John Cooper Wiley was born in 1893 in Bordeaux, France where his father was the American Consul. He was educated by private tutors until he enrolled in Union College for one year. He also attended the Georgetown University Law School. In 1915 Wiley was appointed clerk at the American Embassy in Paris. Thereafter he held a number of diplomatic posts in Europe and Latin America. After serving as a technical advisor to the American delegation to the World Economic Conference in 1933, he was appointed Counselor of Embassy in Moscow when the United States recognized the Soviet Union. He was Counselor of Embassy in Vienna when Germany took over Austria in 1938 and Minister to Estonia and Latvia when the Baltic countries were absorbed by the Soviet Union in 1940. Wiley also served as Ambassador to Columbia, Portugal, Iran, and Panama and American representative in lend lease negotiations with the Soviet Union before retiring from the foreign service in 1954. Ambassador Wiley died in 1967.
Diplomatic posts held by John C. Wiley: July 30, 1915 Appointed clerk, American Embassy, Paris; May 1916 Appointed Secretary of Embassy, Paris; January 30, 1918 Assigned to the Hague; December 12, 1919 Assigned to Santiago; April 10, 1920 Assigned to Buenos Aires; July 24, 1920 Assigned to Caracas; February 17, 1921 Assigned to Department of State; October 20, 1921 Assigned to Copenhagen; September 7, 1922 Assigned to Madrid; September 1, 1923 Assigned to Lima; July 1, 1926 Appointed First Secretary, Lima; January 7, 1926 Assigned to Berlin; May 1, 1926 Assigned to Copenhagen (Temporary); July 22, 1926 Returned to Berlin; April 10, 1930 Assigned to Warsaw; May 26, 1930 Appointed Counselor of Embassy, Warsaw; December 22, 1931 Assigned to Berlin (Temporary); May 26, 1932 Returned to Warsaw; June 1, 1932 Assigned to Madrid; February 16, 1933 Assigned to Department of State, served as technical advisor to the American delegation to the World Economic Conference; February 10, 1934 Appointed Counselor of Embassy, Moscow; March 9, 1934 Appointed Consul General, Moscow; August 26, 1936 Appointed Consul General, Antwerp; July 13, 1937 Appointed Consul General and Counselor of Embassy, Vienna; July 18, 1938 Appointed Minister to Estonia and Latvia; April 4, 1921 Assigned to Department of State; September 21, 1944 Appointed Ambassador to Columbia; April 10, 1947 Appointed Ambassador to Portugal; February 26, 1948 Appointed Ambassador to Iran; October 1, 1950 Assigned to Department of State; January 1951 Appointed to conduct lend lease negotiations with the Soviet Union; June 20, 1951 Appointed Ambassador to Panama; January 1954 Retired from the foreign service.
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