Norman Armour
Encyclopedia
Norman Armour was a career United States
diplomat
who The New York Times
once called "the perfect diplomat". In his long career spanning both World Wars, he served as Chief of Mission in eight countries, as Assistant Secretary of State for Political Affairs, and married into Russian nobility
.
and graduated from St. Paul's School and Princeton University
in 1909. In 1913, he graduated from Harvard Law School
before returning to Princeton to study diplomacy. His first posts were to Austria
in 1912 and France
from 1915-1916 before formally entering the Foreign Service.
, beginning in 1916 (during World War I
). After the collapse of Czarist Russia, the Bolshevik
s seized control of the government and signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
with the Central Powers
which marked their exit from World War I. (These events precipitated the Russian Civil War
which would lead to the formation of the Soviet Union
in 1922.) Prior to the formal signing of the treaty, the United States partially evacuated their embassy, but Armour remained as part of the limited staff. On July 25, the Russian authorities ordered the diplomats out of Petrograd and a new legation
was set up in Vologda
. The North Russia Campaign
, an Allied Intervention in the Russian Civil War
, further destabilized the situation and resulted in the legation becoming essentially under siege. (The Russian army had already attacked the British consulate and killed its Attache.) At this point, the order of events for Armour becomes somewhat unclear.
According to news reports of the time, Armour was arrested and brought back to Moscow, where he and other Americans (diplomats and otherwise) were allowed to flee the country on August 26, by train to Sweden, arriving on September 5. Later, it was revealed that Armour had during this period used a fake Norwegian passport and, disguised as a courier, sneaked back into Petrograd and arranged for Princess
Myra Koudashev, (1895 - 1990), of Petrograd to escape the country. (Contrary to the contemporary reports, his obituary in the New York Times also says that he did not travel in the refugee train from Moscow, but rather escaped himself to Finland, still disguised as a courier, where he caught up with them.) On November 2, shortly after they arrived back in the United States, they announced their engagement. They were married February 2, 1919 in Brussels, Belgium.
, Russia
, 14 September 1863 - Florence
, Italy
, 27 February 1933), to a Russian Countess of the Nieroth family , being born in Saint Petersburg
, 7 April 1895, while her brother Serguey was born there on 2nd October 1901.
Serguey married a woman from Jaén
18 years younger than him in Spain at the age of 51, dying at Girona
, Spain
, aged 90, no issue.
Sister Myra married however American diplomat Norman Armour at Stockholm
, Sweden
, on 2nd February 1919, giving birth to Norman Armour Jr. (Brussels
, Belgium
, 10 February 1920 - U.S. 1978), who married twice, at Boston
, July 1941, and at San Francisco, October 1952.
Over the following years, diplomat Armour serves in a number of embassies and consulates, including those in Belgium
, The Netherlands, Uruguay
, Italy
, the United States Department of State
(1922–1924), Japan
(1925–1928), and France
(1928–1932).
on March 31, 1929, Armour was made Chargé d'affaires
and Head of the Embassy in Paris until the selection of a replacement. This was Armour's first time as Chief of Mission. Armour was also an extremely popular social figure in France and he and his wife were often written about in American newspapers, flaunting the Parisian high life.
In 1932, Armour was elevated to Envoy and assigned as Minister to Haiti
, roughly half of the Santo Domingo
Island in the Caribbean, the other half being known as Spanish speaking Dominican Republic
. His primary responsibility in Haiti was to work toward returning the government of the country back to native hands at the conclusion of the United States occupation of Haiti
which had been in effect since prior to World War I for some 19 years . He was selected to the position due to his fluency in French, but also as a sign to the Haitians that the United States would put a well-respected diplomat in their country. On August 7, 1933, Armour signed a treaty with Haiti "to return government functions to the Haitians by October 1944 and to withdraw the United States Marines stationed there by November 1944. (The plan would actually succeed ahead of schedule as Marines left the country on August 14, 1934.)"
, Armour was made Minister to Canada
. His appointment to Canada so soon after his success in Haiti was meant to underscore Canada's importance to the United States, according to the New York Times.
During his time in Canada, the State Department banned marriages between diplomatic personnel and the citizens of foreign countries they served due to potential conflict of interest
problems. Though there were at this time 122 diplomats that had taken foreign wives, Armour's high-profile relationship with his highborn Russian wife and the way in which they were engaged were commonly cited by the press on both sides of the issue.
