Eileen R. Donovan
A smiling middle-aged white woman with dark hair in a side-parted bouffant style
Eileen R. Donovan, from a 1968 publication of the US Department of State
Born(1915-04-13)April 13, 1915
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
DiedDecember 19, 1996(1996-12-19) (aged 81)
Spring Hill, Florida, U.S.
Occupation(s)Educator, diplomat, ambassador

Eileen Roberta Donovan (April 13, 1915 – December 19, 1996) was an American educator who served as the American Ambassador to Barbados from 1969 to 1974, after being a consul in Barbados in 1960, and consul general in 1962.[1]

Early life and education

Donovan was born in Boston on April 13, 1915,[2] the daughter of William F. Donovan. Her father was a fire chief.[3] She attended Girls' Latin School in Boston,[4] and graduated from Boston Teachers College with a bachelor's degree in 1936. She earned a master's degree in education in 1937. She attended Harvard Graduate School of Public Administration as a Foreign Service Institute Fellow[5] and received a master of public administration degree from Harvard in 1957.[1] During World War II, she received Japanese language training at the University of Virginia and the University of Michigan.[5] "I never learned to type because I figured if I did I'd have to do it," she explained later of her preparation for government work.[5]

Biography

Donovan was a history teacher in the Boston Public Schools from 1938 to 1943.[1]

During World War II, she served in the Women's Army Corps. In 1945, she was assistant to Douglas MacArthur at the Tokyo headquarters of the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers.[1] While in Japan, she worked on school curriculum reform and women's opportunities for higher education,[5][6] working with other American educators including Virginia Crocheron Gildersleeve and Charles S. Johnson,[7] and also with Japanese educators.[8]

Donovan joined the Foreign Service in 1948. She was a political liaison officer in the Philippines, Italy, and Japan,[9] and served as chief of the Southern Europe branch of the Bureau of Intelligence and Research in the 1950s. She was a consul in Barbados in 1960, and in 1962 became consul general.[1] From 1965 to 1969, she was based in Washington, as assistant director of the Office of Caribbean Affairs. From 1969 to 1974, she was the American ambassador to Barbados.[10][11] She retired in 1974, after a back injury.[1]

In 1989, Donovan gave an oral history interview to the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training.[5]

Honors

In 1969, Donovan won the Federal Woman's Award.[4][12][13]

Personal life and death

Donovan died on December 19, 1996, at the age of 81, in Spring Hill, Florida.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Eileen Donovan, 81, Former Ambassador". The New York Times. December 25, 1996. Retrieved 4 February 2020.
  2. ↑ "Eileen Roberta Donovan". RootsWeb. Retrieved 30 September 2022.
  3. ↑ "Boston Woman Gets Foreign Service Course". The Boston Globe. 1959-09-27. p. 45. Retrieved 2022-02-04 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. 1 2 Blackman, Ann (1969-02-20). "Hiroshima, Washington--26 Years of Service". The Boston Globe. p. 34. Retrieved 2022-02-04 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 "AMBASSADOR EILEEN R. DONOVAN" (PDF). The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project Women Ambassadors Series. Retrieved 4 February 2020.
  6. ↑ "Ex-Boston WAC Aids Jap Women to New World". The Boston Globe. 1947-07-11. p. 1. Retrieved 2022-02-04 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ↑ Gildersleeve, Virginia Crocheron (1946). "Educational Mission to Japan". Gender, Class, and Race in Occupied Japan. Retrieved 2022-02-04.
  8. ↑ Takemae, Eiji (2003-01-01). Allied Occupation of Japan. A&C Black. pp. 355–356. ISBN 978-0-8264-1521-9.
  9. ↑ Calkin, Homer L. (1977). Women in American Foreign Affairs. Department of State.
  10. ↑ "Woman Envoy Assumes Post". The Evening Sun. 1969-09-02. p. 4. Retrieved 2022-02-04 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ↑ "Embassy Bridgetown Tops Rotterdam: 7 of 12 Officers are Women". State Department Newsletter: 36. May 1973.
  12. ↑ Mak, Dayton; Kennedy, Charles Stuart (1992-08-21). American Ambassadors in a Troubled World: Interviews with Senior Diplomats: Interviews with Senior Diplomats. ABC-CLIO. pp. 26–27. ISBN 978-0-313-06576-7.
  13. ↑ "4 Officers honored in government-wide awards competition". State Department News Letter 85 (May 1868): 6. via Internet Archive
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