Sheldon B. Vance

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Sheldon Vance

| office = US Ambassador to Zaire

| term_start = May 27, 1969

| term_end = March 26, 1974

| predecessor = Robert McBride

| successor = Deane Hinton

| office2 = US Ambassador to Chad

| term_start2 = May 10, 1967

| term_end2 = May 16, 1969

| predecessor2 = Brewster Morris

| successor2 = Terence Todman

| birth_date = {{birth date|1917|1|18}}

| birth_place = Crookston, Minnesota, United States

| death_date = {{death date and age|1995|11|12|1917|1|18}}

| death_place = Bethesda, United States

| spouse = Jean Chambers

| children = Robert Vance
Stephen Vance

| alma_mater = Carleton College
Harvard Law School

| image = Sheldon B. Vance - State 1996-01- Iss 395 (IA sim state-magazine 1996-01 395) (page 59 crop).jpg

}}

Sheldon Baird Vance (January 18, 1917 – November 12, 1995), born in Crookston, Minnesota, was the U.S. Ambassador to Zaire from May 27, 1969, through March 26, 1974.

Early career and ambassadorships

Vance graduated from Carleton College with a bachelor's in art and with a bachelor's of Law from Harvard University.{{Cite journal |title=Ambassadors Chosen for Thailand, Chile, Hungary and Chad |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112108168839&seq=484 |journal=State Department Newsletter |pages=16 |via=Hathitrust}} He joined the Foreign Service in 1942 and served in Rio de Janeiro, Nice, Monaco, Martinique, Brussels, and Addis Ababa early in his career. From 1961 to 1962, Vance was the Director of the Office of Central African Affairs. He also worked as a Senior Foreign Service Inspector, inspecting posts to report on their status to the Department of State.{{Cite web |title=Executive Order 8189—Amending the Foreign Service Regulations of the United States {{!}} The American Presidency Project |url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/executive-order-8189-amending-the-foreign-service-regulations-the-united-states |access-date=2024-07-22 |website=www.presidency.ucsb.edu}} From 1967 to 1969, Vance served as the US Ambassador to Chad.{{Cite web |title=Sheldon Baird Vance (1917–1995) |url=https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/people/vance-sheldon-baird |website=Office of the Historian}}

From 1969 to 1974, Vance was the US Ambassador to Zaire.{{Cite web |date=26 January 1989 |title=The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project AMBASSADOR SHELDON VANCE |url=https://adst.org/OH%20TOCs/Vance,%20Sheldon.toc.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240716021023/https://adst.org/OH%20TOCs/Vance,%20Sheldon.toc.pdf |archive-date=16 July 2024 |access-date=5 August 2024 |website=Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training}} During his tenure, he developed a close relationship with President Mobutu Sese Seko, and became an ardent and vocal supporter of the President; he also supported Mobutu's aspirations for regional leadership and advocated foreign investment in ZaireYoung, Crawford and Thomas Turner, The Rise and Decline of the Zairian State. University of Wisconsin Press. {{ISBN|0-299-10110-X}} p. 372 and "strongly recommended" that the U.S. sell M-16s to Mobutu.[https://2001-2009.state.gov/r/pa/ho/frus/nixon/e6/67147.htm Foreign Relations, 1969-1976, Volume E-6, Documents on Africa, 1973-1976] According to diplomats stationed in Zaire at the time, Vance "would not permit negative analyses of the Mobutu regime to be transmitted to Washington."Kelly, Sean. America's Tyrant: The CIA and Mobutu of Zaire. American University Press. {{ISBN|1-879383-17-9}} p. 200 Vance's support of Mobutu continued even after he left Zaire; shortly after retiring from the State Department, he joined a law firm representing the Zairian government. He was also briefly sent back to Zaire after his successor, Deane Hinton (who did not get along with Mobutu) was declared persona non grata, to patch up the American-Zairian relationship, which had soured considerably during Hinton's tenure.Young and Turner, p. 373

Life after Zaire

Vance served as senior adviser to the secretary of state, coordinator for international narcotics matters, and executive director of the President's Cabinet Committee on International Narcotics Control (1974–1977). After retiring from the Foreign Service in 1977, he practiced international law in the Washington, D.C. law firm of Vance, Joyce, Carbaugh and Fields (1977–1989). In later years, the Vances lived in Chevy Chase, Maryland. Vance died in Bethesda, Maryland in 1995 at the age of 78.

Family life

His parents were Erskine Ward and Helen (Baird) Vance. He married Jean Chambers on December 28, 1939; they had two sons, Robert Clarke and Stephen Baird.