Donald R. Heath
Encyclopedia
Donald Read Heath was a member of the United States Foreign Service for more than four decades including service as the Ambassador to Cambodia
(1950-1954), Laos
(1950-1954), Vietnam
(1952-1955), Lebanon
(1955-1957) and Saudi Arabia
(1958-1961). During his tenure as Ambassador to Vietnam, Heath advocated and carried out American policy under Secretary of State John Foster Dulles
that helped set the stage for American military involvement.
Heath was born in Topeka, Kansas
the son of Hubert A. Estelle (Read) Heath. He was educated in Topeka public schools and graduated from Washburn University
about 1915. He attended the University of Montpellier in France for one semester. While a student at Washburn, Heath was a member of the Kansas Beta Chapter of the Phi Delta Theta Fraternity
where among his chapter brothers was Arthur S. Champeny
. On October 10, 1920 he married Sue Louise Bell.
In 1950, Washburn awarded Heath its Distinguished Service Award. In 1958, the Washburn again honored him with an honorary doctorate of laws.
correspondent for United Press International from February 1916 to August 1917 and then again from October 1919 to September 1920. From August 1917 to October 1919 he was first lieutenant in U.S. Army in World War I
. In 1920 he began a career in the foreign service that would last four decades.
From 1920 to 1929, Heath held consular positions in Romania
, Poland
, and Switzerland
. From 1929 to 1932 he was a consul at the American Embassy in Port-au-Prince, Haiti and he was then assistant chief of the Division of Latin American Affairs at the State Department. From 1937 to 1941 he was the First Secretary at the U.S. Embassy in Berlin
before the American entry into the war. Then from 1941 to 1944 he was a consul in Santiago, Chile
followed by less than a year as the chief of the Division of North and West Coast Affairs at the State Department.
In 1944 Heath returned to Europe as an advisor to fellow Kansan General Dwight D. Eisenhower
. He remained in Germany as an advisor on reconstruction until 1947 when he was posted as U.S. Ambassador to Bulgaria
. In 1949 Bulgaria charged deputy premier Traicho Kostov
with plotting against the Communist regime and added Heath’s name to the charges to give the case “its proper anticapitalist flavor.” The Bulgarian government declared Heath persona non grata and the U.S. promptly broke off diplomatic relations. 1956, Bulgaria re-examined the case exonerating Kostov years after he had been executed. In 1959 Bulgaria dropped all charges against Heath and diplomatic relations were restored.
Following his expulsion from Bulgaria, Heath was posted as the first U.S. Ambassador to the newly independent countries in Indochina including Laos
(1950-1954), Cambodia
(1950-1954) and South Vietnam
(1950-1954). During these concurrent postings he was resident in Saigon. Heath supported the Domino Theory
and wrote that if the French pulled out "Only the blind could doubt the immediate Communist engulfment of Southeast Asia." In October 1954 Heath and Lieutenant General John W. "Iron Mike" O'Daniel
were authorized to begin a crash program to improve “the loyalty and effectiveness of the Free Vietnamese Forces." The result was a formal agreement in December between representatives of France, the Republic of Vietnam, and the United States to supply direct aid through the Military Assistance Program (MAP).
He was next the U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon
(1955-1958), Yemen
(1957-1959), and, finally, Saudi Arabia
(1958-1961).
Heath died in Orinda, California
on October 15, 1981. He was survived by a daughter, Sue L. Brown, a son, Donald R. Heath, Jr., seven grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
Cambodia
Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...
(1950-1954), Laos
Laos
Laos Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...
(1950-1954), Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
(1952-1955), Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
(1955-1957) and Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
(1958-1961). During his tenure as Ambassador to Vietnam, Heath advocated and carried out American policy under Secretary of State John Foster Dulles
John Foster Dulles
John Foster Dulles served as U.S. Secretary of State under President Dwight D. Eisenhower from 1953 to 1959. He was a significant figure in the early Cold War era, advocating an aggressive stance against communism throughout the world...
that helped set the stage for American military involvement.
Heath was born in Topeka, Kansas
Topeka, Kansas
Topeka |Kansa]]: Tó Pee Kuh) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Shawnee County. It is situated along the Kansas River in the central part of Shawnee County, located in northeast Kansas, in the Central United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was...
the son of Hubert A. Estelle (Read) Heath. He was educated in Topeka public schools and graduated from Washburn University
Washburn University
Washburn University is a co-educational, public institution of higher learning in Topeka, Kansas, USA. It offers undergraduate and graduate programs, as well as professional programs in law and business. Washburn has 550 faculty members, who teach more than 6,400 undergraduate students and...
about 1915. He attended the University of Montpellier in France for one semester. While a student at Washburn, Heath was a member of the Kansas Beta Chapter of the Phi Delta Theta Fraternity
Phi Delta Theta
Phi Delta Theta , also known as Phi Delt, is an international fraternity founded at Miami University in 1848 and headquartered in Oxford, Ohio. Phi Delta Theta, Beta Theta Pi, and Sigma Chi form the Miami Triad. The fraternity has about 169 active chapters and colonies in over 43 U.S...
where among his chapter brothers was Arthur S. Champeny
Arthur S. Champeny
Brigadier General Arthur Seymour Champeny is the only American to earn the Distinguished Service Cross in three different wars...
