Edward E. Masters

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Edward E. Masters

| office1 = U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia

| term_start1 = November 3, 1977

| term_end1 = November 10, 1981

| president1 = Jimmy Carter

| predecessor1 = David D. Newsom

| successor1 = John Herbert Holdridge

| office2 = U.S. Ambassador to Bangladesh

| term_start2 = October 5, 1976

| term_end2 = November 27, 1977

| president2 = Gerald Ford

| predecessor2 = Davis Eugene Boster

| successor2 = David T. Schneider

| party =

| birth_date = {{birth date|1924|6|21}}

| birth_place = Columbus, Ohio, U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age|2014|3|21|1924|6|21}}

| death_place = Washington D.C., U.S.

}}

Edward E. Masters (June 21, 1924 – March 21, 2014) was an American diplomat.

During the Indonesian mass killings of 1965–66, Masters actively aided and abetted the genocide by systematically supplying lists of members of the Communist Party of Indonesia to the death squads.{{Cite news |last=Kadane |first=Kathy |date=1990-05-21 |title=U.S. OFFICIALS' LISTS AIDED INDONESIAN BLOODBATH IN '60S |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1990/05/21/us-officials-lists-aided-indonesian-bloodbath-in-60s/ff6d37c3-8eed-486f-908c-3eeafc19aab2/ |access-date=2024-01-17 |newspaper=Washington Post |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}}

Early life

Masters was born on June 21, 1924, in Columbus, Ohio, United States. He graduated from high school in 1942. He joined Denison University but left soon to join the army. He served in the army for three years.{{Cite news|url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/washingtonpost/obituary.aspx?n=edward-e-masters&pid=170355084&fhid=2167|title=EDWARD E. MASTERS's Obituary on The Washington Post|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=2017-02-16}} He completed his undergraduate from George Washington University in 1948 and in 1949 he completed his master's degree from Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dFPVAwAAQBAJ&dq=Edward+E.+Masters&pg=PA1811|title=Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Jimmy Carter, 1977|last=Jimmy|first=Carter|date=1977-01-01|publisher=Best Books on|isbn=9781623767662|pages=1811|language=en}}

Career

Masters served as an intelligent analyst in the State Department from 1949 to 1950. From 1950 to 1952 he was the resident officer and later military liaison officer in Frankfurt, West Germany. From 1953 to 1954 he was the political officer of the US embassy in Karachi, Pakistan.{{Cite web |date=14 March 1989 |title=The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project AMBASSADOR EDWARD E. MASTERS |url=https://adst.org/OH%20TOCs/Masters,%20Edward%20E.toc.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240627032857/https://adst.org/OH%20TOCs/Masters,%20Edward%20E.toc.pdf |archive-date=27 June 2024 |access-date=26 July 2024 |website=Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training}} From 1955 to 1958 was the political officer in Madras, India. He was an intelligence specialist from 1958 to 1960 in the State Department.

Masters served as the chief intelligence officer of Indonesia-Malaya branch of the Intelligence Research Analysis branch Asia from 1960 to 1962. He was the head of the Thailand affairs at the State Department from 1962 to 1963. He served as the deputy chief of the United States embassy in Thailand from 1971 to 1975.

Masters was appointed the ambassador of the United States to Bangladesh on October 4, 1976. He left the post on November 27, 1977.{{Cite web|url=https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/people/masters-edward-e|title=Edward E. Masters - People - Department History - Office of the Historian|website=history.state.gov|language=en|access-date=2017-02-16}} He was appointed ambassador to Indonesia on November 3, 1977. he served there until November 10, 1981. He visited East Timor on September 14, 1977, after the Indonesian invasion.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=630xBwAAQBAJ&dq=Edward+E.+Masters&pg=PA25|title=Momentum and the East Timor Independence Movement: The Origins of America's Debate on East Timor|last=Gunderson|first=Shane|date=2015-03-06|publisher=Lexington Books|isbn=9781498502351|pages=25|language=en}} He was the founding president of United States-Indonesia society, a post he held from 1994 to 2001.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0MUP4IYGaqIC&dq=Edward+E.+Masters&pg=PR15|title=Shared Hopes, Separate Fears: Fifty Years of U.S.-Indonesian Relations|last=Gardner|first=Paul F.|date=1997-01-01|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|isbn=0813331900|pages=xv|language=en}}