William A. Crawford

Crawford was born on January 14, 1915;{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/48118001/brevities/ |title=Brevities |date=January 19, 1915 |work=The Evening Republican |access-date=April 6, 2020 |pages=6}} the son of John Raymond Crawford, a professor of Greek and Latin at Lafayette College, and Pauline Avery.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/48117574/lafayette-college-professor-ends-life/ |title=Lafayette College Professor Ends Life |date=April 16, 1929 |work=The Morning Call |access-date=April 6, 2020 |pages=20}}

Educated abroad in France, he studied at Haverford College, and went abroad to Spain during the Spanish Civil War.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/47840235/easton-couple-reported-safely-out-of/ |title=Easton Couple Reported Safely Out of Spain |date=July 30, 1936 |work=The Morning Call |access-date=April 6, 2020 |pages=22}} He graduated in 1936 with a Bachelor of Arts. He later studied at the Russian Institute, now known as the Harriman Institute, at Columbia University.

After graduation, Crawford worked at a department store before joining the diplomatic corps.

Crawford joined the United States Foreign Service in 1941, serving in Moscow, Paris, Havana, and Prague. Although subjected to a loyalty investigation under Executive Order 9835 in 1951,{{cite book|author=Lori Clune|title=Executing the Rosenbergs: Death and Diplomacy in a Cold War World|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3mHmCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA211|date=April 8, 2016|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-026589-2|page=211}} he passed, and continued his work in the Foreign Service. He was chosen to be Minister in October 1961.{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1961/10/27/archives/envoy-reported-picke-d.html |title=Envoy Reported Picked |date=October 27, 1961 |work=The New York Times |access-date=April 6, 2020 |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}

In February 1962, he presented his credentials as Minister, serving until the post was upgraded to Ambassador in 1964.{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/12/06/archives/rumanian-post-upgraded.html |title=Rumanian Post Upgraded |date=December 6, 1964 |work=The New York Times |access-date=April 6, 2020 |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} During this time, he helped to support Romania-United States relations in the fields of trade and cultural exchange.{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/06/02/archives/us-acts-to-spur-rumanian-trade-nations-reach-accord-that-opens-door.html |title=U.S. ACTS TO SPUR RUMANIAN TRADE; Nations Reach Accord That Opens Door to New Links With Eastern Europe |date=June 2, 1964 |work=The New York Times |access-date=April 6, 2020 |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}

He and his wife, Barbara, founded the American International School of Bucharest in 1962.{{Cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-dec-16-me-15408-story.html |title=William Crawford, 86; Soviet Expert Served in 5 U.S. Envoy Posts |date=December 16, 2020 |work=Los Angeles Times |access-date=April 6, 2020 |language=en-US}}

Crawford left his post in October 1965.

After Romania, Crawford was an assistant to Lyman Lemnitzer, the Supreme Allied Commander Europe, from 1965 to 1967. He retired from the Foreign Service in 1970.

He then taught at the Landon School, worked at a marketing company, finished his memoirs, and contributed to a biography on his mother.{{Cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/2001/12/16/william-avery-crawford-86/7fc56b19-32a5-49fc-b99f-3bb3e974f583/ |title=William Avery Crawford, 86 |date=December 16, 2001 |newspaper=Washington Post |access-date=April 6, 2020 |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}}

Crawford was married twice: first to Barbara Gardner, from October 19, 1940,{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1940/10/20/archives/miss-gardner-wed-at-home-daughter-of-retired-officer-in-army.html |title=Miss Gardner Wed at Home; Daughter of Retired Officer in Army Becomes Bride of William A. Crawford |date=October 20, 1940 |work=The New York Times |access-date=April 6, 2020 |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} till her death in September 1979;{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/47840248/obituary-for-barbara-gardner-crawford/ |title=Barbara Crawford |date=September 14, 1979 |work=The Philadelphia Inquirer |access-date=April 6, 2020 |pages=12}} and then to Gudrun Hadell.

From his first marriage, he had five children: three sons and two daughters.

Crawford died at his home on December 14, 2001, at age 86. He was survived by his children and his second wife.

{{reflist}}

• [https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/people/crawford-william-avery William Avery Crawford] at the Office of the Historian
• [https://archive.org/details/biographicregist1959unit/page/170 William Avery Crawford] in the Biographic Register of the Department of State (1959), pp. 170-1

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{{s-bef| before = Clifton Reginald Wharton Sr.}}

{{s-ttl| title = United States Minister to Romania

| years = 1962 – 1964}}

{{s-aft| after = Himself|as=Ambassador}}

{{s-bef| before = Himself|as=Minister}}

{{s-ttl| title = United States Ambassador to Romania

| years = 1964 – 1965}}

{{s-aft| after = Richard H. Davis

}}

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{{US Ambassadors to Romania}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Crawford, William A.}}

Category:1915 births

Category:2001 deaths

Category:Ambassadors of the United States to Romania

Category:Haverford College alumni

Category:United States Foreign Service personnel

Category:20th-century American diplomats

Category:People from Bethesda, Maryland