Walters, Vernon Anthony

▪ 2003

      American diplomat and military officer (b. Jan. 3, 1917, New York, N.Y.—d. Feb. 10, 2002, West Palm Beach, Fla.), served as U.S. ambassador to the UN from 1985 to 1988 and as U.S. ambassador to West Germany from 1989 to 1991; fluent in numerous languages, he also served as an interpreter to five U.S. presidents. Walters began a 35-year military career when he joined the U.S. Army in 1941. After working as an interpreter for Pres. Harry Truman at several post-World War II summits, Walters was frequently used in that capacity during top-level diplomatic meetings for the remainder of his career. From 1956 to 1960 he was a staff aide to Pres. Dwight Eisenhower. During Richard Nixon's administration, Walters helped Secretary of State Henry Kissinger conduct secret negotiations with the North Vietnamese prior to the U.S. withdrawal from Vietnam. As deputy director of the Central Intelligence Agency from 1972 to 1976, Walters reportedly refused repeated White House requests to use CIA funds to pay off Watergate burglars. Although Walters retired from the army with the rank of lieutenant general in 1976 and for a time worked as a private security consultant, he was called back into public service during the administration of Ronald Reagan. He was ambassador at large before succeeding Jeane Kirkpatrick as ambassador to the UN. Walters wrote two volumes of memoirs, Silent Missions (1978) and The Mighty and the Meek: Dispatches from the Front Line of Diplomacy (2001).

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