Parker T. Hart was born in
Medford, Massachusetts on September 28, 1910. He received a
BA from
Dartmouth College in 1933, an
MA from
Harvard University in 1935, and a diploma from the
Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva in 1936. He attended the
Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service in 1936. After completing his studies, Hart joined the
United States Foreign Service. His first posting was in
Vienna in 1938, the year of the
Anschluss. He was posted to
Brazil from 1942 to 1949. In 1949, Hart opened the U.S. consulate in
Dhahran, the site of
Saudi Arabia's newly discovered oilfields. Hart was posted to Washington, D.C., in 1952, as Director of the Office of Near East Affairs. He returned to the field in 1955 as Deputy Chief of Mission in
Cairo. He was briefly consul general in
Damascus in 1958. Later in 1958, he returned to the U.S. to serve as Deputy
Assistant Secretary of State for Near East and South Asian Affairs. In 1961, President of the United States
John F. Kennedy named Hart
United States Ambassador to Saudi Arabia. Ambassador Hart presented his credentials on July 22, 1961, and served there until his credentials were terminated on May 29, 1965. He was concurrently
United States Ambassador to North Yemen from October 1, 1961, to September 27, 1962, and the first
United States Ambassador to Kuwait from 1962 to 1963. From 1965 to 1968, Ambassador Hart was
United States Ambassador to Turkey; in this capacity he negotiated a settlement that prevented war between two
NATO allies,
Greece and
Turkey, over
Cyprus. President
Lyndon B. Johnson nominated Hart as
Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs in 1965 and Hart held this office from October 14, 1968, until February 4, 1969. He was the first assistant secretary capable of speaking the
Arabic language. He was replaced when
Richard Nixon took power and
National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger moved U.S. foreign policy in the region in a more pro-
Israel direction. Hart then spent several months as Director of the
Foreign Service Institute, before resigning from the
United States Department of State later in 1969. Hart served as President of the
Middle East Institute from 1969 to 1973. He then worked as a special representative and consultant for
Bechtel from 1973 to 1990. He retired in 1990 and would go on to publish two books of memoirs In retirement, Hart lived in Washington, D.C., where he died on October 15, 1997. He was 87 years old. ==Selected publications==