Robinson McIlvaine
Encyclopedia
Robinson McIlvaine was a career US diplomat who was President of the African Wildlife Foundation
from 1978 to 1982.
in 1913. He graduated from Harvard College
.
McIlvaine served in the U.S. Navy in Panama prior to the Attack on Pearl Harbor
in December 1941.
He was made commanding officer of a submarine chaser in the Guadalcanal area, and later became captain of a destroyer escort on Atlantic convoy duty, reaching the rank of Commander.
McIlvaine's first wife, Jane McClary, was a writer for the Times Herald and Fortune magazine.
After they married, in 1946 McIlvaine became the owner, editor and publisher of The Archive, a Downingtown weekly that had been founded 1853 but was no longer much more than an advertising sheet, with 1,750 subscribers.
Jane wrote a book about their years at the paper called It Happens Every Thursday.
The book was made into a movie starring John Forsythe
and Loretta Young
, and then into a television series.
While an editor, McIlvaine became active in Republican politics.
Leaving the paper, he joined the State Department in 1953 as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs.
He held the posts of Deputy Chief of Mission in Lisbon and Director of the Inter-Departmental Seminar.
He became Chairman of the U.S. Section of the Caribbean Commission
.
in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
from 1960 to 1961.
In July 1960 McIlvaine responded to the White House inquiry on the first President, Patrice Lumumba
. He said "Lumumba is an opportunist and not a communist".
In 1961 McIlvaine was appointed Ambassador to Dahomey
(now Benin), holding the post until March 19, 1964.
McIlvaine's name was submitted in 1966 for the post of Ambassador to Senegal, but was rejected by President Lyndon Johnson who was against having another Harvard graduate for the post. However, when his friend Averell Harriman submitted his name for Ambassador to Guinea nobody else wanted the job and he was accepted.
Two days after he arrived as Ambassador in Conakry
, Guinea, McIlvaine and all other Americans in the country were put under house arrest. The detention was ordered by president Ahmed Sékou Touré
in response to the arrest of 19 Guineans including the Guinean foreign minister by Ghanaian authorities in Accra.
Touré accused the U.S. of being behind the arrest.
Ghana said the Guineans would be freed only if Guinea released 100 Ghanaians, whom it said were being held illegally.
After Ghana released their hostages, McIlvaine was able to defuse the situation and even to get an apology from President Touré.
Although Washington later made a fuss about the Cuban presence in Guinea and other African countries, McIlvaine said "The State Department was not particularly concerned with the Cuban presence. It was not a big worry for us".
In 1969 McIlvaine left Guinea and was appointed Ambassador to Kenya
, holding this position until he retired in 1973.
He was head of the Nairobi office of the African Wildlife Leadership Foundation (now African Wildlife Foundation) for two years,
then returned to Washington to become President of the AWLF. One of the most successful projects he initiated was formation of a consortium to protect the threatened mountain gorilla
s of Rwanda
.
The AWLF had assisted Dian Fossey
in her study of mountain gorillas in Rwanda in the 1960s.
Robinson McIlvaine later said that "There would be no mountain gorillas in the Virungas today ... were it not for Dian Fossey's tireless efforts over many years".
According the Farley Mowat
in his book Woman in the Mists
, Dian Fossey
asked Robinson McIlvaine to serve as secretary-treasurer of the Digit Fund
while he was AWLF President until she could find a salaried executive director to take over.
She had created the fund to finance patrols against poachers seeking to kill mountain gorillas. McIlvaine partnered with the International Primate Protection League
, the Digit Fund, and his own AWLF asking for funds, to be made out to the AWLF.
The Digit Fund received none of the money, and McIlvaine suggested to Fossey that the Digit Fund could be folded into AWLF, which Fossey declined. McIlvaine resigned as secretary-treasurer of the Digit Fund.
McIlvaine retired from the AWLF in 1982.
He died at his home in Washington, D.C. on 24 June 2001 at the age of 87.
He was survived by his second wife, Alice Nicolson McIlvaine, whom he married in 1961, and by two sons, a daughter and three grandchildren.
Mia McIlvaine Merle-Smith, a daughter by his first marriage, was lost at sea while trying to sail across the Atlantic with her husband in 1971.
