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Biography
Anthony Cecil Eden Quainton (born 4 April 1934 in Seattle) is a former United States diplomat.
He was educated at Princeton University, where he received a B.A. in 1955, and Oxford University, England as a Marshall Scholar, where he received a B.Litt. in 1958. While in England, he married a fellow Marshall Scholar, Susan Long, in 1957. He spend 1958-59 working as a research assistant at St Antony's College, Oxford.
Quainton joined the United States Foreign Service in 1959. As a Foreign Service Officer, he was posted to Sydney 1959-62, to Karachi 1963, to Rawalpindi 1964-66; and to New Delhi 1966-69. He spent 1969-72 at the United States Department of State in Washington, D.C. as the senior political officer for India in the Bureau of Near East and South Asian Affairs. He then spent 1972-73 as a political officer at the U.S. Embassy, Paris. From 1973 through 1976, he was Deputy Chief of Mission in Kathmandu. In 1976, President of the United States Gerald Ford nominated Quainton as United States Ambassador to the Central African Empire. Ambassador Quainton presented his credentials on February 20, 1976 and held this post until June 9, 1978.
He then became Director of the State Department's Office for Combatting Terrorism, holding this post until 1981 and was then named United States Ambassador to Nicaragua, by President Ronald Reagan, presenting his credentials on March 26, 1982 and serving there until May 6, 1984. Reagan then appointed Quainton United States Ambassador to Kuwait, a post which he held from September 1984 to August 1987. Quainton returned to the United States in September 1987, serving as Deputy Inspector General of the Department of State from September 1987 to November 1989. President George H. W. Bush named Quainton United States Ambassador to Peru; Ambassador Quainton presented his credentials on December 11, 1989 and served as Ambassador to Peru until September 16, 1992. Bush then nominated Quainton to be Assistant Secretary of State for Diplomatic Security and this office was held from September 23, 1992 until December 29, 1995. President Bill Clinton then named him Director General of the Foreign Service which Quainton held from December 29, 1995 to August 22, 1997.
In 1997 Quainton left government service and spent 1997-98 as head of the Una Chapman Cox Foundation. He then became president and CEO of the National Policy Association. Since 2003, he has been the Distinguished Diplomat-in-Residence at the School of International Service at American University.