Livingston T. Merchant
Encyclopedia
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
official and diplomat. He twice served as United States ambassador to Canada and was Under Secretary for Political Affairs
Under Secretary for Political Affairs
The Under Secretary for Political Affairs is the third ranking position in the United States Department of State, after the Secretary and the Deputy Secretaries...
from 1959 to 1961.
Merchant was educated at the Hotchkiss School
Hotchkiss School
The Hotchkiss School is an independent, coeducational American college preparatory boarding school located in Lakeville, Connecticut. Founded in 1891, the school enrolls students in grades 9 through 12 and a small number of postgraduates...
and Princeton
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
, where he was a member of the University Cottage Club
University Cottage Club
The University Cottage Club is one of ten current eating clubs at Princeton University, in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. It is also one of the five bicker clubs, along with The Ivy Club, Tiger Inn, Cap and Gown Club, and Tower Club.-History:...
. He joined Scudder Stevens and Clark, an investment counselling firm. He became a general partner in 1930.
In the early 1950s, he served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs (under Dean Rusk
Dean Rusk
David Dean Rusk was the United States Secretary of State from 1961 to 1969 under presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. Rusk is the second-longest serving U.S...
who served as Assistant Secretary for Far Eastern Affairs and Dean Acheson
Dean Acheson
Dean Gooderham Acheson was an American statesman and lawyer. As United States Secretary of State in the administration of President Harry S. Truman from 1949 to 1953, he played a central role in defining American foreign policy during the Cold War...
, then US Secretary of State) in the Truman administration.
In 1964 he co-authored the Merchant-Heeney Report
The Merchant-Heeney Report
The Merchant-Heeney report was written for the Canadian government by a former Canadian Ambassador to the United States and a former American Ambassador to Canada. The ambassadors were Livingston T. Merchant from the US and Arnold Heeney from Canada....
which examined bilateral relations between Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and the United States. He later served as U.S. executive director of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development
International Bank for Reconstruction and Development
The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development is one of five institutions that compose the World Bank Group. The IBRD is an international organization whose original mission was to finance the reconstruction of nations devastated by World War II. Now, its mission has expanded to fight...
between 1965 and 1968.