Robert O. Waring

Robert Olaf Waring (November 26, 1919 – June 16, 1976) was a U.S. diplomat assassinated in Beirut, Lebanon in 1976.

Early life

Waring was born in Long Island City, New York on November 26, 1919 and would be educated at Fordham University and would graduate with a Bachelor of Arts and Masters of Arts degrees.[1]:16 During World War 2, he served two years at the War Department from 1943 until 1944.[1]:16 In the latter year, he would then join State Department as a clerk.[1]:16

Diplomatic career

He would serve in administrative posts as a Foreign Service officer in Casablanca, Rabat, Thessaloniki, Athens, West Berlin and London.[1]:16 He then became an Economic Officer as served in Vienna from 1961–1966 and then in Berlin until 1971 when he returned to Washington, D.C..[1]:16 In June 1972, he and his family were posted to Beirut, Lebanon where he had good business and political contacts including the future president, Elias Sarkis.

Death

At 10h40 on 16 June 1976, in Beirut, Francis E. Meloy, Jr., the incoming U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon, accompanied by Waring, the U.S. Economic Counselor, were on their way to present Meloy's credentials to the new Lebanese President-elect Elias Sarkis.[2]:1 Meloy, Waring and their driver, Zuhair Mohammed Moghrabi, were kidnapped by Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine members as they crossed the Green Line, the division between Beirut's Christian and Muslim sectors.[2]:1 Meloy had been in the country a month but not presented his credentials to the old president Suleiman Franjieh who had taken refuge outside Beirut and refused to step down.[2]:16 By 21h30, Lebanese television announced their bullet-riddled bodies had been found on a garbage dump near the beach in Ramlet al-Baida.[3][2]:16 He was survived by his wife Irene Pollack and four children.[1]:16

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Binder, David (26 February 2017). "Envoy in Foreign Service for 30 Years, Economic Aide Had Lebanese Contacts". The New York Times (published 17 June 1976).
  2. 1 2 3 4 Markham, James M. (26 February 2017). "US Ambassador and Aide Kidnapped and Murdered in Beirut Combat Sector". The New York Times (published 17 June 1976).
  3. ↑ Robert Fisk (2001). Pity the Nation: Lebanon at War. Oxford University Press. p. 83.
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