Diplomats in DeGolyer Library

Agreement on trade relations between Vietnam and the United States, July 24, 1999

Ambassadors and members of the Foreign Service represent United States interests abroad, implement foreign policy, and maintain peaceful relationships with other countries. The DeGolyer Library has a few collections from United States diplomats who served in Latin America. The earliest manuscript is not from an American, rather it is a diary from Spanish Minister to Mexico, Angel Calderon de la Barca. His 1839-1842 journal entries describe Mexico a few years after the country declared independence from Spain. Much of the diary is written in shorthand. The text was translated in 2012 and published by the William P. Clements Center for Southwest Studies.

Cone Johnson was a Texas solicitor for the United States Department of State from 1914-1918, and legal advisor to Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan, during Woodrow Wilson’s administration. His personal papers include a series devoted to his work for the State Department, with drafts, correspondence, and publications. Here is a draft of a convention between the United States and Haiti, with a note from President Woodrow Wilson:

President Woodrow Wilson letter to Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan, 1914

Richard Rubottom served as Assistant Secretary of State, Inter-American Affairs from 1956-1960 before serving as Ambassador to Argentina from 1960-1961. His papers contain correspondence, government publications, and materials from his career in the Foreign Service, focused mainly on Latin American countries. After retiring from the Foreign Service, Rubottom became an administrator and professor at SMU. He continued to be an advisor on world affairs for decades.

Richard W. Fisher was assistant to the United States Secretary of the Treasury (1977-1979), Deputy United States Trade Representative (1997-2001), and President and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas (2005-2015). His papers include accounts of G7 Summit meetings, private meetings with heads of state, and memoranda for Secretary Blumenthal in the Carter administration.