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Hugh H. Smythe

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American author, sociologist, diplomat and professor
Hugh H. Smythe
United States Ambassador to Malta
In office
December 29, 1967 – August 16, 1969
PresidentLyndon Johnson
Richard Nixon
Preceded byGeorge Joseph Feldman
Succeeded byJohn C. Pritzlaff, Jr.
United States Ambassador to Syria
In office
October 28, 1965 – June 8, 1967
PresidentLyndon Johnson
Preceded byRidgway Brewster Knight
Succeeded byThomas James Scotes
Personal details
BornHugh Heyne Smythe
(1913-08-19)August 19, 1913
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.
DiedJune 22, 1977(1977-06-22) (aged 63)
Manhattan, New York, U.S.
Spouse Mabel Murphy ​(m. 1939)​
Alma materVirginia State University
Atlanta University
Northwestern University
ProfessionDiplomat, professor, sociologist

Hugh Heyne Smythe (August 19, 1913 – June 22, 1977) was an American author, sociologist, diplomat and professor. He was an authority on African anthropology and East Asian studies. He served as the United States Ambassador to Syria from 1965 to 1967 and United States Ambassador to Malta from 1967 to 1969.

Smythe taught sociology and anthropology at the university level at multiple schools, both in the United States and abroad. From 1951 to 1953, he taught at the Yamaguchi National University as a Visiting Professor of Sociology and Anthropology. From 1962 to 1965, he taught sociology at Brooklyn College. At the same time, he worked as a Fulbright Professor at Chulalongkorn University.

From 1961 to 1962, Smythe was a senior adviser in economic and social affairs to the US Mission to the United Nations. He also served a tour as the US senior advisor to the National Research Council in Thailand.

Smythe was the tenth African-American U.S. ambassador and the first to a Middle Eastern country. His tenure coincided with the Six-Day War and the severing of diplomatic ties with the United States. He later became notorious for the "Smythe Telegram" that he wrote during the increasing tensions before the war, where he demanded that the U.S. return to a pro-Arab foreign policy and said that the U.S. should ignore previous promises to Israel that Egypt would not be allowed to ban Israeli ships from transiting the Straits of Tiran. He left the country on June 8, 1967.

See also

References

  1. "Hugh Heyne Smythe (1913–1977)". Office of the Historian.
  2. ^ "Ambassadors Named to Jamaica, Jordan, Malta, Senegal, Gambia". State Department Newsletter: 20 – via Hathitrust.
Diplomatic posts
Preceded byRidgway B. Knight U.S. Ambassador to Syria
1965–1967 		Succeeded byThomas J. Scotes
Preceded byGeorge J. Feldman U.S. Ambassador to Malta
1967–1969 		Succeeded byJohn C. Pritzlaff, Jr.
United States ambassadors to Malta Malta
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