Clifton Reginald Wharton Sr.

He married Harriet Banks; they had four children.{{cite web |date=12 March 2012 |title=Wharton Sr., Clifton Reginald (1899–1990) – The Black Past: Remembered and Reclaimed |url=http://www.blackpast.org/aah/wharton-sr-clifton-reginald-1899-1990 |access-date=26 December 2015}} His son Clifton Reginald Wharton Jr. is a noted economist and executive who also served in the State Department as Deputy Secretary of State during the Clinton administration, and before that as president of Michigan State University.

Wharton was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.

Born in Baltimore to William Bowman Wharton and Rosalind Griffin, Wharton received his law degree in 1920 and an advanced law degree in 1923 from Boston University School of Law. He practiced in Boston before joining the U.S. State Department as a law clerk in August of 1924. He was the only Black professional in the Department at the time.{{Cite journal |last=Calkin |first=Homer L. |date=February 1978 |title=A reminiscence: Being black in the Foreign Service |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112108168938&seq=97 |journal=Department of State Newsletter |pages=25-28 |via=Hathitrust}} He was left alone by his coworkers; he only had lunch with a coworker once during this period. He took the Foreign Service examination the first time it was given and received high marks on the written tests. Wharton was appointed to the Foreign Service on March 20, 1925 and was the first Black Foreign Service Officer.{{Cite web |last=Department Of State. The Office of Electronic Information |first=Bureau of Public Affairs |title=Clifton R. Wharton |url=https://2001-2009.state.gov/r/pa/ei/rls/stamps/67017.htm |access-date=2024-07-25 |website=2001-2009.state.gov |language=en}} Wharton went on to be Vice Consul in Monrovia (1927–1929), Consul in Las Palmas (1932–1938), Minister to Romania (1958–1961) and Ambassador to Norway (1961–1964).Navraez, Alfonso A. (April 25, 1990). Clifton R. Wharton, 90, Is Dead; Pioneering Black U.S. Diplomat. The New York Times{{cite web |title=Clifton Reginald Wharton – People – Department History – Office of the Historian |url=https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/people/wharton-clifton-reginald |access-date=26 December 2015}}

Unlike the other new Foreign Service officers, Wharton was immediately sent to post in Monrovia upon appointment as opposed to attending the Foreign Service Institute for training. He was originally supposed to go on a cargo ship with only two cabins. After refusing to go, the Department then arranged for transportation via a White Star-Cunard ocean liner. The Department claimed it was due to an urgent need in Liberia, but many Black newspapers were skeptical. Wharton was unsurprised to be sent to Monrovia, as it was a post in the "Negro Circuit", a string of posts in Africa and the Caribbean where almost all Black officers were sent where the native populations were largely Black and the positions were generally undesirable.{{Cite web |title=The American Diplomat {{!}} American Experience {{!}} PBS |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/american-diplomat/ |access-date=2024-07-25 |website=www.pbs.org |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=2019-02-28 |title=African American Trailblazers in Diplomacy |url=https://diplomacy.state.gov/events-listing/african-american-trailblazers-in-diplomacy/ |access-date=2024-07-25 |website=The National Museum of American Diplomacy |language=en-US}} On the subject of the Negro Circuit, Wharton told the Department of State's Personnel Office, "You're not only discriminating against us [Black employees] in the Service, but you're also exporting discrimination abroad in the Foreign Service."

After five years in Liberia, Wharton was assigned to go to Calais but the officer he was set to replace refused to leave so Wharton was reassigned to the French overseas department of Martinique. He requested a post with better weather and was redirected to Las Palmas in the Canary Islands. Wharton was the first Black officer in Las Palmas but soon after, other Black officers began to be assigned there.

