William G. Bowdler

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William Garton Bowdler (March 27, 1924 – January 19, 2016) was an American diplomat who spent much of his career in the U.S. State Department, focusing on Latin America. He was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and moved to Florida as a child. He served in the U.S. Army from 1944 to 1946 and became a U.S. citizen in 1945. Bowdler earned a BA in history from the University of Richmond in 1948 and an MA from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in 1949. He joined the State Department in 1950 and held various roles, including work on Cuban and Latin American affairs, and served as the White House liaison for Latin American affairs from 1964 to 1968. He was the U.S. ambassador to El Salvador from 1968 to 1971, then to Guatemala from 1971 to 1973. He later became Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs and Acting Assistant Secretary in 1974. Bowdler served as the U.S. ambassador to South Africa from 1975 to 1978. President Carter named him Director of the Bureau of Intelligence and Research (1978–1979) and later Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs (1980–1981). He died in 2016 at age 91.