Charles Sheldon Whitehouse

Charles Sheldon Whitehouse (November 5, 1921 – June 25, 2001) was an American career diplomat. He was United States Ambassador to Laos and the United States Ambassador to Thailand. Early life Whitehouse was born November 5, 1921, in Paris, France, the son of American parents Mary Crocker (née Alexander) and Sheldon Whitehouse (1883–1965). His father was a foreign service officer, and served as U.S. Minister to Guatemala, 1930–33, and to Colombia, 1933–34. Charles Whitehouse was a great-grandson of railroad executive Charles Crocker, and a grandson of Charles Beatty Alexander and Harriet Crocker. He was also a great-grandson of Henry John Whitehouse, Episcopal bishop of Illinois. He was raised in Europe and South America. U.S. Marine Corps In 1942, he interrupted his studies at Yale University to join the United States Marine Corps. He attended Navy flight school and became a Marine dive bomber pilot and saw combat in the Pacific theater, where he was awarded 7 Distinguished Flying Crosses and received 21 Air Medals. After his separation from the Marine Corps in 1946, he reentered Yale University, where he was a classmate of William F. Buckley. In 1946 he was tapped as a member of the Skull and Bones Society. Government career Upon graduation from Yale in 1947, Whitehouse joined the Central Intelligence Agency and worked in the Congo, Turkey, Belgium and Cambodia. He moved over to the State Department in 1956 to serve as assistant to the undersecretary for economic affairs, and in 1959 he became a regular foreign service officer. He later served as the State Department's Congo Desk officer, and also served on the staff of the department's Office of Personnel. He attended the National War College, and graduated in 1966.