From 1930 to 1942, Wharton returned to Liberia for assignments many times. He also worked in Tananarive, Madagascar, Oporto and Ponta Delgado quintessential posts in the Negro Circuit. Finally in 1949, Wharton was transferred away from this pattern as consul general and first secretary at Lisbon's American Embassy, before becoming supervisory consul general over Portugal and its islands. His transfer to Lisbon came months after his transfer request as personnel officials were resistance to sending a Black officer to Europe.{{Cite book |url=https://adst.org/OH%20TOCs/Dunham,%20William%20B.TOC.pdf |title=Wiliam B. Dunham Memoir |publisher=Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training |year=1996}} When his transfer was finally accepted, it was as first secretary and consul instead of consul general, the position he qualified for based on experience. He was finally made consul general a year after his initial transfer. Wharton was the first Black officer in Lisbon as well as the first Black senior officer.{{Cite news |last=Narvaez |first=Alfonso A. |date=1990-04-25 |title=Clifton R. Wharton, 90, Is Dead; Pioneering Black U.S. Diplomat |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/04/25/world/clifton-r-wharton-90-is-dead-pioneering-black-us-diplomat.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160310191841/https://www.nytimes.com/1990/04/25/world/clifton-r-wharton-90-is-dead-pioneering-black-us-diplomat.html |archive-date=2016-03-10 |access-date=2024-07-25 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} In 1953, Wharton was appointed consul general in Marseille, again as the first Black person to hold that position.{{Cite web |title=Clifton R. Wharton, Sr. |url=https://diplomacy.state.gov/encyclopedia/clifton-r-wharton-sr-ambassador/ |access-date=2024-07-25 |website=The National Museum of American Diplomacy |language=en-US}}File:Clifton Wharton Sr. swearing-in (40741576093).png

In 1958, President Eisenhower offered Wharton the position of U.S. Envoy to Romania. He originally refused the position, suspecting that it was being extended due to his race. After he was assured this was not the case, Wharton accepted the position and became the first Black officer to head a U.S. delegation in Europe.{{Cite web |title=Clifton Wharton — Diplomat and Pioneer – Association for Diplomatic Studies & Training |url=https://adst.org/oral-history/fascinating-figures/clifton-wharton-diplomat-and-pioneer/ |access-date=2024-07-25 |website=adst.org}} Loy Henderson, Deputy Undersecretary for Administration wrote to Wharton later

One of the most unforgettable moments of my Foreign Service life was my conversation with you when you flew from Marseilles to Washington in order to make sure that your appointment as minister to Romania was based on merit and qualifications{{Em dash}}not on racial considerations. You made it clear to me that if the matter of race had been one of the criteria, you would not be able to accept the appointment. I was deeply touched and glad to tell you that race had not been a factor.

In 1978, the State Department had a day honoring Wharton and diplomat Lucile Atcherson Curtis, who was the first woman in what became the U.S. Foreign Service.{{cite web|url=http://oasis.lib.harvard.edu/oasis/deliver/~sch01223|title=Curtis, Lucile Atcherson, 1894–1986. Papers of Lucile Atcherson Curtis, 1863–1986 (inclusive), 1917–1927 (bulk): A Finding Aid|work=harvard.edu|access-date=19 March 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150403081532/http://oasis.lib.harvard.edu/oasis/deliver/~sch01223|archive-date=3 April 2015|url-status=dead}}{{cite news|author=Special to The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/05/09/obituaries/lucile-a-curtis-dead-foreign-service-pioneer.html |title=Lucile A. Curtis Dead – Foreign Service Pioneer |work=The New York Times |date=1986-05-09 |access-date=2015-03-19}}

On May 30, 2006, the United States Postal Service issued a stamp depicting Wharton in its Distinguished American Diplomats commemorative series.{{cite web|last=Stump|first=Brice|title=Wharton family is honored by stamp issuance|url=http://www.delmarvanow.com/easternshore/stories/20060705/2303567.html|publisher=DelmarvaNow|access-date=3 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060705190409/http://www.delmarvanow.com/easternshore/stories/20060705/2303567.html|archive-date=5 July 2006|date=5 July 2006}}

• Rogers Act

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• https://web.archive.org/web/20150724035343/http://diplomacy.state.gov/discoverdiplomacy/explorer/peoplehistorical/170207.htm

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Category:1899 births

Category:1990 deaths

Category:Ambassadors of the United States to Romania

Category:Ambassadors of the United States to Norway

Category:Boston University School of Law alumni

Category:African-American diplomats

Category:United States Foreign Service personnel

Category:Diplomats from Baltimore

Category:20th-century African-American people

Category:20th-century American diplomats

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