NEW ENVOY TO TOKYO

Chosen last week by President Truman (though not yet formally nominated) as the first postwar U.S. Ambassador to Tokyo: Career Diplomat Robert Daniel Murphy.

Born: Oct. 28, 1894, in Milwaukee, of Irish-German stock.

Education: Marquette and George Washington universities (LL.B., LL.M.).

Personal Traits: Lanky; a redhead now balding; as occasion demands, can be ingratiating or salt-tongued; fluent in French and German; a seasoned observer of European affairs but without experience in the Far East.

Early Career: Post-office clerk in Washington, 1916-17; State Department clerk in Bern, Switzerland, 1917-19; assistant chief of revenue agents at Treasury Department, 1919-20; then entered Foreign Service as a vice consul in Zurich, later served at Munich and Seville; became first Secretary of U.S. Embassy in Paris, then counsellor, 1939-40; after the fall of the Third Republic, moved on to Vichy as Charge d'Affaires. Vichy Days: Played a key role in the controversial U.S. diplomatic effort to hold down German influence over defeated France; went to French North Africa, where he tried to line up support for the allied invasion. Murphy was widely criticized, along with Generals Dwight Eisenhower and Mark Clark, for using Vichy Admiral Jean Francois Darlan in a successful effort to break the back of French resistance. Under threat of allied arrest, Darlan ordered the French forces to cease fire. General Eisenhower in Crusade in Europe gave Murphy good marks: "Affable, friendly, exceedingly shrewd, [Murphy] was admirably suited for his task. Unquestionably his missionary work ... had much to do with eventual success."

German Occupation: Appointed State's senior political adviser to Eisenhower for Germany in 1944; continued in that capacity under Generals Joseph T. McNarney and Lucius D. Clay during their military rule of the U.S. zone in Germany; his work earned this appraisal from Clay: "If Military Government, and in particular if I, as Military Governor, have accomplished anything in Germany, a major part of the credit should go to Bob Murphy."

To Brussels: Returned to Washington in 1949 to head the Office of German and Austrian Affairs; that same year, appointed Ambassador to Belgium; has forcefully urged a bigger Belgian rearmament effort; reportedly has been yearning for a bigger, more exciting post, such as the ambassadorship to Bonn when a peace pact is finally drafted. His comment, on hearing last week that he would go to Tokyo: "It would be very interesting."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.