro Circuit", a string of posts in Africa and the Caribbean where almost all Black officers were sent where the native populations were largely Black and the positions were generally undesirable.[4][8][9] On the subject of the Negro Circuit, Wharton told the Department of State's Personnel Office, "You're not only discriminating against us [Black employees] in the Service, but you're also exporting discrimination abroad in the Foreign Service."[4]
After five years in Liberia, Wharton was assigned to go to Calais but the officer he was set to replace refused to leave so Wharton was reassigned to the French overseas department of Martinique. He requested a post with better weather and was redirected to Las Palmas in the Canary Islands. Wharton was the first Black officer in Las Palmas but soon after, other Black officers began to be assigned there.[4]
From 1930 to 1942, Wharton returned to Liberia for assignments many times. He also worked in Tananarive, Madagascar, Oporto and Ponta Delgado quintessential posts in the Negro Circuit.[9] Finally in 1949, Wharton was transferred away from this pattern as consul general and first secretary at Lisbon's American Embassy, before becoming supervisory consul general over Portugal and its islands. He was the first Black officer in Lisbon as well as the first Black senior officer.[4][10] In 1953, Wharton was appointed consul general in Marseille, again as the first Black person to hold that position.[11]
In 1958, President Eisenhower offered Wharton the position of US Envoy to Romania. He originally refused the position, suspecting that it was being extended due to his race. After he was assured this was not the case, Wharton accepted the position and became the first Black officer to head a US delegation in Europe.[12] Loy Henderson, Deputy Undersecretary for Administration wrote to Wharton later
In 1961, Wharton was appointed by President Kennedy as US Ambassador to Norway. He was the first Black ambassador to come up through the Foreign Service, not as a political appointee.[13] He also jointly served as a delegate to NATO and the UN that same year.[4]
Wharton retired on October 24, 1964. At his retirement, Secretary of State Dean Rusk wrote "Yours has been an outstanding career and I am sure you take pride in the fine reputation you have earned."[4]
Wharton died in Phoenix, Arizona.
Legacy
[edit]In 1978, the State Department had a day honoring Wharton and diplomat Lucile Atcherson Curtis, who was the first woman in what became the U.S. Foreign Service.[14][15]
On May 30, 2006, the United States Postal Service issued a stamp depicting Wharton in its Distinguished American Diplomats commemorative series.[16]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ U.S. Department of State: "Clifton R. Wharton: U.S. Postage Stamps Commemorate Distinguished American Diplomats"
- ^ "Office of the Historian". Retrieved 26 December 2015.
- ^ "Wharton Sr., Clifton Reginald (1899–1990) – The Black Past: Remembered and Reclaimed". 12 March 2012. Retrieved 26 December 2015.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Calkin, Homer L. (February 1978). "A reminiscence: Being black in the Foreign Service". Department of State Newsletter: 25–28 – via Hathitrust.
- ^ Department Of State. The Office of Electronic Information, Bureau of Public Affairs. "Clifton R. Wharton". 2001-2009.state.gov. Retrieved 2024-07-25.
- ^ Navraez, Alfonso A. (April 25, 1990). Clifton R. Wharton, 90, Is Dead; Pioneering Black U.S. Diplomat. The New York Times
- ^ "Clifton Reginald Wharton – People – Department History – Office of the Historian". Retrieved 26 December 2015.
- ^ "The American Diplomat | American Experience | PBS". www.pbs.org. Retrieved 2024-07-25.
- ^ a b "African American Trailblazers in Diplomacy". The National Museum of American Diplomacy. 2019-02-28. Retrieved 2024-07-25.
- ^ Narvaez, Alfonso A. (1990-04-25). "Clifton R. Wharton, 90, Is Dead; Pioneering Black U.S. Diplomat". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 2016-03-10. Retrieved 2024-07-25.
- ^ "Clifton R. Wharton, Sr". The National Museum of American Diplomacy. Retrieved 2024-07-25.
- ^ "Clifton Wharton — Diplomat and Pioneer – Association for Diplomatic Studies & Training". adst.org. Retrieved 2024-07-25.
- ^ "Clifton R. Wharton, Sr". postalmuseum.si.edu. Retrieved 2024-07-25.
- ^ "Curtis, Lucile Atcherson, 1894–1986. Papers of Lucile Atcherson Curtis, 1863–1986 (inclusive), 1917–1927 (bulk): A Finding Aid". harvard.edu. Archived from the original on 3 April 2015. Retrieved 19 March 2015.
- ^ Special to The New York Times (1986-05-09). "Lucile A. Curtis Dead – Foreign Service Pioneer". The New York Times. Retrieved 2015-03-19.
- ^ Stump, Brice (5 July 2006). "Wharton family is honored by stamp issuance". DelmarvaNow. Archived from the original on 5 July 2006. Retrieved 3 March 2014.
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Clifton R. Wharton, 90, Is Dead; Pioneering Black U.S. Diplomat
By ALFONSO A. NARVAEZ
Published: April 25, 1990
Clifton R. Wharton, the first black American career diplomat to attain the ranks of Minister and Ambassador in the United States Foreign Service, died on Monday at the Sunridge Care Center in Phoenix, Ariz. He was 90 years old and lived in Phoenix.
Mr. Wharton spent more than 40 years in the Foreign Service, capping his career with postings as Minister to Romania in 1958 and Ambassador to Norway in 1961.
Upon his retirement in 1964, he was cited by Secretary of State Dean Rusk.
''Yours has been an outstanding career, and I am sure you take pride in the fine reputation you have earned,'' Mr. Rusk wrote in a letter to the Ambassador.
Clifton Reginald Wharton was born on May 11, 1899, in Baltimore, and graduated from English High School in Boston. He earned bachelor of law and master of law degrees from Boston University School of Law, the latter in 1923.
He then joined the State Department as a law clerk and in 1924, following the formation of a career Foreign Service, became the first black to pass both the written and oral examinations and was assigned as third secretary of at the United States Embassy in Monrovia, Liberia. From 1930 to 1942 he was a consul in Las Palmas in the Canary Islands and was then named consul in Tananarive, Madagascar. He also served in Ponta Delgada in the Azores.
His first break from the traditional pattern of assigning blacks to posts in small, tropical countries came in 1949, when he was assigned as first secretary and consul in Lisbon. The following year he was named consul general and three years later was appointed consul general in Marseille, France. He remained there until 1957.
In 1958 he became the first black American career diplomat to be named of chief of a diplomatic mission when President Dwight D. Eisenhower named him minister to Romania. He was promoted to the Foreign Service rank of Career Minister in 1959. Mr. Wharton headed the mission in Bucharest until his appointment as Ambassador to Norway in March 1961.
He is survived by three sons, Clifton Jr. of Manhattan and Cooperstown, N.Y., former Chancellor of the State University of New York; William of Washington, and Richard of Hartford, Conn.; a daughter, H. Mary Sampson of Montclair, N.J.; and eight grandchildren.
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