Joseph Palmer II

Joseph Palmer II (June 16, 1914 – August 15, 1994) was an American diplomat and State Department official whose career focused on U.S. relations with Africa.

Palmer entered the United States Foreign Service in 1939. In 1941, he began a four-year tour of duty as consular officer in Nairobi.

On April 1, 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Palmer as the third U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs. He served in this post until July 7, 1969.

The next day, he took up his position as the U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of Libya, having been appointed by President Richard Nixon. Palmer was present in Libya on September 1, 1969, when a group of military officers led by Muammar al-Gaddafi staged a coup d’état against King Idris while he was in Turkey for medical treatment. After the 1969 coup, Gaddafi closed American and British bases and partially nationalized foreign oil and commercial interests in Libya. Gaddafi's anti-American attitude and his support of international terrorism led the United States to recall Ambassador Palmer on November 7, 1972.