Richard T. Davies

Richard Townsend Davies
United States Ambassador to Poland
In office
January 5, 1973 – February 5, 1978
PresidentRichard Nixon
Gerald Ford
Jimmy Carter
Preceded byWalter J. Stoessel Jr.
Succeeded byWilliam E. Schaufele Jr.
Personal details
BornMay 28, 1920
Brooklyn, New York
DiedMarch 30, 2005 (2005-03-31) (aged 85)
Silver Spring, Maryland
ChildrenGlyn, Michael, Stephen and John
Alma materColumbia College

Richard Townsend Davies (May 28, 1920 – March 30, 2005) was an American diplomat who served as the United States Ambassador to Poland from 1973 to 1978.

Biography

Davies was born on March 28, 1920, in Brooklyn and grew up in Plainfield, New Jersey.[1] He graduated from Columbia College in 1942 with a degree in international relations.[2]

After he finished his studies, he fought in World War II and served in the Office of Military Government in Germany.[3]

He joined the Foreign Service in 1947 and served as a consular and political officer at the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw for two years. He also served as the counselor for political affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 and the U.S. Information Agency assistant director for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe from 1965 to 1968.[1] From 1968 to 1969, he was the consul general of the Consulate General of the United States, Kolkata.[4]

He served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European affairs from 1970 to 1972 when he was appointed by Richard Nixon as ambassador to the Polish People's Republic, where he served until 1978. During his posting in Poland, he was credited for establishing regular contacts, and forming friendly ties with Cardinal Karol Wojtyla of Kraków, who later became known as Pope John Paul II.[3]

Davies also prepared the visits of Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter to Poland as ambassador and helped improve trade relations between the two countries.[5] He made his retirement in 1980 as director of the State Department's human intelligence tasking office in Washington.[1]After his retirement, he maintained an interest in human rights promotion in Eastern Europe and chaired an NGO to support the Polish workers' movement, Solidarity.[3]He was also a frequent writer of op-eds and opposed NATO enlargement.[6]

Davies died on March 30, 2005, in Silver Spring, Maryland.[1] One son, Glyn Townsend Davies, is also a career foreign service officer who served as the United States Ambassador to Thailand from 2015 to 2018 and the 7th United States Ambassador to the United Nations International Organizations in Vienna.[1][7] Another son, John S. Davies, is an actor.[8] Another son, Stephen, is a journalist. Another son, Michael, passed away in 2023.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Bernstein, Adam (2005-04-04). "Richard Davies". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2020-05-28.
  2. ^ "Obituaries". Columbia College Today. July 2005. Retrieved May 28, 2020.
  3. ^ a b c Saxon, Wolfgang (2005-04-03). "Richard Davies, Ambassador to Poland During the Cold War, Dies at 84". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-05-28.
  4. ^ Jessup, Peter. "AMBASSADOR RICHARD TOWNSEND DAVIES" (PDF). Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project. Retrieved May 28, 2020.
  5. ^ "Previous Ambassadors". U.S. Embassy & Consulate in Poland. Retrieved 2020-05-28.
  6. ^ Davies, Richard T. (1995-09-21). "Should NATO Grow? A Dissent". ISSN 0028-7504. Retrieved 2020-05-28.
  7. ^ "Davies, Glyn". U.S. Department of State. Retrieved 2020-05-28.
  8. ^ "DFW actor John S. Davies reveals penchant for cheap wine and guitars". CultureMap Dallas. Retrieved 2020-08-05.