Henry E. Stebbins

American diplomat

Henry E. Stebbins

7th United States Ambassador to Nepal
In office November 25, 1959 – June 10, 1966
President	Dwight D. Eisenhower John F. Kennedy Lyndon B. Johnson
Preceded by	Ellsworth Bunker
Succeeded by	Carol Laise
2nd United States Ambassador to Uganda
In office July 22, 1966 – September 2, 1969
President	Lyndon B. Johnson Richard Nixon
Preceded by	Olcott Deming
Succeeded by	Clarence Clyde Ferguson, Jr.

Personal details
Born	1905 Milton, Massachusetts, U.S.
Died	March 23, 1973(1973-03-23) (aged 67–68) Atlantic Ocean
Occupation	American ambassador for Nepal and Uganda

Henry Endicott Stebbins (1905 in Milton, Massachusetts – 1973) was a career Foreign Service Officer who was the first US Ambassador to Nepal. He also served as Ambassador to Uganda.^[1]^[2]

Early life

Stebbins’ parents were Rev. Roderick Stebbins and Edith Endicott (Marean) Stebbins. He graduated from Milton Academy and then Harvard in 1927.^[1]

Career

On July 1, 1939, Stebbins entered the State Department as foreign service officer of Class 8. He had various posts throughout Europe and Turkey before being named vice consul in London under Joseph P. Kennedy in 1939. When he was first secretary of the London Embassy in 1945, he met his future wife, Barbara Jennifer Worthington, a native of Dorset, England. In 1951 he went to Melbourne, Australia as Consul. President Dwight D. Eisenhower promoted him to foreign service inspector in 1955, naming him senior inspector a year later. In 1959 Eisenhower named Stebbins the first Ambassador to Nepal where he served until 1966.^[1]^[3]

When his 89 year old mother found out President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed him Ambassador to Uganda in 1966, she said she was thrilled to hear of his appointment but wished he was a street sweeper in Milton because “at least he’d be home.” He retired from the Service three years later, returning to Milton.^[1]

Death

On March 28, 1973, Stebbins apparently fell from the deck of the S.S. Leonardo da Vinci and was considered lost at sea.^[1]^[4]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "Ambassador Henry Endicott Stebbins (1905-1973)". Milton Historical Society. Retrieved 2 November 2019.
^ "Persons and Pseudonyms". Office of the Historian. Retrieved 2 November 2019.
^ Gill, Michael (25 February 2011). "USEF at 50 ; The Fulbright Program has been an 'asha kendra' - centre of hope - for thousands of Nepalis for half a century". Nepali Times. No. 542. Retrieved 2023-07-01. One can imagine the scene, on a dusty pre-monsoon day in June 1961, in one of the ornate halls of Singha Darbar. Vishwa Bandhu Thapa, then Nepal's 33-year-old Minister of Education, received the American Ambassador, Henry Endicott Stebbins.
^ "Retired U.S. Envoy Is Reported, Missing From a Liner at Say". The New York Times. 1973-03-30. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-07-01. Mrs. Stebbins promptly reported his absence to the Ship's officers, who conducted a search of the 22,000‐ton liner. They concluded that he had fallen overboard at a time when the sea was rough. At the time that Mr. Stebbins' disappearance was confirmed, the ship was 300 miles from its midnight location, and the captain judged it useless, to turn back.