,756,950 km2 , 292,183 sq mi, 17.2 million inhabitants in the year 2011, was a post which he served relatively uneventfully.
The following year, he was appointed as Ambassador to Argentina
, 766,890 km2 , 1,068,302 sq mi, 40 million people year 2010, as the Second World War was heating up. During this period, Armour worked to negotiate better trade relations with these South American countries, and once the United States entered the war, to apply pressure on them to not support the Axis Powers
. (One of the provisions of the treaty that he helped negotiate essentially cut off the supply of Tungsten
, essential for steels in armored tanks and in electrical lamps, to Japan
from Argentina. Imports from that country to Japan accounted for half of that country's supply.) However, Argentina refused to budge off key issues and remained ostensibly neutral.
In 1941, Armour was made honorary director of the 1st Pan-American Games which were to be held in 1942. Unfortunately, the games were called off due to the war.
Near the end of the war, on January 26, 1944, Argentina finally caved to pressure from Britain and the United States and broke ties with the Axis Powers. However, almost immediately after, the General Edelmiro Julián Farrell
seized power in a coup from President
General Pedro Pablo Ramírez
.
Both Generals backed quite closely General Juan Domingo Perón, (1895 - 1974), their successor from June 1946 to July 1974, who was President in three different periods,namely, 1946–1952, 1952 - 1955 till a military coup ousting him and then from September 1973, after 18 years in the exile, to 1 July 1974 when he died.
As a result of this turmoil, the United States refused to recognize the legitimacy of the new government. Armour was ordered to remain in Argentina, but not to officially establish relations of any kind with the new government until a list of conditions were met. The United States officially suspended relations with the country on March 3, 1944, believing that the coup was backed by pro-Axis groups. Armour was officially recalled June 27, 1944.
After his recall, Armour was made acting-Chief of the Department of Latin American Affairs, now probably integrated under the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs
in the State Department, until his appointment the following year, 15 December 1944, to Spain
, presenting his credentials three and a half months later, March 24, 1945.
due in part to its support of the Axis powers during the Second World War. On his retirement on November 29, 1945, formally, 1st December 1945, only 8 months afterwards, the United States further isolated Spain by refusing to send another Ambassador until 1951.
A resolution of the United Nations
, document 32(I) 9th February 1946, commended General Franco's regimen stating: " .... the actual Spanish Government, founded through the help of the powers of the Axis, not possessing , in view of his origins , nature, historical and the intimate association with the agreeing States, the conditions justifying his admission...", in Spanish: "....El actual gobierno español, el cual habiendo sido fundado con el apoyo de las potencias del Eje, no posee, en vistas de sus orígenes, su naturaleza, su historial y su íntima asociación con los Estados agresores, las condiciones que justifiquen su admisión."
During that period December 1945 - March 1951, the U.S. embassy remained open with a succession of Chargé d'Affaires, namely, Philip W. Bonsal, from March 1946 to June 1947, Paul T. Culbertson, from June 1947 to December 1952 and Stanton Griffis.
The later Chargé d'Áffaires was appointed on February 1, 1951 again as an Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary presenting his credentials: March 1, 1951, just only one month after his appointment but he relinquished the charge January 28, 1952, 12 months after.
Diplomat Griffis was one the sons of American Far East Orientalist, mainly Japanese
life, culture and thought, William Elliot Griffis
, (1843 - 1928), A Congregationalist sort of priest educated at the Dutch Reformed Church
at New Brunswick
. This Stanton seems to bear no relation to Alice Griffiths, and became also U.S. Ambassador to Poland
(July 1947 - April 1948), Egypt
(September 1948 - March 1949), and Argentina
(November 1949 - September 1950), under President Harry S. Truman
. Stanton Griffis was ambassador to Argentina while General Juan Domingo Perón, deceased 1974, and wife Eva Duarte de Perón were in power and wrote of his experiences in a book titled Lying In State
In 1947, Armour came out of retirement to serve as an Assistant Secretary of State of Political Affairs under George C. Marshall. On July 15, 1948, he retired for a second time. Three years later, in 1950, Armour was asked out of retirement again to serve as Ambassador to Venezuela
. In 1954, he came out of retirement for a third time to serve as Ambassador to Guatemala
, a post he only served in for seven months.
