Early years (1912–1947) Rubottom was born in
Brownwood, Texas, on February 13, 1912. His parents ran a
boarding house. He was educated at
Southern Methodist University, graduating in 1933. There he was a member of the
Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity and in 1933, he became the fraternity's seventh full-time traveling secretary (educational leadership consultant) from 1933 to 1935. He married a student, Billy Ruth Young of
Corsicana, Texas, in 1938, and together the couple had three children: a daughter, Eleanor Ann (Rubottom) Odden and two sons, Frank Richard Rubottom and John William Rubottom. During his time at the University of Texas, he also did graduate level studies from 1939 to 1941.
Career in the Foreign Service (1947–1957) Rubottom joined the
United States Foreign Service in 1947. His first posting as a
Foreign Service Officer was
Second Secretary in
Bogotá. In 1956, he returned to Washington, D.C., and became Deputy
Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs. After many months,
Secretary of State John Foster Dulles chose to nominate Rubottom for the post, which was confirmed in the
Senate after lengthy
confirmation hearings. Rubottom served in the capacity of Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs from June 18, 1957, until August 27, 1960. Pursuing the
Eisenhower Administration's
Cold War policy of
containment (as expressed in the
Eisenhower Doctrine), Rubottom's chief aim as Assistant Secretary was to halt the spread of Communism in Latin America. In January 1958, Rubottom gave an important speech entitled "Communism in the Americas" in which he warned that agents of the
Soviet Union were increasingly active in Latin America and that the U.S. needed to be prepared to support anti-Communist forces in Latin America. The
Cuban Revolution of 1959 occurred while Rubottom was Assistant Secretary. Rubottom initially believed that Castro was not a Communist, and in April 1959, the State Department greeted Castro as a "distinguished leader". At a January 14, 1960, meeting of the
United States National Security Council, Rubottom explained how the State Department's policy evolved from having a positive image of
Fidel Castro in early 1959 through to deciding Castro needed to be assassinated by the end of the year: In addition to discussions about assassinating Castro, Rubottom was involved in discussions about the
United States embargo against Cuba, which began in October 1960, two months after Rubottom left the State Department. As Assistant Secretary, Rubottom was supportive of moderates in the
Dominican Republic who sought the overthrow of dictator
Rafael Trujillo, advising the National Security Council in March 1960 that an assassination attempt would occur soon. He was in contact with CIA officials about orchestrating the assassination, which eventually occurred in May 1961.
Later years (since 1960) President Eisenhower then nominated Rubottom as
United States Ambassador to Argentina; Ambassador Rubottom presented his credentials to the Argentinian government on October 20, 1960, and served in that post for one year, leaving Argentina on October 19, 1961. Rubottom spent 1961 to 1964 as a faculty adviser at the
Naval War College. He then returned to his alma mater,
Southern Methodist University, as Vice President of Life (1964–1967); Vice President of Administration (1967–1970); and Vice President of Planning (1970–1971). ==Awards==