Pierre R. Graham

Pierre R. Graham was an American diplomat. He was the United States Ambassador to Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso) from 1974 to 1978.^[1]

Biography

Graham was born on August 10, 1922 at St. Nazaire, Brittany, France. His father, William H. Graham, died in 1940. He met and married his first wife Jeanne Marie Augereau while serving in the US Navy during World War II at Merchant Marine Academy in Kingsport, New York; after graduating, he continued to serve in the US Navy from 1943 through 1946 as a lieutenant in the Pacific. After the war, he married his second wife, Lorraine Shurman, and received his Masters Degree from the University of Chicago.

Graham joined the U.S. Foreign Service in 1949. He saw overseas posts as an Economic Officer in Morocco from 1951 to 1954, Political Officer in Lebanon from 1954 to 1957, as well as France from 1957 to 1958, and Deputy Principal Officer in Senegal from 1958 to 1961. He became a Personnel Officer to the U.S. State Departement, in Washington, DC from 1962 to 1964. From 1964 to 1966, he was Deputy Chief of Mission in Guinea. In 1966, he was detailed to the National War College. He was the US Representative to UNESCO in Paris from 1969 to 1979. He later became charge d'Affaires in Jordan from 1973 to 1974. He was nominated as United States Ambassador to Upper Volta by President Nixon in 1974 and remained in that post until he retired in 1978.

Graham retired in the Maureillas-las-Illas near Céret, France, in the Pyrenees Mountains close to the border between France and Spain. He lived there with his third wife, Dr. Helgard Planken Graham until he died on April 24, 1988. Graham left behind his sister and three daughters, Diane Lyn Cooper, Katherine Joan Graham, and Patricia Ann Reed, as well as seven grandchildren in the United States, two nephews and their 3 daughters in France..^[2]

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Department of State (Background Notes).