Ralph A. Dungan

{{Short description|American diplomat}} {{Infobox officeholder |name = Ralph Dungan |image = Ralph Dungan 1961.jpg |office = [[United States Ambassador to Chile]] |president = [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] |term_start = December 10, 1964 |term_end = August 2, 1967 |predecessor = [[Charles W. Cole]] |successor = [[Edward M. Korry]] |birth_date = {{birth date|1923|4|22}} |birth_place = [[Philadelphia]], [[Pennsylvania]], U.S. |death_date = {{death date and age|2013|10|5|1923|4|22}} |death_place = [[Saint John, Barbados|Saint John]], [[Barbados]] |party = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] |education = [[Saint Joseph's University]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])<br>[[Princeton University]] ([[Master of Public Administration|MPA]]) }} '''Ralph Anthony Dungan''' (April 22, 1923 – October 5, 2013) was an American diplomat and ambassador from the United States to [[Chile]] from December 10, 1964, to August 2, 1967.<ref>[https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/people/dungan-ralph-anthony Department of State website]</ref> He was liaison between the [[Presidency of John F. Kennedy|Kennedy Administration]] and the Catholic Church.<ref>Arthur Meier Schlesinger, Jr., ''A thousand days: John F. Kennedy in the White House'' (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1965) p. 603.</ref>

==Early life and education== George was born in [[Pennsylvania]]. His father was an attorney involved in the politics of the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]]. During [[World War II]], he served in the [[United States Navy|U.S. Navy]] as a flight instructor and then attended [[Saint Joseph's University]] in [[Philadelphia]] under the [[G.I. Bill]]. He married twice and had four sons and three daughters with his first wife, who died before him in 1987.

==Career== Prior to this appointment, Dungan was a legislative aide to Democratic Senator [[John F. Kennedy]] in 1956. In 1960, he worked on JFK's campaign to become the 35th U.S. president. JFK remained loyal to his associate of five years and named him one of his two White House Special Assistants to the President in 1961; the second was [[Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.]] Dungan served as White House [[Special Assistant to the President]] in the Kennedy administration from 1961 to 1964. His assignments in the Kennedy years included service on a task force on foreign aid, handling White House African Affairs and then, finally, handling White House Latin American Affairs, which was his specialty and which he later turned into an ambassadorship during the [[Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson|Johnson Administration]].

After his ambassadorship ended, Dungan was appointed to become the State of New Jersey's first Chancellor of Higher Education, serving from 1967 to 1977. In 1967, New Jersey was widely viewed by college admission officers as having one of the nation's weakest higher education systems. They also called it a "cuckoo state" for its poor record of keeping residents from going to school elsewhere. When his 10 years at this post ended in 1977, the New Jersey college system had grown from six to eight colleges and had a "vastly increased" student population. However, then President of [[Rutgers]], [[Edward J. Bloustein]], said of former Ambassador Dungan in 1975: "He's a nice guy, but he does not understand the nature of universities."<ref>{{cite news |last=Weber |first=Bruce |title=Ralph A. Dungan, Aide in Kennedy White House, Dies at 90 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/10/nyregion/ralph-a-dungan-aide-in-kennedy-white-house-dies-at-90.html |date=October 8, 2013}}</ref>

In 1977, Dungan became the executive director of the [[Inter-American Development Bank]].

==Death== Dungan died at his home in [[Saint John, Barbados]], according to his death notice, at the age of 90, due to complications following surgery. His personal papers can be found at the [[John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum]] in [[Boston]].

==References== {{commons category}} {{Reflist}}

{{s-start}} {{s-dip}} {{s-bef|before=[[Charles W. Cole]]}} {{s-ttl|title=[[United States Ambassador to Chile]]|years=1964–1967}} {{s-aft|after=[[Edward M. Korry]]}} {{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dungan, Ralph A}} [[Category:1923 births]] [[Category:2013 deaths]] [[Category:20th-century American diplomats]] [[Category:Ambassadors of the United States to Chile]] [[Category:Kennedy administration personnel]] [[Category:Diplomats from Pennsylvania]] [[Category:Saint Joseph's University alumni]] [[Category:United States Navy personnel of World War II]]