Edward E. Masters

Edward E. Masters
U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia
In office
November 3, 1977 – November 10, 1981
PresidentJimmy Carter
Preceded byDavid D. Newsom
Succeeded byJohn Herbert Holdridge
U.S. Ambassador to Bangladesh
In office
October 5, 1976 – November 27, 1977
PresidentGerald Ford
Preceded byDavis Eugene Boster
Succeeded byDavid T. Schneider
Personal details
Born(1924-06-21)June 21, 1924
Columbus, Ohio, U.S.
DiedMarch 21, 2014(2014-03-21) (aged 89)
Washington D.C., U.S.

Edward E. Masters (June 21, 1924 – March 21, 2014) was an American diplomat.

During the Indonesian mass killings of 1965–66, Masters actively aided and abetted the genocide by systematically supplying lists of members of the Communist Party of Indonesia to the death squads.[1]

Early life

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Masters was born on June 21, 1924, in Columbus, Ohio, United States. He graduated from high school in 1942. He joined Denison University but left soon to join the army. He served in the army for three years.[2] He completed his undergraduate from George Washington University in 1948 and in 1949 he completed his master's degree from Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.[3]

Career

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Masters served as an intelligent analyst in the State Department from 1949 to 1950. From 1950 to 1952 he was the resident officer and later military liaison officer in Frankfurt, West Germany. From 1953 to 1954 he was the political officer of the US embassy in Karachi, Pakistan.[4] From 1955 to 1958 was the political officer in Madras, India. He was an intelligence specialist from 1958 to 1960 in the State Department.[3]

Masters served as the chief intelligence officer of Indonesia-Malaya branch of the Intelligence Research Analysis branch Asia from 1960 to 1962. He was the head of the Thailand affairs at the State Department from 1962 to 1963.[3] He served as the deputy chief of the United States embassy in Thailand from 1971 to 1975.[2]

Masters was appointed the ambassador of the United States to Bangladesh on October 4, 1976. He left the post on November 27, 1977.[5] He was appointed ambassador to Indonesia on November 3, 1977. he served there until November 10, 1981.[5] He visited East Timor on September 14, 1977, after the Indonesian invasion.[6] He was the founding president of United States-Indonesia society, a post he held from 1994 to 2001.[7][2]

Personal life and death

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Masters was married to Allene Masters.[2] He died at his home in Washington, D.C. on March 21, 2014, at the age of 89.[2]

References

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  1. ^ Kadane, Kathy (1990-05-21). "U.S. OFFICIALS' LISTS AIDED INDONESIAN BLOODBATH IN '60S". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2024-01-17.
  2. ^ a b c d e "EDWARD E. MASTERS's Obituary on The Washington Post". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2017-02-16.
  3. ^ a b c Jimmy, Carter (1977-01-01). Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Jimmy Carter, 1977. Best Books on. p. 1811. ISBN 9781623767662.
  4. ^ "The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project AMBASSADOR EDWARD E. MASTERS" (PDF). Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training. 14 March 1989. Archived (PDF) from the original on 27 June 2024. Retrieved 26 July 2024.
  5. ^ a b "Edward E. Masters - People - Department History - Office of the Historian". history.state.gov. Retrieved 2017-02-16.
  6. ^ Gunderson, Shane (2015-03-06). Momentum and the East Timor Independence Movement: The Origins of America's Debate on East Timor. Lexington Books. p. 25. ISBN 9781498502351.
  7. ^ Gardner, Paul F. (1997-01-01). Shared Hopes, Separate Fears: Fifty Years of U.S.-Indonesian Relations. University of Pennsylvania Press. pp. xv. ISBN 0813331900.
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by United States Ambassador to Bangladesh
1976–1977
Succeeded by
Preceded by United States Ambassador to Indonesia
1977–1981
Succeeded by