African Wildlife Foundation
The African Wildlife Foundation , founded in 1961 as the African Wildlife Leadership Foundation, is an international conservation organization that focuses on critically important landscapes in Africa....
from 1978 to 1982.
Early years
McIlvaine was born in Downingtown, PennsylvaniaDowningtown, Pennsylvania
Downingtown is a borough in Chester County, Pennsylvania, west of Philadelphia. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 7,891. Downingtown was settled by English and European colonists in the early 18th century and has a number of historic buildings and structures.-History:The town was...
in 1913. He graduated from Harvard College
Harvard College
Harvard College, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of two schools within Harvard University granting undergraduate degrees...
.
McIlvaine served in the U.S. Navy in Panama prior to the Attack on Pearl Harbor
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941...
in December 1941.
He was made commanding officer of a submarine chaser in the Guadalcanal area, and later became captain of a destroyer escort on Atlantic convoy duty, reaching the rank of Commander.
McIlvaine's first wife, Jane McClary, was a writer for the Times Herald and Fortune magazine.
After they married, in 1946 McIlvaine became the owner, editor and publisher of The Archive, a Downingtown weekly that had been founded 1853 but was no longer much more than an advertising sheet, with 1,750 subscribers.
Jane wrote a book about their years at the paper called It Happens Every Thursday.
The book was made into a movie starring John Forsythe
John Forsythe
John Forsythe was an American stage, television and film actor. Forsythe starred in three television series, spanning four decades and three genres: as single playboy father Bentley Gregg in the sitcom Bachelor Father ; as the unseen millionaire Charles Townsend on the crime drama Charlie's...
and Loretta Young
Loretta Young
Loretta Young was an American actress. Starting as a child actress, she had a long and varied career in film from 1917 to 1953...
, and then into a television series.
While an editor, McIlvaine became active in Republican politics.
Leaving the paper, he joined the State Department in 1953 as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs.
He held the posts of Deputy Chief of Mission in Lisbon and Director of the Inter-Departmental Seminar.
He became Chairman of the U.S. Section of the Caribbean Commission
Caribbean Commission
The Caribbean Commission, originally the Anglo-American Caribbean Commission, was established on 9 March 1942 to improve the common social and economic problems of the region and deal with wartime issues. In 1946, the governments of the U.S. and U.K. invited France and the Netherlands to join,...
.
Diplomatic career
McIlvaine was Consul General at LeopoldvilleLeopoldville
Leopoldville may refer to:* The capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, today known as Kinshasa* SS Leopoldville, a troopship sunk in 1944...
in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a state located in Central Africa. It is the second largest country in Africa by area and the eleventh largest in the world...
from 1960 to 1961.
In July 1960 McIlvaine responded to the White House inquiry on the first President, Patrice Lumumba
Patrice Lumumba
Patrice Émery Lumumba was a Congolese independence leader and the first legally elected Prime Minister of the Republic of the Congo after he helped win its independence from Belgium in June 1960. Only ten weeks later, Lumumba's government was deposed in a coup during the Congo Crisis...
. He said "Lumumba is an opportunist and not a communist".
In 1961 McIlvaine was appointed Ambassador to Dahomey
Dahomey
Dahomey was a country in west Africa in what is now the Republic of Benin. The Kingdom of Dahomey was a powerful west African state that was founded in the seventeenth century and survived until 1894. From 1894 until 1960 Dahomey was a part of French West Africa. The independent Republic of Dahomey...
(now Benin), holding the post until March 19, 1964.
McIlvaine's name was submitted in 1966 for the post of Ambassador to Senegal, but was rejected by President Lyndon Johnson who was against having another Harvard graduate for the post. However, when his friend Averell Harriman submitted his name for Ambassador to Guinea nobody else wanted the job and he was accepted.
Two days after he arrived as Ambassador in Conakry
Conakry
Conakry is the capital and largest city of Guinea. Conakry is a port city on the Atlantic Ocean and serves as the economic, financial and cultural centre of Guinea with a 2009 population of 1,548,500...
, Guinea, McIlvaine and all other Americans in the country were put under house arrest. The detention was ordered by president Ahmed Sékou Touré
Ahmed Sékou Touré
Ahmed Sékou Touré was an African political leader and President of Guinea from 1958 to his death in 1984...
in response to the arrest of 19 Guineans including the Guinean foreign minister by Ghanaian authorities in Accra.
