Richard Bordeaux Parker (July 3, 1923 – January 7, 2011) was an American diplomat, a Foreign Service Officer, and an expert on the Middle East. Parker served as Ambassador to Algeria, Lebanon and Morocco.

He was the brother of U.S. Army officer David Stuart Parker.

Early life

Parker was the son of Col. Roscoe Parker, a U.S. Army officer (Cavalry), and grew up in U.S. Army posts across the southwest with a stint in Vermont and another in Kansas. He attended Kansas State University, but left in 1943 to join the U.S. Army during World War II. Parker served as an infantry officer with the 106th Infantry Division (first platoon of the Anti-Tank Company of the 422nd Infantry Regiment), where he was captured by the Germans at the Battle of the Bulge and briefly imprisoned. Captured at the same time as Parker, was Donald Prell, who commanded the second platoon of the Anti-Tank Company. After the war, Parker returned to Kansas State, where he completed his B.S. degree in 1947 and then earned an M.S. degree in 1948, before joining the U.S. Foreign Service in 1949.

Service chronology

{| border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="3"

|+ Richard Parker's Diplomatic Chronology

! Position !! Host country or organization !! Year

|-

|US Foreign Service || || 1949 to 1958 <br>

|-

|US Foreign Service || Washington, D.C. || 1958 to 1961 <br>

|-

|US Foreign Service || Beirut, Lebanon || 1961 to 1964 <br>

|-

|US Foreign Service (Master's degree) || Princeton, New Jersey || 1964 to 1965 <br>

|-

|US Foreign Service || Cairo, Egypt || 1965 to 1967 <br>

|-

|US Foreign Service || Washington, D.C. || 1967 to 1970 <br>

|-

|US Foreign Service (Deputy Chief of Mission) || Rabat, Morocco || 1970 to 1974 <br>

|-

|U.S. Ambassador || Algiers, Algeria || 1974 to 1977 <br>

|-

|U.S. Ambassador || Beirut, Lebanon || 1977 to 1978 <br>

|-

|U.S. Ambassador || Rabat, Morocco || 1978 to 1979 <br>

|}

Papers

Ambassador Parker's papers are held at Georgetown University, in Washington, D.C.

Some of Richard Bordeaux Parker's photographs are held at the Freer Gallery and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives in Washington, D.C. The collection includes black and white negatives of Islamic architecture throughout Algeria, Cairo, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Morocco, and Spain.

Published books

  • A Practical Guide to Islamic Monuments in Cairo, (, 1974) This guide has been kept up to date by Caroline Williams. The 1985 version is available at the Internet Archive Islamic Monuments in Cairo a Practical Guide
  • A Practical Guide to Islamic Monuments in Morocco, 1981 This is available at the Internet Archive A Practical Guide to Islamic Monuments in Morocco
  • North Africa: Regional Tensions and Strategic Concerns, (, 1987) (revised and updated version)
  • The Politics of Miscalculation in the Middle East, (, 1993)
  • The Six-Day War: A Retrospective, (, 1996)
  • The October War, (, 2001)
  • Uncle Sam in Barbary: A Diplomatic History, (, 2004)
  • Memoirs of a Foreign Service Arabist, (, 2013)

Obituaries and Biographies

Renaissance Man

Washington Post

Middle East Institute

References

  • Foreign Service Journal article on his Lifetime Contributions to American Diplomacy Award.