According to an interview in 1976, Armour indicated that he was proudest of his work in 1954, protesting the attacks of Joseph R. McCarthy (1908 - 1957), a Republican
Senator from Wisconsin
, then a lawyer but raised at a farm, on the members of the Foreign Service, with his initial 1950 Wheeling Speech, suspected of connivance with Communism during the ongoing Cold War
.
Note that the famous Wheeling Speech, February 9, 1950, is related to McCarthys speech on Lincoln Day
to the Republican Women Club of Wheeling, West Virginia
, a U.S. city with about 28,000 inhabitants in 2010.
With a Russian wife, no matter whether she was an exiled Tsarist times aristocrat descending from Tatar Princes settled at the Saint Petersburg corridors of power centuries before, there werre grounds for deep suspicions and as a Catholic
member of the Democratic Party under Democrat Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt
, (January 1882 - 12 April 1945), and Harry S. Truman, (U.S. President April 1945 - January 1953) still more, of course. The enemy was within and at thousands of Kilometers as well, something to worry about. indeed, for the next decades.
Armour died in 1982 and was buried in Princeton Cemetery.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
diplomat
Diplomat
A diplomat is a person appointed by a state to conduct diplomacy with another state or international organization. The main functions of diplomats revolve around the representation and protection of the interests and nationals of the sending state, as well as the promotion of information and...
who The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
once called "the perfect diplomat". In his long career spanning both World Wars, he served as Chief of Mission in eight countries, as Assistant Secretary of State for Political Affairs, and married into Russian nobility
Russian nobility
The Russian nobility arose in the 14th century and essentially governed Russia until the October Revolution of 1917.The Russian word for nobility, Dvoryanstvo , derives from the Russian word dvor , meaning the Court of a prince or duke and later, of the tsar. A nobleman is called dvoryanin...
.
Career
Armour was born in Brighton, England while his parents were vacationing there. He grew up in Princeton, New JerseyPrinceton, New Jersey
Princeton is a community located in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. It is best known as the location of Princeton University, which has been sited in the community since 1756...
and graduated from St. Paul's School and Princeton University
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....
in 1909. In 1913, he graduated from Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...
before returning to Princeton to study diplomacy. His first posts were to Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
in 1912 and France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
from 1915-1916 before formally entering the Foreign Service.
Russia
One of his first assignments in the foreign service was as Second Secretary in the United States embassy in Petrograd in the Russian EmpireRussian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
, beginning in 1916 (during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
). After the collapse of Czarist Russia, the Bolshevik
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
s seized control of the government and signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was a peace treaty signed on March 3, 1918, mediated by South African Andrik Fuller, at Brest-Litovsk between Russia and the Central Powers, headed by Germany, marking Russia's exit from World War I.While the treaty was practically obsolete before the end of the year,...
with the Central Powers
Central Powers
The Central Powers were one of the two warring factions in World War I , composed of the German Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Bulgaria...
which marked their exit from World War I. (These events precipitated the Russian Civil War
Russian Civil War
The Russian Civil War was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed to the Soviets, under the domination of the Bolshevik party. Soviet forces first assumed power in Petrograd The Russian Civil War (1917–1923) was a...
which would lead to the formation of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
in 1922.) Prior to the formal signing of the treaty, the United States partially evacuated their embassy, but Armour remained as part of the limited staff. On July 25, the Russian authorities ordered the diplomats out of Petrograd and a new legation
Legation
A legation was the term used in diplomacy to denote a diplomatic representative office lower than an embassy. Where an embassy was headed by an Ambassador, a legation was headed by a Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary....
was set up in Vologda
Vologda
Vologda is a city and the administrative, cultural, and scientific center of Vologda Oblast, Russia, located on the Vologda River. The city is a major transport knot of the Northwest of Russia. Vologda is among the Russian cities possessing an especially valuable historical heritage...
. The North Russia Campaign
North Russia Campaign
The North Russia Intervention, also known as the Northern Russian Expedition, was part of the Allied Intervention in Russia after the October Revolution. The intervention brought about the involvement of foreign troops in the Russian Civil War on the side of the White movement...
, an Allied Intervention in the Russian Civil War
Allied Intervention in the Russian Civil War
The Allied intervention was a multi-national military expedition launched in 1918 during World War I which continued into the Russian Civil War. Its operations included forces from 14 nations and were conducted over a vast territory...
, further destabilized the situation and resulted in the legation becoming essentially under siege. (The Russian army had already attacked the British consulate and killed its Attache.) At this point, the order of events for Armour becomes somewhat unclear.
