Graham Martin

Graham Anderson Martin (September 22, 1912 – March 13, 1990) was an American diplomat. He was the ambassador to Thailand and as U.S. representative to SEATO from 1963 to 1967, ambassador to Italy from 1969 to 1973 and the last United States Ambassador to South Vietnam from 1973 until his evacuation during the Fall of Saigon in 1975. Early life Martin was born and raised in the small town of Mars Hill, North Carolina, in the state's western mountains. His father was an ordained Baptist minister. He graduated from Wake Forest College in 1932. Like almost all whites from the South at the time, Martin was a Democrat in his politics. However, unlike many other Southern whites who represented the conservative wing of the Democratic Party, Martin was an avid supporter of the New Deal, which he saw as a way to improve North Carolina, which was a very backward and underdeveloped state at the time. Under the administration of Franklin Roosevelt, Martin became a protégé of W. Averell Harriman, who became his patron, which greatly aided his career. Martin began his career in the National Recovery Administration, a New Deal agency created to counter the effects of the Great Depression. During World War II, he was a U.S. Army Intelligence Officer, and he was aboard USS Missouri for the Japanese surrender in 1945. Career Martin first worked in the diplomatic field at the U.S. embassy in Paris, France, from 1947 to 1955. The American journalist Stanley Karnow described Martin as a "fierce anti-Communist liberal" whose main duties in Paris were to counter the influence of the French Communist Party on French life. His abilities as an administrative counselor and deputy Chief of Mission gained him attention from the State Department, which rapidly advanced his career. President Eisenhower appointed Martin as the Representative of the United States to the European Office of the United Nations in Geneva, and he served in that office 1960–62. Ambassador to Thailand Martin was appointed on 10 September 1963 and left this post on 9 September 1967.