After joining the
United States Foreign Service, Cochran served as Vice Consul in
Germany,
Mexico,
Guatemala,
Switzerland,
Jamaica,
Haiti, and
Montreal,
Canada. He then served as Deputy Liaison Officer at the
United States Department of State in
Washington, D.C. He served as Consul in
Paris and
Switzerland before returning to
France to serve as Financial Secretary of the Embassy. Cochran briefly left the State Department to serve as the Technical Assistant to the
United States Secretary of the Treasury from 1939 to 1941 under
Henry Morgenthau Jr. From 1941 to 1948, Cochran served as a Senior Foreign Service Inspector. He was nominated to serve as U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan in 1949, but was never confirmed. He served as the first U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia from 1949 to 1953. He was commissioned during a recess of the
United States Senate and recommissioned on February 2, 1950, after confirmation. In January 1952, Cochran engaged in private negotiations with Indonesian Foreign Minister
Achmad Soebardjo to provide aid and loans to Indonesia under the
Mutual Security Act of 1951. When the negotiations were made public, opposition in Indonesia's parliament emerged, eventually culminating with the resignation of Soebardjo and then-
Prime Minister of Indonesia Soekiman Wirjosandjojo in late February. Cochran retired from the Foreign Service in 1953, and worked as Deputy Managing Director of the
International Monetary Fund from 1953 to 1962. From 1963 to 1969, he served as the Chairman of the Greek consortium of the
OECD. == Death ==