Christopher Van Hollen | |
---|---|
United States Ambassador to Sri Lanka and the Maldives | |
In office October 27, 1972 – April 21, 1976 | |
President |
Richard Nixon Gerald Ford |
Preceded by | Robert Strausz-Hupé |
Succeeded by | John H. Reed |
Personal details | |
Born | September 23, 1922 Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. |
Died | January 30, 2013 Washington, D.C., U.S. | (aged 90)
Spouse |
Edith Eliza Farnsworth
(
m. 1953; died 2007) |
Children | 3, including Chris Van Hollen |
Alma mater |
Haverford College (
BA) Johns Hopkins University ( PhD) |
Christopher Van Hollen Sr. (September 23, 1922 – January 30, 2013) was an American member of the United States Foreign Service who served as the United States Ambassador to Sri Lanka and the Maldives from 1972 until 1976. [1] He was the father of U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland. [2] [3]
Van Hollen was born in Baltimore, and was raised in the city's northern Cedarcroft neighborhood. [2] His mother, Cecilia Harvey (Coale), was a secretary for the League of Women Voters, while his father, Donald Beauchamp Van Hollen, worked for the Baltimore Gas and Electric Company, before joining the family's seafood business. [2] [4] Christopher's grandfather, George Henry Van Hollen, owned the Atlantic Packing Co. [2] The Van Hollen family, the namesake of Baltimore's Hollen Road, helped to develop the Cedarcroft section of North Baltimore. [2]
He graduated from Baltimore's Gilman School preparatory school in 1941. [2] He briefly attended Haverford College in Pennsylvania, but left to enlist in the United States Navy in 1942 during World War II. He was honorably discharged as a lieutenant for a naval transport ship at the end of the war. [2] Van Hollen re-enrolled at Haverford College following World War II and received a bachelor's degree in 1947. [3] He next earned a doctorate in political science from Johns Hopkins University in 1951. [3] He also graduated from the Naval War College and completed academic studies at the University of California, Berkeley. [2] While studying at Johns Hopkins, Van Hollen worked as the campaign manager for congressional candidate Leo McCormick in his Democratic primary challenge against incumbent U.S. Rep. George Fallon in 1948. [2] Rep. Fallon easily dispatched McCormick in the primary.
Van Hollen married Edith Eliza Farnsworth, a CIA Russian studies expert at the time, in 1953. Eliza Van Hollen later became a noted specialist and chief analyst on Afghanistan within the Bureau of Intelligence and Research at the U.S. State Department. [2] [5]
Van Hollen joined U.S. Secretary of State Dean Acheson's executive secretariat shortly after completing his doctorate at Johns Hopkins. [2] He attended the NATO Ministerial meeting in Lisbon in February 1952, which admitted Greece and the host nation, Portugal, into NATO. [2]
He was posted as a political officer at the U.S. embassy in New Delhi, India, in 1955. He also received postings in Calcutta (now Kolkata), Pakistan and Turkey. [2] He was appointed deputy assistant secretary for the Near East and South Asia in 1969. [2] In 1971, he openly disagreed with National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger's handling of the Bangladesh Liberation War, which led to Bangladesh's independence. [2]
He was appointed as U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka and the Maldives in 1972 by President Richard Nixon. [2]
In 1980 he published a widely quoted article, titled "The Tilt Policy Revisited", about the handling of the 1971 crisis in South Asia in the journal Asian Survey.[ citation needed] [6]
Christopher Van Hollen died from Alzheimer's disease on January 30, 2013, at the Washington Home and Hospice in Washington, D.C., at the age of 90. [3] His wife, Eliza, died in 2007. [5] He was survived by three children, then-U.S. Rep. Chris Van Hollen, Caroline Van Hollen, and Cecilia Van Hollen; two sisters, Margaret Lee of Baltimore and Cecilia Van Hollen; and five grandchildren. [2]
Christopher Van Hollen | |
---|---|
United States Ambassador to Sri Lanka and the Maldives | |
In office October 27, 1972 – April 21, 1976 | |
President |
Richard Nixon Gerald Ford |
Preceded by | Robert Strausz-Hupé |
Succeeded by | John H. Reed |
Personal details | |
Born | September 23, 1922 Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. |
Died | January 30, 2013 Washington, D.C., U.S. | (aged 90)
Spouse |
Edith Eliza Farnsworth
(
m. 1953; died 2007) |
Children | 3, including Chris Van Hollen |
Alma mater |
Haverford College (
BA) Johns Hopkins University ( PhD) |
Christopher Van Hollen Sr. (September 23, 1922 – January 30, 2013) was an American member of the United States Foreign Service who served as the United States Ambassador to Sri Lanka and the Maldives from 1972 until 1976. [1] He was the father of U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland. [2] [3]
Van Hollen was born in Baltimore, and was raised in the city's northern Cedarcroft neighborhood. [2] His mother, Cecilia Harvey (Coale), was a secretary for the League of Women Voters, while his father, Donald Beauchamp Van Hollen, worked for the Baltimore Gas and Electric Company, before joining the family's seafood business. [2] [4] Christopher's grandfather, George Henry Van Hollen, owned the Atlantic Packing Co. [2] The Van Hollen family, the namesake of Baltimore's Hollen Road, helped to develop the Cedarcroft section of North Baltimore. [2]
He graduated from Baltimore's Gilman School preparatory school in 1941. [2] He briefly attended Haverford College in Pennsylvania, but left to enlist in the United States Navy in 1942 during World War II. He was honorably discharged as a lieutenant for a naval transport ship at the end of the war. [2] Van Hollen re-enrolled at Haverford College following World War II and received a bachelor's degree in 1947. [3] He next earned a doctorate in political science from Johns Hopkins University in 1951. [3] He also graduated from the Naval War College and completed academic studies at the University of California, Berkeley. [2] While studying at Johns Hopkins, Van Hollen worked as the campaign manager for congressional candidate Leo McCormick in his Democratic primary challenge against incumbent U.S. Rep. George Fallon in 1948. [2] Rep. Fallon easily dispatched McCormick in the primary.
Van Hollen married Edith Eliza Farnsworth, a CIA Russian studies expert at the time, in 1953. Eliza Van Hollen later became a noted specialist and chief analyst on Afghanistan within the Bureau of Intelligence and Research at the U.S. State Department. [2] [5]
Van Hollen joined U.S. Secretary of State Dean Acheson's executive secretariat shortly after completing his doctorate at Johns Hopkins. [2] He attended the NATO Ministerial meeting in Lisbon in February 1952, which admitted Greece and the host nation, Portugal, into NATO. [2]
He was posted as a political officer at the U.S. embassy in New Delhi, India, in 1955. He also received postings in Calcutta (now Kolkata), Pakistan and Turkey. [2] He was appointed deputy assistant secretary for the Near East and South Asia in 1969. [2] In 1971, he openly disagreed with National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger's handling of the Bangladesh Liberation War, which led to Bangladesh's independence. [2]
He was appointed as U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka and the Maldives in 1972 by President Richard Nixon. [2]
In 1980 he published a widely quoted article, titled "The Tilt Policy Revisited", about the handling of the 1971 crisis in South Asia in the journal Asian Survey.[ citation needed] [6]
Christopher Van Hollen died from Alzheimer's disease on January 30, 2013, at the Washington Home and Hospice in Washington, D.C., at the age of 90. [3] His wife, Eliza, died in 2007. [5] He was survived by three children, then-U.S. Rep. Chris Van Hollen, Caroline Van Hollen, and Cecilia Van Hollen; two sisters, Margaret Lee of Baltimore and Cecilia Van Hollen; and five grandchildren. [2]