Clifton Reginald Wharton, Sr. (May 11, 1899 – April 25, 1990) was an American diplomat, and the first African American diplomat to become an ambassador by rising through the ranks of the Foreign Service rather than by political appointment such as Frederick Douglass.[1] He also became the first black Foreign Service Officer to become chief of a diplomatic mission, and simultaneously the first black chief of a diplomatic mission to a European nation.[2]
Born in Baltimore, Wharton received his law degree in 1920 and an advanced law degree in 1923 from Boston University School of Law. He practiced in Boston before joining the United States State Department as a law clerk in the Career United States Foreign Service. Wharton went on to be Vice Consul in Monrovia (1927-1929), Consul in Las Palmas (1932-1938), Minister to Romania (1958-1961) and Ambassador to Norway (1961-1964). [3]
Wharton died in Phoenix, Arizona.
Wharton was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.
On May 30, 2006, the United States Postal Service issued a stamp depicting Wharton in its Distinguished American Diplomats commemorative series.[1][4]
His son Clifton Reginald Wharton, Jr. is a noted economist and executive.
| Preceded by Frances E. Willis |
United States Ambassador to Norway 1961–1964 |
Succeeded by Margaret Joy Tibbets |