. On October 10, 1920 he married Sue Louise Bell.
In 1950, Washburn awarded Heath its Distinguished Service Award. In 1958, the Washburn again honored him with an honorary doctorate of laws.
Foreign service career
Heath was a White HouseWhite House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
correspondent for United Press International from February 1916 to August 1917 and then again from October 1919 to September 1920. From August 1917 to October 1919 he was first lieutenant in U.S. Army in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. In 1920 he began a career in the foreign service that would last four decades.
From 1920 to 1929, Heath held consular positions in Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, and Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
. From 1929 to 1932 he was a consul at the American Embassy in Port-au-Prince, Haiti and he was then assistant chief of the Division of Latin American Affairs at the State Department. From 1937 to 1941 he was the First Secretary at the U.S. Embassy in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
before the American entry into the war. Then from 1941 to 1944 he was a consul in Santiago, Chile
Santiago, Chile
Santiago , also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile, and the center of its largest conurbation . It is located in the country's central valley, at an elevation of above mean sea level...
followed by less than a year as the chief of the Division of North and West Coast Affairs at the State Department.
In 1944 Heath returned to Europe as an advisor to fellow Kansan General Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
. He remained in Germany as an advisor on reconstruction until 1947 when he was posted as U.S. Ambassador to Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
. In 1949 Bulgaria charged deputy premier Traicho Kostov
Traicho Kostov
Traicho Kostov Djunev was a Bulgarian politician, former President of the Council of Ministers and General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Bulgarian Communist Party....
with plotting against the Communist regime and added Heath’s name to the charges to give the case “its proper anticapitalist flavor.” The Bulgarian government declared Heath persona non grata and the U.S. promptly broke off diplomatic relations. 1956, Bulgaria re-examined the case exonerating Kostov years after he had been executed. In 1959 Bulgaria dropped all charges against Heath and diplomatic relations were restored.
Following his expulsion from Bulgaria, Heath was posted as the first U.S. Ambassador to the newly independent countries in Indochina including Laos
Laos
Laos Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...
(1950-1954), Cambodia
Cambodia
Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...
(1950-1954) and South Vietnam
South Vietnam
South Vietnam was a state which governed southern Vietnam until 1975. It received international recognition in 1950 as the "State of Vietnam" and later as the "Republic of Vietnam" . Its capital was Saigon...
(1950-1954). During these concurrent postings he was resident in Saigon. Heath supported the Domino Theory
Domino theory
The domino theory was a reason for war during the 1950s to 1980s, promoted at times by the government of the United States, that speculated that if one state in a region came under the influence of communism, then the surrounding countries would follow in a domino effect...
and wrote that if the French pulled out "Only the blind could doubt the immediate Communist engulfment of Southeast Asia." In October 1954 Heath and Lieutenant General John W. "Iron Mike" O'Daniel
John W. O'Daniel
John W. "Iron Mike" O'Daniel was a United States Army general, best known for commanding the Third Infantry Division in North Africa, Sicily, Italy, and Southern France during World War II. He is also known for being the commanding officer of Audie Murphy.O’Daniel was an athlete, a teacher, a...
were authorized to begin a crash program to improve “the loyalty and effectiveness of the Free Vietnamese Forces." The result was a formal agreement in December between representatives of France, the Republic of Vietnam, and the United States to supply direct aid through the Military Assistance Program (MAP).
He was next the U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
(1955-1958), Yemen
Yemen
The Republic of Yemen , commonly known as Yemen , is a country located in the Middle East, occupying the southwestern to southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, and Oman to the east....
(1957-1959), and, finally, Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
(1958-1961).
Post-diplomatic work
Following his retirement from the Foreign Service in 1961, he worked with a group seeking to gain repayment by foreign governments on defaulted bonds held by Americans, and he held a professorship at the University of California at Los Angeles.Heath died in Orinda, California
Orinda, California
-2010:The 2010 United States Census reported that Orinda had a population of 17,643. The population density was 1,389.5 people per square mile . The racial makeup of Orinda was 14,533 White, 149 African American, 22 Native American, 2,016 Asian, 24 Pacific Islander, 122 from other races, and...
on October 15, 1981. He was survived by a daughter, Sue L. Brown, a son, Donald R. Heath, Jr., seven grandchildren and one great-grandchild.