Touré accused the U.S. of being behind the arrest.
Ghana said the Guineans would be freed only if Guinea released 100 Ghanaians, whom it said were being held illegally.
After Ghana released their hostages, McIlvaine was able to defuse the situation and even to get an apology from President Touré.
Although Washington later made a fuss about the Cuban presence in Guinea and other African countries, McIlvaine said "The State Department was not particularly concerned with the Cuban presence. It was not a big worry for us".
In 1969 McIlvaine left Guinea and was appointed Ambassador to Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
, holding this position until he retired in 1973.
Later career
McIlvaine left the Foreign Service in 1973.He was head of the Nairobi office of the African Wildlife Leadership Foundation (now African Wildlife Foundation) for two years,
then returned to Washington to become President of the AWLF. One of the most successful projects he initiated was formation of a consortium to protect the threatened mountain gorilla
Mountain Gorilla
The Mountain Gorilla is one of the two subspecies of the Eastern Gorilla. There are two populations. One is found in the Virunga volcanic mountains of Central Africa, within three National Parks: Mgahinga, in south-west Uganda; Volcanoes, in north-west Rwanda; and Virunga in the eastern Democratic...
s of Rwanda
Rwanda
Rwanda or , officially the Republic of Rwanda , is a country in central and eastern Africa with a population of approximately 11.4 million . Rwanda is located a few degrees south of the Equator, and is bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo...
.
The AWLF had assisted Dian Fossey
Dian Fossey
Dian Fossey was an American zoologist who undertook an extensive study of gorilla groups over a period of 18 years. She studied them daily in the mountain forests of Rwanda, initially encouraged to work there by famous anthropologist Louis Leakey...
in her study of mountain gorillas in Rwanda in the 1960s.
Robinson McIlvaine later said that "There would be no mountain gorillas in the Virungas today ... were it not for Dian Fossey's tireless efforts over many years".
According the Farley Mowat
Farley Mowat
Farley McGill Mowat, , born May 12, 1921 is a conservationist and one of Canada's most widely-read authors.His works have been translated into 52 languages and he has sold more than 14 million books. He achieved fame with the publication of his books on the Canadian North, such as People of the...
in his book Woman in the Mists
Woman in the Mists
Woman in the Mists: The Story of Dian Fossey and the Mountain Gorillas of Africa is a 1987 biography of the conservationist Dian Fossey, who studied and lived among the mountain gorillas of Rwanda....
, Dian Fossey
Dian Fossey
Dian Fossey was an American zoologist who undertook an extensive study of gorilla groups over a period of 18 years. She studied them daily in the mountain forests of Rwanda, initially encouraged to work there by famous anthropologist Louis Leakey...
asked Robinson McIlvaine to serve as secretary-treasurer of the Digit Fund
Digit Fund
The Digit Fund was created by Dr. Dian Fossey in 1978 for the sole purpose of financing her anti-poaching patrols and preventing further poaching of the endangered mountain gorillas Fossey studied at her Karisoke Research Center in the Virunga Volcanoes of Rwanda...
while he was AWLF President until she could find a salaried executive director to take over.
She had created the fund to finance patrols against poachers seeking to kill mountain gorillas. McIlvaine partnered with the International Primate Protection League
International Primate Protection League
The International Primate Protection League , founded in 1973 in Thailand by Dr. Shirley McGreal, is represented in 31 countries and has offices in the UK and the US, and works toward the well being of non-human primates...
, the Digit Fund, and his own AWLF asking for funds, to be made out to the AWLF.
The Digit Fund received none of the money, and McIlvaine suggested to Fossey that the Digit Fund could be folded into AWLF, which Fossey declined. McIlvaine resigned as secretary-treasurer of the Digit Fund.
McIlvaine retired from the AWLF in 1982.
He died at his home in Washington, D.C. on 24 June 2001 at the age of 87.
He was survived by his second wife, Alice Nicolson McIlvaine, whom he married in 1961, and by two sons, a daughter and three grandchildren.
Mia McIlvaine Merle-Smith, a daughter by his first marriage, was lost at sea while trying to sail across the Atlantic with her husband in 1971.