![]() William Chapman Foster Second Lieutenant, United States Army Government Official |
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Courtesy
of Bowdoin College:
WILLIAM CHAPMAN FOSTER, Director of the United
States Arms Control and
Entering M.I.T., he was one of those who received a wartime degree, having served as a Second Lieutenant and military aviator in World War I. After service, he turned to business, joining in 1922 the Pressed and Welded Steel Products Company, with which he was associated for twenty-four years. Though a small company, he made it significant,
and he developed capacities as an able administrator which, in the vortex
of World War II and its aftermath, pulled him
In 1946 he turned full-time to the Government, first with the Department of Commerce as Under Secretary, then with the Marshall Plan’s Economic Cooperation Administration, as its Administrator for a time, and then with the Department of Defense as Deputy Secretary. Nine years later he returned to business, but
in 1961 heeded the call of the President, and assumed his present position,
soon becoming also Chief United States Representative to the eighteen-nation
Disarmament Conference. A living refutation of the dichotomy so often attributed
to government and business, you have proved that character and ability
are equally at home in both. As a skilled administrator, a patient and
tolerant diplomat, and a wise public official who can work simultaneously
with NATO allies, State Department colleagues, Capitol Hill lawmakers and
the press, we pay you honor. Honoris Causa, DOCTOR OF LAWS.
Foster was born on 27 April 1897 and died on 15 October 1984. He was buried in Section 30 of Arlington National Cemetery. His wife, Beulah Robinson Foster (24 September 1899-2 February 2001) is buried with him.
Posted: 6 September 2003 |
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