Remembering Ambassador Shirley Temple Black
We are saddened to announce the passing of Council member Shirley Temple Black. Ambassador Black passed away on February 10 at her home in Woodside, CA at the age of 85.
Ambassador Black served as the Ambassador to Czechoslovakia (1989-1992), Chief of Protocol (1976-1977) and Ambassador to Ghana (1974-1976).
From 1981-1989, she was a Foreign Affairs Officer-Expert with the Department of State (Foreign Service Institute). Ambassador Black also served as the US Representative to the 24th General Assembly of the United Nations (UN); Deputy Chairman of the USSR-USA Joint Commission; Deputy Chairman of the United States Delegation to the 1970-1972 Conference on the Human Environment; and Special Assistant to the Chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality in 1972.
Earlier, she was a candidate for the US Congress (1967) and a childhood actress. From 1935 to 1938, she was the top box-office attraction in the United States. Her films took in $20 million in just a few years and saved her studio, 20th-Century Fox, from bankruptcy. Her movies became classics of pre-World War II cinema and have remained popular with children and adults. In 1999, the American Film Institute included the actress on its list of the 50 Greatest Screen Legends. She was a Kennedy Center honors recipient in 1998.
Ambassador Black served as an officer and Board member of several private and public corporations and foundations, including Vice President of the American Academy of Diplomacy in Washington, DC.
She was appointed an Honorary Foreign Service Officer of the United States of America on November 23, 1987, by Secretary of State George P. Shultz.
