Robert V. Keeley, Lebanese-American soldier and diplomat, United States Ambassador to Greece (d. 2015)
Robert Vossler Keeley (September 4, 1929 – January 9, 2015) had a 34-year career in the Foreign Service of the United States, from 1956 to 1989. He served three times as Ambassador: to Greece (1985–89), Zimbabwe (1980–84), and Mauritius (1976–78). In 1978–80 he was Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, in charge of southern and eastern Africa.
Earlier in his career he had assignments as Deputy Chief of Mission in Cambodia (1974–75) and Uganda (1971–73), and as Deputy Director of the Interagency Task Force for the Indochina Refugees (1975–76). His other foreign postings were as Political Officer in Jordan, Mali, and Greece. In Washington he served as Congo (Zaire) desk officer, and as alternate director for East Africa. At his retirement in 1989 Keeley held the rank of Career Minister.
The same year he received the Christian Herter Award from the American Foreign Service Association for "extraordinary accomplishment involving initiative, integrity, intellectual courage, and creative dissent." At other stages in his career he earned the Superior Honor Award (for Cambodia), a Presidential Citation (for the Refugee Task Force), and a Presidential Distinguished Service Award (for Zimbabwe). In 1985 he was elected President of the American Foreign Service Association.
From November 1990 to January 1995 Ambassador Keeley served as President of the Middle East Institute in Washington, a private, non-profit educational and cultural institution founded in 1946 to foster greater understanding in the United States of the countries of the Middle East region from Morocco to Central Asia.
1929Sep, 4
Robert V. Keeley
Choose Another Date
Events on 1929
- 31Jan
Leon Trotsky
The Soviet Union exiles Leon Trotsky. - 26Feb
Grand Teton National Park
President Calvin Coolidge signs an executive order establishing the 96,000 acre Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. - 8Apr
Bhagat Singh
Indian independence movement: At the Delhi Central Assembly, Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt throw handouts and bombs to court arrest. - 21Jun
Cristero War
An agreement brokered by U.S. Ambassador Dwight Whitney Morrow ends the Cristero War in Mexico. - 23Aug
1929 Palestine riots
Hebron Massacre during the 1929 Palestine riots: Arab attack on the Jewish community in Hebron in the British Mandate of Palestine, continuing until the next day, resulted in the death of 65-68 Jews and the remaining Jews being forced to leave the city.