William O. Anderson papers

William Otto Anderson (1920-1964), US Diplomat and Senior Foreign Service Officer, was born in Shelbyville, Indiana, on August 21, 1920 to Bertie Anderson (1895-1945) and Gertrude Bernice Bennett Anderson (1898-1988). He received his A.B. from Wabash College, Indiana, 1942, Summa Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa. He attended the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy from 1942 until 1943. During World War II, Mr. Anderson attended the US Navy Japanese/Oriental Language School at the University of Colorado in 1943. He was trained as a U.S. Naval Reserve Intelligence Officer (Naval Agent) during that time. He was released from the Navy Language School and was assigned as a teacher with War Relocation Agency at Amache between 1944 and 1945. In 1945 he joined the U. S. Foreign Service Officer, Department of State. Anderson began on the staff of the Special War Problems Division in 1945. He was assigned Vice Consul to the consulate in Capetown, South Africa from 1945 to 1948 and was temporarily placed in charge of the consulate in Port Elizabeth, South Africa in 1948. He was assigned to Bangkok, Thailand, between 1948 and 1951. He became attaché to the U.S. Embassy between 1951 and 1954. Between 1954 and 1956, he was appointed Consul to Singapore. After that assignment, he was sent to the University of Washington Far East-Russian Institute from 1956 to 1957. For a short time, he was Political Officer, Chinese Affairs, at the Department of State. Then in 1957, he was assigned as political officer to the U.S. Mission Berlin, where he served until 1960, where he was also a member of the Berlin Task Force. Anderson was assigned to the Department of State, 1960. Soon after, in 1961, he was appointed Officer in Charge of Soviet Multilateral Political Affairs. He attended the U.S. Senior Seminar on Foreign Policy in 1963 and 1964. Anderson was author of Communist Trade with Southeast Asia, 1956 and A Study of National Communism, 1957.

For his diplomatic service and academic record, W. O. Anderson received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from his alma mater, Wabash College, in 1963. William Otto Anderson died on January 1, 1964 in Bethesda, Maryland.