19 Facts About Adolph Dubs

Adolph Dubs, known as Spike Dubs, was an American diplomat who served as the United States Ambassador to Afghanistan from May 13,1978, until his death in 1979.

Adolph Dubs was killed during a rescue attempt after his kidnapping.

Adolph Dubs served in the United States Navy during World War II.

Adolph Dubs subsequently entered the United States Foreign Service as a career diplomat, and his postings included Germany, Liberia, Canada, Yugoslavia, and the Soviet Union.

At the time of his death he was married to his second wife Mary Anne Adolph Dubs, a Washington-based journalist.

Adolph Dubs was previously married for over 30 years to Jane Wilson Dubs, his college girlfriend from Beloit College, whom he married in 1945 and divorced in 1976.

Adolph Dubs had one daughter, Lindsay Dubs McLaughlin, who lives in West Virginia.

In 1978, Adolph Dubs was appointed United States Ambassador to Afghanistan following the Saur Revolution, a coup d'etat which brought the Soviet-aligned Khalq faction to power.

Adolph Dubs was being driven from his residence to the US embassy shortly before 9 am on February 14,1979, on the same day that Iranian militants attacked the US Embassy in Tehran, Iran, and just months before the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

Adolph Dubs was approaching the US Cultural Center when four men stopped his armored black Chevrolet limousine.

Adolph Dubs was held in Room 117 on the first floor of the hotel, and the driver was sent to the US embassy to tell the US of the kidnapping.

Adolph Dubs was not replaced by a new ambassador, and a charge d'affaires led the skeleton staff at the embassy.

The death of Adolph Dubs was listed as a "Significant Terrorist Incident" by the State Department.

Worried Adolph Dubs knew the region deeply and had CIA ties, they saw his appointment as a US attempt to sway the new Afghan government and prevent them from aligning with the USSR.

The agent further claimed the US embassy, led by Adolph Dubs, was actively using propaganda among civilians and intellectuals to paint the USSR as an occupying force aiming to expand its influence to neighbouring countries.

Mitrokhin writes that Adolph Dubs was kidnapped in Kabul on 14 February 1979 by unknown assailants and held hostage at the Hotel Kabul.

Adolph Dubs is buried at Arlington National Cemetery, in Arlington, Virginia.

Adolph Dubs is commemorated by the American Foreign Service Association with a plaque in the Truman Building in Washington, DC, and by a memorial in Kabul.

Camp Adolph Dubs, named after Adolph Dubs, was a US military camp at the Darul Aman Palace in southwest Kabul.