John Dale Blacken (August 26, 1930, Everett, Washington[1]-2015) was an American Ambassador who served as Ambassador to Guinea-Bissau.[2]

Biography

Blacken graduated from Washington State University with a B.A. in 1955) after having served in the United States Army from 1950 to 1952. [1]

Career

Before becoming a management analyst in the Office of the Secretary of Agriculture in 1958, Blacken was a salesman with Encyclopædia Britannica in San Francisco. He entered junior officer training at the Foreign Service Institute in 1961.[1]

While ambassador, Blacken knew convicted American killer and hijacker George Wright, who had eluded the FBI for 41 years despite living in West Africa under his own name, on a social basis. Wright escaped from a New Jersey jail “and was wanted in a 1972 hijacking by the radical Black Liberation Army of a U.S. plane to Algeria.” Blacken claimed the FBI never notified the Embassy about the manhunt.[3]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Nomination of John Dale Blacken To Be United States Ambassador to Guinea-Bissau". The American Presidency Project. UC Santa Barbara. Retrieved 21 July 2021.
  2. ↑ "John Dale Blacken (1930–2015)". Office of the Historian. Retrieved 21 July 2021.
  3. ↑ Grant, Jason (September 30, 2011). "Ambassador had no idea 41-year fugitive was escaped convict during encounters in Guinea-Bissau". The Star-Ledger. Retrieved 22 July 2021.
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