According to news reports of the time, Armour was arrested and brought back to Moscow, where he and other Americans (diplomats and otherwise) were allowed to flee the country on August 26, by train to Sweden, arriving on September 5. Later, it was revealed that Armour had during this period used a fake Norwegian passport and, disguised as a courier, sneaked back into Petrograd and arranged for Princess
Russian nobility
The Russian nobility arose in the 14th century and essentially governed Russia until the October Revolution of 1917.The Russian word for nobility, Dvoryanstvo , derives from the Russian word dvor , meaning the Court of a prince or duke and later, of the tsar. A nobleman is called dvoryanin...
Myra Koudashev, (1895 - 1990), of Petrograd to escape the country. (Contrary to the contemporary reports, his obituary in the New York Times also says that he did not travel in the refugee train from Moscow, but rather escaped himself to Finland, still disguised as a courier, where he caught up with them.) On November 2, shortly after they arrived back in the United States, they announced their engagement. They were married February 2, 1919 in Brussels, Belgium.
Russian background of Mrs. Armour
Née Myra Sergueievna Koudashev, Mrs. Amour was a daughter of a first marriage of Tatar Prince Serguey Vladimirovich Kudashev, (KievKiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, 14 September 1863 - Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, 27 February 1933), to a Russian Countess of the Nieroth family , being born in Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
, 7 April 1895, while her brother Serguey was born there on 2nd October 1901.
Serguey married a woman from Jaén
Jaén, Spain
Jaén is a city in south-central Spain, the name is derived from the Arabic word Jayyan, . It is the capital of the province of Jaén. It is located in the autonomous community of Andalusia....
18 years younger than him in Spain at the age of 51, dying at Girona
Girona
Girona is a city in the northeast of Catalonia, Spain at the confluence of the rivers Ter, Onyar, Galligants and Güell, with an official population of 96,236 in January 2009. It is the capital of the province of the same name and of the comarca of the Gironès...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, aged 90, no issue.
Sister Myra married however American diplomat Norman Armour at Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, on 2nd February 1919, giving birth to Norman Armour Jr. (Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
, Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
, 10 February 1920 - U.S. 1978), who married twice, at Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, July 1941, and at San Francisco, October 1952.
Over the following years, diplomat Armour serves in a number of embassies and consulates, including those in Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
, The Netherlands, Uruguay
Uruguay
Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, the United States Department of State
United States Department of State
The United States Department of State , is the United States federal executive department responsible for international relations of the United States, equivalent to the foreign ministries of other countries...
(1922–1924), Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
(1925–1928), and France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
(1928–1932).
France
In 1929, after the death of Myron T. HerrickMyron T. Herrick
Myron Timothy Herrick was a Republican politician from Ohio. He served as the 42nd Governor of Ohio.-Biography:...
on March 31, 1929, Armour was made Chargé d'affaires
Chargé d'affaires
In diplomacy, chargé d’affaires , often shortened to simply chargé, is the title of two classes of diplomatic agents who head a diplomatic mission, either on a temporary basis or when no more senior diplomat has been accredited.-Chargés d’affaires:Chargés d’affaires , who were...
and Head of the Embassy in Paris until the selection of a replacement. This was Armour's first time as Chief of Mission. Armour was also an extremely popular social figure in France and he and his wife were often written about in American newspapers, flaunting the Parisian high life.
Haiti
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
, roughly half of the Santo Domingo
Santo Domingo
Santo Domingo, known officially as Santo Domingo de Guzmán, is the capital and largest city in the Dominican Republic. Its metropolitan population was 2,084,852 in 2003, and estimated at 3,294,385 in 2010. The city is located on the Caribbean Sea, at the mouth of the Ozama River...
Island in the Caribbean, the other half being known as Spanish speaking Dominican Republic
Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...
. His primary responsibility in Haiti was to work toward returning the government of the country back to native hands at the conclusion of the United States occupation of Haiti
United States occupation of Haiti (1915-1934)
The United States occupation of Haiti began on July 28, 1915, when 330 US Marines landed at Port-au-Prince on the authority of U.S. President Woodrow Wilson to safeguard the interests of U.S. corporations. It ended on August 1, 1934 after Franklin D. Roosevelt reaffirmed an August 1933...
which had been in effect since prior to World War I for some 19 years . He was selected to the position due to his fluency in French, but also as a sign to the Haitians that the United States would put a well-respected diplomat in their country. On August 7, 1933, Armour signed a treaty with Haiti "to return government functions to the Haitians by October 1944 and to withdraw the United States Marines stationed there by November 1944. (The plan would actually succeed ahead of schedule as Marines left the country on August 14, 1934.)"
