Charles Wallace Adair

Charles Wallace Adair, Jr. (26 January 1914 – 22 January 2006) was a career United States Foreign Service officer, serving as Ambassador to Panama (1965–1969) and Ambassador to Uruguay (1969–1972).

Early life Adair was born in Xenia, Ohio. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin, and worked for Chase Bank in Panama before joining the State Department in 1940.

Foreign service career Adair was posted to various economic positions in US missions around Europe, particularly the American Embassy in Paris, France. Adair also served as the US vice-consul in Bombay, India, in 1943. He also served tours in Mexico, India, Brazil, and Belgium. Adair assumed the ambassadorship during a period of difficult United States–Panama relations. In 1966, Panamanian student demonstrators struck Adair in the back with a milk carton filled with red paint. During his ambassadorship, Adair worked to rebuild relations and initiated talks that culminated in the Torrijos–Carter Treaties. He left the post on 6 September 1969. He was appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Uruguay on 15 September 1969, presented his credentials on 13 November 1969 and left the post on 28 September 1972. He retired from the Foreign Service in 1972.

Adair lived in Stuart, Florida, from his retirement until 1996, when he moved to Virginia. He died January 22, 2006, in Falls Church, Virginia, aged 91.