William A. Crawford


William Avery Crawford was an American diplomat who served as the last Minister and first United States Ambassador to Romania, from 1962 to 1965.

Early life and education

Crawford was born on January 14, 1915; the son of John Raymond Crawford, a professor of Greek and Latin at Lafayette College, and Pauline Avery.
Educated abroad in France, he studied at Haverford College, where he went abroad in Spain during the Spanish Civil War, graduating in 1936 with a Bachelor of Arts. He later studied at the Russian Institute at Columbia University.
After graduation, Crawford worked at a department store before joining the diplomatic corps.

Diplomacy

Crawford joined the United States Foreign Service in 1941, serving in Moscow, Paris, Havana, and Prague. Though subject to a loyalty investigation under Executive Order 9835 in 1951, he passed, continuing his work in the Foreign Service. and was chosen to be minister in October 1961.
In February 1962, he presented his credentials as minister, serving until the post was upgraded to Ambassador in 1964; during this time, he helped spur Romania-United States relations in the fields of trade and cultural exchange. He and his wife, Barbara, also founded the American International School of Bucharest in 1962.
Crawford left his post in October 1965.

Later career

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.

Personal life and death

Crawford was married twice: first to Barbara Gardner, from October 19, 1940, till her death in September 1979; 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, a month before his 87th birthday, survived by his children and his second wife.