Canada
After the death in office of Warren Delano RobbinsWarren Delano Robbins
Warren Delano Robbins was an American diplomat and first cousin of President Franklin D. Roosevelt....
, Armour was made Minister to 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...
. His appointment to Canada so soon after his success in Haiti was meant to underscore Canada's importance to the United States, according to the New York Times.
During his time in Canada, the State Department banned marriages between diplomatic personnel and the citizens of foreign countries they served due to potential conflict of interest
Conflict of interest
A conflict of interest occurs when an individual or organization is involved in multiple interests, one of which could possibly corrupt the motivation for an act in the other....
problems. Though there were at this time 122 diplomats that had taken foreign wives, Armour's high-profile relationship with his highborn Russian wife and the way in which they were engaged were commonly cited by the press on both sides of the issue.
Chile & Argentina
In 1938, Armour was appointed as Ambassador to ChileChile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
,756,950 km2 , 292,183 sq mi, 17.2 million inhabitants in the year 2011, was a post which he served relatively uneventfully.
The following year, he was appointed as Ambassador to Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
, 766,890 km2 , 1,068,302 sq mi, 40 million people year 2010, as the Second World War was heating up. During this period, Armour worked to negotiate better trade relations with these South American countries, and once the United States entered the war, to apply pressure on them to not support the Axis Powers
Axis Powers
The Axis powers , also known as the Axis alliance, Axis nations, Axis countries, or just the Axis, was an alignment of great powers during the mid-20th century that fought World War II against the Allies. It began in 1936 with treaties of friendship between Germany and Italy and between Germany and...
. (One of the provisions of the treaty that he helped negotiate essentially cut off the supply of Tungsten
Tungsten
Tungsten , also known as wolfram , is a chemical element with the chemical symbol W and atomic number 74.A hard, rare metal under standard conditions when uncombined, tungsten is found naturally on Earth only in chemical compounds. It was identified as a new element in 1781, and first isolated as...
, essential for steels in armored tanks and in electrical lamps, to Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
from Argentina. Imports from that country to Japan accounted for half of that country's supply.) However, Argentina refused to budge off key issues and remained ostensibly neutral.
In 1941, Armour was made honorary director of the 1st Pan-American Games which were to be held in 1942. Unfortunately, the games were called off due to the war.
Near the end of the war, on January 26, 1944, Argentina finally caved to pressure from Britain and the United States and broke ties with the Axis Powers. However, almost immediately after, the General Edelmiro Julián Farrell
Edelmiro Julián Farrell
General Edelmiro Julián Farrell Plaul was an Argentine military officer of Irish descent. He was the de facto president of Argentina between 1944 and 1946....
seized power in a coup from President
President of Argentina
The President of the Argentine Nation , usually known as the President of Argentina, is the head of state of Argentina. Under the national Constitution, the President is also the chief executive of the federal government and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces.Through Argentine history, the...
General Pedro Pablo Ramírez
Pedro Pablo Ramírez
General Pedro Pablo Ramírez was de facto President of Argentina from June 7, 1943 to February 24, 1944. He was the founder and leader of the Guardia Nacional, Argentina's Fascist militia....
.
Both Generals backed quite closely General Juan Domingo Perón, (1895 - 1974), their successor from June 1946 to July 1974, who was President in three different periods,namely, 1946–1952, 1952 - 1955 till a military coup ousting him and then from September 1973, after 18 years in the exile, to 1 July 1974 when he died.
As a result of this turmoil, the United States refused to recognize the legitimacy of the new government. Armour was ordered to remain in Argentina, but not to officially establish relations of any kind with the new government until a list of conditions were met. The United States officially suspended relations with the country on March 3, 1944, believing that the coup was backed by pro-Axis groups. Armour was officially recalled June 27, 1944.
After his recall, Armour was made acting-Chief of the Department of Latin American Affairs, now probably integrated under the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs
Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs
In the United States Government, the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs is a part of the U.S. Department of State, charged with implementing U.S. foreign policy and promoting U.S. interests in the Western Hemisphere, as well as advising the Under Secretary for Political Affairs...
in the State Department, until his appointment the following year, 15 December 1944, to Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, presenting his credentials three and a half months later, March 24, 1945.
