Ray Atherton

Ray Atherton (March 28, 1883 – March 14, 1960) was a career United States diplomat, who served as Ambassador to Greece, Bulgaria, and Denmark. He also served the role of Head of Mission as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary (Canada) (1943–48). Whilst in his last post, his role was reclassified and he became the first United States Ambassador to Canada. As Head of the State Department's Division of European Affairs he received notification from the German Embassy of their declaration of war on December 11, 1941. Early years Ray Atherton was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, in 1883. He was the son of George Edward Atherton (1845-1905) and Isabelle Ray. His grandfather was Samuel Atherton, a Massachusetts businessman and politician. Education He was educated at Harvard College, graduating with a B.A. in 1905. He went into banking for two years pending settlement of family finances after his father's death and then went to Paris to study architecture, becoming known as the "beau of the Beaux-Arts" at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts. He returned to the US in 1914 and went to work for an architectural firm in Chicago. By 1916 he was in London, when a friend, Walter Hines Page suggested he take the exams to enter into the foreign service.