16 Facts About Llewellyn Thompson

Llewellyn Thompson served in Sri Lanka, Austria, and for a lengthy period in the Soviet Union, where his tenure saw some of the most significant events of the Cold War.

Llewellyn Thompson was a key advisor to President John F Kennedy during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Llewellyn Thompson studied economics at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Llewellyn Thompson was the first US representative to the International Labour Organization of the League of Nations.

Llewellyn Thompson was the second secretary at the US embassy to the Soviet Union from 1941 and remained in Moscow with a skeleton staff after Germany invaded the Soviet Union, which forced the US embassy to withdraw to Kuybyshev in October 1941.

Llewellyn Thompson was present at the first conference of the United Nations and participated in the discussions that resulted in the Truman Doctrine.

Llewellyn Thompson was the High Commissioner or US Ambassador to Austria from 1952 to 1957.

Llewellyn Thompson served as ambassador to the Soviet Union from 1957 to 1962 and again from 1967 until 1969.

Llewellyn Thompson was the first American to give an address on Soviet television.

Llewellyn Thompson participated in both the Camp David summit between Dwight Eisenhower and Khrushchev and the Vienna summit between Kennedy and Khrushchev.

Llewellyn Thompson advised Kennedy to react to the first message and said that the second had probably been written with Politburo input.

Llewellyn Thompson's belief was that Khrushchev would be willing to withdraw the Soviet missiles from Cuba if he could portray the avoidance of a US invasion of the island as a strategic success.

Llewellyn Thompson testified before the Warren Commission, which investigated the Kennedy assassination.

Llewellyn Thompson held a number of other positions throughout his foreign service career, including Ambassador-at-Large for Soviet Affairs and Deputy Under-Secretary of State for Political Affairs.

Llewellyn Thompson was a pivotal participant in the formulation of Lyndon Johnson administration's non-proliferation policy on nuclear weapons and was instrumental in beginning the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks process.

Llewellyn Thompson died of cancer in 1972 and is buried in his hometown of Las Animas.