Spain & retirement
In Spain, Armour continued to apply pressure on the government of Francisco FrancoFrancisco Franco
Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...
due in part to its support of the Axis powers during the Second World War. On his retirement on November 29, 1945, formally, 1st December 1945, only 8 months afterwards, the United States further isolated Spain by refusing to send another Ambassador until 1951.
A resolution of the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
, document 32(I) 9th February 1946, commended General Franco's regimen stating: " .... the actual Spanish Government, founded through the help of the powers of the Axis, not possessing , in view of his origins , nature, historical and the intimate association with the agreeing States, the conditions justifying his admission...", in Spanish: "....El actual gobierno español, el cual habiendo sido fundado con el apoyo de las potencias del Eje, no posee, en vistas de sus orígenes, su naturaleza, su historial y su íntima asociación con los Estados agresores, las condiciones que justifiquen su admisión."
During that period December 1945 - March 1951, the U.S. embassy remained open with a succession of Chargé d'Affaires, namely, Philip W. Bonsal, from March 1946 to June 1947, Paul T. Culbertson, from June 1947 to December 1952 and Stanton Griffis.
The later Chargé d'Áffaires was appointed on February 1, 1951 again as an Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary presenting his credentials: March 1, 1951, just only one month after his appointment but he relinquished the charge January 28, 1952, 12 months after.
Diplomat Griffis was one the sons of American Far East Orientalist, mainly Japanese
Culture of Japan
The culture of Japan has evolved greatly over the millennia, from the country's prehistoric Jōmon period to its contemporary hybrid culture, which combines influences from Asia, Europe and North America...
life, culture and thought, William Elliot Griffis
William Elliot Griffis
William Elliot Griffis was an American orientalist, Congregational minister, lecturer, and prolific author....
, (1843 - 1928), A Congregationalist sort of priest educated at the Dutch Reformed Church
Dutch Reformed Church
The Dutch Reformed Church was a Reformed Christian denomination in the Netherlands. It existed from the 1570s to 2004, the year it merged with the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Kingdom of the Netherlands to form the Protestant Church in the...
at New Brunswick
New Brunswick
New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...
. This Stanton seems to bear no relation to Alice Griffiths, and became also U.S. Ambassador to Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
(July 1947 - April 1948), Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
(September 1948 - March 1949), and Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
(November 1949 - September 1950), under President Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...
. Stanton Griffis was ambassador to Argentina while General Juan Domingo Perón, deceased 1974, and wife Eva Duarte de Perón were in power and wrote of his experiences in a book titled Lying In State
In 1947, Armour came out of retirement to serve as an Assistant Secretary of State of Political Affairs under George C. Marshall. On July 15, 1948, he retired for a second time. Three years later, in 1950, Armour was asked out of retirement again to serve as Ambassador to Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
. In 1954, he came out of retirement for a third time to serve as Ambassador to Guatemala
Guatemala
Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
, a post he only served in for seven months.
According to an interview in 1976, Armour indicated that he was proudest of his work in 1954, protesting the attacks of Joseph R. McCarthy (1908 - 1957), a Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
Senator from Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
, then a lawyer but raised at a farm, on the members of the Foreign Service, with his initial 1950 Wheeling Speech, suspected of connivance with Communism during the ongoing Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
.
Note that the famous Wheeling Speech, February 9, 1950, is related to McCarthys speech on Lincoln Day
Lincoln Day
Lincoln Day is the primary annual celebration and fundraising event of many state and county organizations of the Republican Party in the United States...
to the Republican Women Club of Wheeling, West Virginia
Wheeling, West Virginia
Wheeling is a city in Ohio and Marshall counties in the U.S. state of West Virginia; it is the county seat of Ohio County. Wheeling is the principal city of the Wheeling Metropolitan Statistical Area...
, a U.S. city with about 28,000 inhabitants in 2010.
With a Russian wife, no matter whether she was an exiled Tsarist times aristocrat descending from Tatar Princes settled at the Saint Petersburg corridors of power centuries before, there werre grounds for deep suspicions and as a Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
member of the Democratic Party under Democrat Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
, (January 1882 - 12 April 1945), and Harry S. Truman, (U.S. President April 1945 - January 1953) still more, of course. The enemy was within and at thousands of Kilometers as well, something to worry about. indeed, for the next decades.
Armour died in 1982 and was buried in Princeton Cemetery.