William S. B. Lacy

William Sterling Byrd Lacy (February 5, 1910 – December 11, 1978) was an American diplomat who served as the third United States Ambassador to Korea from May to October 1955.

He negotiated a series of cultural exchanges with the Soviet Union, which indirectly created the setting of the Kitchen Debate between Richard Nixon, the Vice President of the United States, and Nikita Khrushchev, the Premier of the Soviet Union.

Biography Lacy, the son of politician Sterling Byrd Lacy, was born in Mesa County, Colorado. His ancestral home was in Virginia, where he spent parts of his childhood. Lacy graduated from the University of Colorado Boulder in 1932 majoring in economics.

Career at the State Department Trained as an economist, Lacy joined the State Department in 1944 or in 1946, after working at the War Production Board and the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration. which would later come to fruition in the policies of Thục's brother, Ngô Đình Diệm, as head of South Vietnam.

Ambassador to Korea On March 15, 1955, he was nominated as ambassador to Korea, to succeed Ellis O. Briggs; previously, he had served as deputy chief of mission in Manila for several years. Sworn in on March 28, he arrived in Seoul on May 8. By the end of the week, he had presented his credentials to Syngman Rhee.

His tenure as ambassador was strained, as tensions were high: riots and unrest occurred against the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission, as South Koreans considered the commission to be tainted by Communist influence, and demonstrations rocked the United States Embassy and his residence; the Eighth Army began tightening restrictions on the black market, which Korean men saw as unfairly targeting them; and foreign businessmen, including Americans, charged that they were being unfairly taxed by the South Korean government; all of which contributed to an inability to work with Rhee. a contrived excuse. (Indeed, after Lacy left, it was noted that U.S. policy at the time seemed specifically tailored to angering Rhee and South Koreans. )

Later career After his time as ambassador, Lacy worked as a special assistant to Secretary of State John Foster Dulles. he negotiated with the Soviet diplomat, G.N. Zaroubin, to begin a series of cultural and scientific exchanges between the two nations: these would lead to, in the words of Glenn T. Seaborg, "cooperation in peaceful nuclear applications" and "exchanges in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy". It was also considered to be a "major cultural agreement" for which Lacy received much credit.

Before he retired in 1961, he served as deputy commandant of the National War College. With her, he had a son before their divorce; he later married Kirsten Magelssen, with whom he had a daughter; before marrying a third time, to Elizabeth.

William Sterling Byrd Lacy died on December 11, 1978, at the age of 68, survived by his third wife and children.