Llewellyn Thompson

Life

Thompson was born in Las Animas, Colorado, the son of a rancher. He studied economics at the University of Colorado.

Diplomatic career

In 1928 he joined the foreign service. He was the first US representative to the International Labor Organization of the League of Nations. He was second secretary at the US Embassy in Moscow from 1941, and remained in the city with a skeleton staff when the German invasion of the Soviet Union in October, 1941 forced the US Embassy to withdraw to Kuybyshev. He was present at the first conference of the United Nations. He participated in discussions that resulted in the Truman Doctrine.

Thompson was the High Commissioner/U.S. Ambassador to Austria from 1952–1957. During this time he negotiated the settlement of the territory of Trieste between Yugoslavia and Italy. In 1955, he represented the United States in the final negotiations for an Austrian State Treaty, which returned then-occupied Austria's sovereignty.

He served as Ambassador to the Soviet Union from 1957 to 1962 and again between 1967 and 1969. In his first term there, he developed a unique relationship with Nikita Khrushchev which helped to contain the Berlin crises. He was the first American to give an address on Soviet television. Gary Powers' ill-fated U-2 high-altitude spy flight took place during his tenure, as did the American exhibition and the famous "kitchen debate" with Richard Nixon. He participated in both the Camp David summit between Dwight Eisenhower and Khrushchev and the Vienna summit between John F. Kennedy and Khrushchev.

During the Cuban Missile Crisis he served on Kennedy's Ex-Comm (Executive Committee of the National Security Council) when the US received two messages from Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, one quite conciliatory and the other much more hawkish. Thompson advised Kennedy to react to the first message, saying the second had probably been written with Politburo input. Thompson's belief was that Khrushchev would be willing to withdraw the Soviet missiles as long as he could portray the avoidance of a U.S. invasion of Cuba as a strategic success. He also testified before the Warren Commission, which was investigating the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

He held a number of other positions throughout his U.S. foreign service career, including Ambassador at Large for Soviet Affairs and Deputy Under-Secretary of State for Political Affairs. In his second term in Moscow under Lyndon Johnson, he was present at the Glassboro Summit Conference between Johnson and Alexei Kosygin to discuss US-Soviet relations with Soviets. He was a pivotal participant in the formulation of Johnson administration nuclear weapon non-proliferation policy and was instrumental in beginning the SALT (Strategic Arms Limitation Talks) process. Post-retirement, he was recruited by Richard Nixon to participate in the SALT I negotiations.

Family

Thompson's wife, Jane Monroe Goelet, an artist, brought art from the State Department's Art in Embassies Program to the Ambassador's residence at Spaso House. This program exhibits original works by U.S. citizens in the public areas of Ambassador’s residences all over the world.

His daughters have written a biography which will be released by Johns Hopkins University Press in spring 2018 titled, "The Kremlinologist: America's Man in Cold War Moscow"

Thompson died of cancer in 1972 and is buried in his hometown of Las Animas. U.S. Route 50 through Las Animas is named "Ambassador Thompson Boulevard".