Francis E. Meloy Jr.

Francis Edward Meloy Jr. (March 28, 1917 – June 16, 1976) was a U.S. diplomat murdered in Beirut, Lebanon in 1976 by Lebanese leftist militants.

Francis E. Meloy Jr.
United States Ambassador to Lebanon
In office
June 1, 1976 – June 16, 1976[1]
PresidentGerald Ford
Preceded byG. McMurtrie Godley
Succeeded byEarl Anthony Wayne
United States Ambassador to Guatemala
In office
February 7, 1974 – April 19, 1976
PresidentRichard Nixon
Preceded byWilliam G. Bowdler
Succeeded byDavis E. Boster
United States Ambassador to the Dominican Republic
In office
July 16, 1969 – August 6, 1973
PresidentRichard Nixon
Preceded byJohn Hugh Crimmins
Succeeded byRobert A. Hurwitch
Personal details
Born
Francis Edward Meloy Jr.

(1917-03-28)March 28, 1917
Washington, D.C.
DiedJune 16, 1976(1976-06-16) (aged 59)
Beirut, Lebanon
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionDiplomat

Early life

Meloy was born in Washington, D.C., on March 28, 1917, to Francis E. Meloy Sr. a government employee and geographer and Anne Teresa Connor.[2]: 16  He served in the United States Navy during World War II spending four years in naval intelligence as a reserve officer.[2]: 16 

Diplomatic career

After the war, he joined the State Department and 1946 he was posted Dhahran, Saudi Arabia as a vice consul.[2]: 16  He returned in 1946 to Washington and served as the personal assistant to Secretary of State Dean Acheson until 1953.[2]: 16  He resumed his career as a Foreign Service officer serving as a political officer in Saigon from 1953 until 1956 and then in Paris until 1959.[2]: 16  In 1962 he was appointed as the Director of the Office of Western European Affairs until 1964, then as the deputy chief of mission in Rome.[2]: 16  He was then promoted, serving as U.S. Ambassador to the Dominican Republic from 1969 to 1973, and Guatemala from 1973 to 1976.[2]: 16  On April 21, 1976, President Gerald Ford appointed Meloy as Ambassador to Lebanon after the resignation of G. McMurtrie Godley due to illness.[3]: 6  He would be approved by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on April 27.[4]: 45 

Death

At 10:40 on June 16, 1976, in Beirut, Meloy, the incoming U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon, accompanied by Robert O. Waring, the U.S. Economic Counselor, was on his way to present his credentials to the new Lebanese President-elect Elias Sarkis.[5]: 1  Meloy, Waring and their driver, Zuhair Mohammed Moghrabi, were kidnapped by Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine members as they crossed the Green Line, the division between Beirut's Christian and Muslim sectors.[5]: 1  Meloy had been in the country a month, but not presented his credentials to the former president Suleiman Franjieh who had taken refuge outside Beirut and refused to step down.[5]: 16 

By 21:30, Lebanese television announced their bullet-riddled bodies had been found on a garbage dump near the beach in Ramlet al-Baida.[6][5]: 16 

In 2013, a report released by the CIA said that Meloy was assassinated by an "extreme Lebanese leftist militia" that had links with the PFLP. A succeeding US Ambassador to Lebanon, John Gunther Dean later stated that to the best of his knowledge, the PLO had nothing to do with the murder.[7] The 2013 CIA report noted that the PLO had arrested five over the assassination but released them for lack of sufficient evidence. The PLO handed two culprits to the PFLP and they were later executed, the report added.[8]

See also

References
  1. "25 Quick By-The-Numbers Facts about U.S. Ambassadors". mentalfloss.com. October 16, 2012.
  2. Binder, David (26 February 2017). "Envoy in Foreign Service for 30 Years, Economic Aide Had Lebanese Contacts". The New York Times (published 17 June 1976).
  3. "Envoy to Lebanon, Ailing, Being Replaced by Ford". The New York Times (published 22 April 1976). 26 February 2017.
  4. "Senate Panel Approves New Envoy to Lebanon". The New York Times (published 28 April 1976). 26 February 2017.
  5. Markham, James M. (26 February 2017). "US Ambassador and Aide Kidnapped and Murdered in Beirut Combat Sector". The New York Times (published 17 June 1976).
  6. Robert Fisk (2001). Pity the Nation: Lebanon at War. Oxford University Press. p. 83.
  7. Charles Stuart Kennedy, John Gunther Dean, 'Interview with Ambassador John Gunther Dean: 6 September 2000,' Archived 2021-10-14 at the Wayback Machine ADST Foreign Affairs Oral History: Foreign Affairs Oral History Project 2004 p=134:'I don't know who did it, but I know who did not do it and they got blamed for it: the PLO. We went to the PLO. I think it was Dean Brown who did when he was acting there in the interim period and they helped us find the body and bring the body back..'
  8. "Meloy Waring Assassination". CIA. Retrieved March 2, 2023.
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