Ambassador Edward J. Perkins

In 1986, Edward J. Perkins became the first black ambassador assigned to the Republic of South Africa, where he was an ardent opponent of apartheid. Throughout his 24 year career, he also served as a U.S. foreign ambassador to Ghana, Liberia, the United Nations, and Australia.

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Edward Joseph Perkins was born on June 8, 1928, in Sterlington, Louisiana to Edward Joseph Perkins Sr. and Tiny Estella Noble Perkins. When Perkins was young, he and his mother moved to her parents' farm in Haynesville, Louisiana after his parents divorced. Perkins’ mother soon remarried and moved to Pine Bluff, Arkansas with her new husband, leaving Perkins with his grandparents. At the age of 14, he moved to Pine Bluff, to live with his mother and her new husband, Mr. Grant. Perkins and his parents later relocated to Portland, Oregon where he graduated from Jefferson High School in 1947. While in the Army, he was stationed in Korea and Japan. 

In 1950, Perkins left the Army and became a civilian who worked for the military. During this time, he met American diplomats whose work piqued his interest. Consequently, Perkins decided to get a college degree so he could become an American diplomat himself. In 1953, with the urging of his mentor, Perkins returned to the United States where he enrolled at Lewis and Clark College. While at college, Perkins missed living overseas and a conversation with one of his classmates and a former Marine convinced him to join the U.S. Marine Corps. Perkins served for four years with the Marine Corps before accepting a position as Chief of Personnel at the Army and Air Force Exchange in Taipei, Taiwan. 

During his time in Taiwan, Perkins met Lucy Ching-mei Liu. In 1962, the two eloped. They later had two daughters, Katherine and Sarah Perkins.

In 1967, he earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland in Taipei, Taiwan. Shortly after, he accepted an internship at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and began a tour of duty with the U.S. Operations Mission (USOM) in Thailand. In 1972, after leaving the Marine Corps, Perkins worked for the U.S. State Department’s Foreign Service. In 1978, Perkins earned his Ph.D. in public administration from the University of Southern California. 

In 1978, Perkins became a counselor for political affairs, serving at the U.S. Embassy in Accra, Ghana for three years. From 1981 to 1983, he was deputy chief of mission in Monrovia, Liberia. In 1983, he relocated to Washington, D.C. to become director of the State's Office of West African Affairs. In 1985, he was appointed ambassador to Liberia.

In 1986, Perkins was interviewed by President Ronald Reagan, becoming the first black ambassador assigned to the Republic of South Africa. While there he was an ardent opponent of apartheid. In 1989, Perkins became the director general of the Foreign Service. In 1992, he was appointed as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. In 1993, Perkins accepted a position as ambassador to the Commonwealth of Australia. On August 31, 1996, Perkins retired from the Foreign Service with the rank of Career Minister. Thereafter, he served as the executive director of the International Programs Center at the University of Oklahoma. He served in this position until December 2010. 

During his diplomatic career, Perkins received numerous awards, including the Presidential Distinguished and Meritorious Service Awards and the Department of State’s Distinguished Honor and Superior Honor Awards. In 2001, the State Department presented him with the Director General’s Cup. In 1992 George Washington University named him Statesman of the Year. In 1993, he received the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity’s highest honor, the Laurel Wreath Award for Achievement and Diplomatic Service.

Following his retirement from the Foreign Service in 1996, he became executive director of the International Programs Center for the University of Oklahoma, serving from August 1996 until December 2010. In 2006 the University of Oklahoma Press published Ambassador Perkins’ memoir, Mr. Ambassador: Warrior for Peace. He has also co-edited several books, all published by the University of Oklahoma Press: The Middle East Peace Process: Vision versus Reality, with Joseph Ginat and Edwin G. Corr (2002); Democracy, Morality and the Search for Peace in America’s Foreign Policy, with David L. Boren (2002); Palestinian Refugees: Traditional Positions and New Solutions, with Joseph Ginat (2001); and Preparing America’s Foreign Policy for the 21st Century, with David L. Boren (1999). 

Perkins also served as a senior adviser at a Washington, D.C.–based consulting firm called The Stevenson Group.

On September 3, 2009, Perkin’s wife, Lucy Cheng-Mei Liu, died. At the age of 92, Perkins died from a stroke on November 7, 2020, in Washington, D.C. 

Sources: 

www.thehistorymakers.org - The Honorable Edward Perkins

https://afsa.org - Pioneer, Bridge Builder and Statesman—A Conversation with Ambassador Edward J. Perkins

https://archives.libraries.ou.edu - Edward J. Perkins papers

Written by: Ninfa O. Barnard