Angier Biddle Duke (November 30, 1915 – April 29, 1995) was an American diplomat who served as Chief of Protocol of the United States in the 1960s. Prior to that, at the age of 36, he became the youngest American ambassador in history when he was appointed to be the U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador.[1]
Early life
Duke was born in New York City.[2] His father was Angier Buchanan Duke (1884–1923) and his mother was Cordelia Drexel Biddle, later Cordelia Biddle Robertson. Angier Buchanan Duke was an heir to the American Tobacco Company fortune while Cordelia Drexel Biddle was a member of the Biddle family who were prominent in business, political and cultural affairs in Philadelphia. Angier Biddle Duke's only sibling was Anthony Drexel Duke (1918–2014).[3] After separating in 1918, Duke's parents divorced in 1921.[4][5]
In the late 1930s, Duke became skiing editor for a sports magazine and, by 1940, he enlisted as a private in the United States Army Air Forces. Upon his discharge in 1945, Duke was a major serving in North Africa and Europe. His uncle, Anthony Joseph Drexel Biddle, Jr., was serving as ambassador to most of the governments-in-exile that were occupied by Germany during World War II.[8][10]
People thought Angie was just a rich playboy when President Truman appointed him Ambassador to El Salvador. He was 36 years old, the youngest ambassador in United States history, and the Duke name represented entrenched, giant capitalists.[15]
With the Democratic Party out of power in 1953, he left the foreign service and returned to private life. During much of this time he served as President of the International Rescue Commission. Originally a Republican, he later became a Democrat.[1]
In 1960, Duke, a personal friend of Kennedy, was asked to serve as chief of protocol for the U.S. State Department with the rank of ambassador. He held this position until 1965. As a vocal supporter of equal rights, "he resigned from the Metropolitan Club of Washington after it refused to admit black diplomats" in 1961.[1] His most visible task during his term as chief was to supervise the protocol for world leaders who attended the funeral of John F. Kennedy on November 25, 1963.[1]
At the end of his term as chief of protocol, the Johnson administration asked him to serve as U.S. Ambassador to Spain, which he did from 1965 to 1968.[16] He then served as Chief of Protocol a second time, for less than six months, until he was appointed to become the U.S. Ambassador to Denmark. He served in that position for seven months.[17] In 1969, he was awarded an honorary LL.D. degree from Duke University.[18] Following Vice President Hubert Humphrey's defeat by Richard Nixon, and with the Democratic Party again out of power, he was again out of the U.S. Foreign Service. In the early 1970s, he was appointed by Mayor Abraham Beame to serve as Commissioner of the New York City Department of Civic Affairs and Public Events with a staff of 17 until he resigned in 1976 to work for Jimmy Carter's campaign for the presidency.[19]
Angier "Pony" St. George Duke (1937–2014), who married Mary Ellen Haga in 1973.[24] He was known for infecting Margaret Housen with gonorrhea in 1970.[25][26] His son, Benjamin Buchanan Duke, married the poker player Annie Duke.[27]
Following their divorce, Priscilla married State Senator Allan A. Ryan, Jr. (1903–1981) in 1941.[28][29] In November 1940, the 26-year-old Duke married the 34-year-old Margaret Screven White immediately after her divorce from J. M. Tuck.[20] Margaret had also been married to Fitzhugh White and was the daughter of Franklin Buchanan Screven, great-granddaughter of Admiral Franklin Screven, commander of the Confederate USS Merrimack, and a descendant of Thomas McKean, a signer of the Declaration of Independence.[20]
They divorced in 1952, the same year Duke married Maria-Luisa de Arana of Spain.[30] She was the daughter of Isabella de Zurita and Dario de Arana, and the granddaughter of the 10th Marquis de Campo Real,[31] members of the Basque nobility of Bilbao.[30] His third wife died in a plane crash in 1961.[32][33]
In 1962, he married Robin Chandler Lynn (1923–2016), who served as the United States Ambassador to Norway during the Clinton administration.[35] She had previously been married to Jeffrey Lynn, the actor and film producer, and was the daughter of Richard Edgar and Esther Chandler Tippett.[36] They lived together at The River House on 52nd Street in New York City.[37] Robin and Angier remained married until his death in 1995.[2][38]
^"Decreto Nº 6"(PDF). Diario Oficial (in Spanish). Vol. Tomo 155 Número 109. San Salvador, El Salvador, Central America. June 10, 1952. p. 3971. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
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