Selden Chapin

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Selden Chapin

| image = Selden Chapin 1951.jpg

| image_size =

| alt =

| caption = Chapin in the Netherlands in 1951

| order = 1st

| office = Director General of the Foreign Service

| term_start = November 13, 1946

| term_end = April 30, 1947

| preceded = Position established

| succeeded = Christian M. Ravndal

| ambassador_from2 = United States

| country2 = Peru

| term_start2 = May 7, 1960

| term_end2 = August 7, 1960

| predecessor2 = Theodore Achilles

| successor2 = James Loeb

| president2 = Dwight D. Eisenhower

| ambassador_from3 = United States

| country3 = Iran

| term_start3 = 1955

| term_end3 = 1958

| predecessor3 = Loy W. Henderson

| successor3 = Edward T. Wailes

| president3 = Dwight D. Eisenhower

| ambassador_from4 = United States

| country4 = Panama

| term_start4 = January 2, 1954

| term_end4 = May 29, 1955

| predecessor4 = John C. Wiley

| successor4 = Julian F. Harrington

| president4 = Dwight D. Eisenhower

| ambassador_from5 = United States

| country5 = the Netherlands

| term_start5 = October 27, 1949

| term_end5 = October 30, 1953

| predecessor5 = Herman B. Baruch

| successor5 = H. Freeman Matthews

| president5 = Harry S. Truman
Dwight D. Eisenhower

| ambassador_from6 = United States

| country6 = Hungary

| term_start6 = July 9, 1947

| term_end6 = February 17, 1949

| predecessor6 = H. F. Arthur Schoenfeld

| successor6 = Nathaniel P. Davis

| president6 = Harry S. Truman

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1899|9|19}}

| birth_place = Erie, Pennsylvania, U.S.

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1963|3|26|1899|9|19}}

| death_place =

| resting_place = Arlington National Cemetery

| nationality = American

| alma_mater = United States Naval Academy

| occupation = Diplomat

| spouse = Mary Paul Noyes (m. 1927)

| children = {{ubl

|Frederic L. Chapin

|Helen Chapin Metz

}}

| relatives = Hope Cooke (niece and ward)

| branch = {{navy|US}}

| serviceyears = 1919–1925

}}

Selden Chapin (September 19, 1899 – March 26, 1963) was a career foreign service officer and United States diplomat.

Biography

Selden Chapin was born in Erie, Pennsylvania, the son of Captain Frederic Lincoln Chapin (who was commander of the battle ship Wyoming) and his wife Grace Card (Selden) Chapin. He graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1919 and served in the U.S. Navy from 1919 to 1925. He married Mary Paul Noyes, March 30, 1927.

He was appointed a foreign service officer in March 1925. After the liberation of Paris in August 1944, he served as Charge d'Affaires in the American Embassy in the absence of an ambassador, since France formally broke off diplomatic relations with the U.S. after the Torch Invasion of North Africa in November 1942. Jefferson Caffery assumed the ambassadorship on 30 December 1944. Later Chapin was the U.S. ambassador to Hungary, Iran, Netherlands, Peru and Panama. Chapin and his wife are interred in Arlington National Cemetery.[https://ancexplorer.army.mil/publicwmv/#/arlington-national/search/results/1/CgZjaGFwaW4SBnNlbGRlbg--/ Burial Detail: Chapin, Selden (Section 8, Grave 38-D)] – ANC Explorer

His son was Frederic L. Chapin, ambassador to Ethiopia and Guatemala, and his daughter was Middle East analyst Helen Chapin Metz. His niece and ward is Hope Cooke, former wife of the last king of Sikkim, Palden Thondup Namgyal.{{Cite news |date=14 March 1963 |title=U.S. Girl is off to wed her Prince |pages=2 |work=The Straits Times |agency=United Press International |url=https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19630314-1.2.17.5 |access-date=26 September 2022 |quote="Miss Cooke will be accompanied to Gangtok by her aunt, Mrs. Selden Chapin, wife of the former U.S. Ambassador to Persia."}}