Diplomat James T. Dandridge- Brazil, Chile and Bolivia

(1932 to present)

Diplomacy Foundation Center

James “Jim” Dandridge was born in Birmingham, Alabama in 1932, and grew up in Bessemer, Selma, and Mobile, Alabama. He received his BA at Howard University and his MA at Georgetown University in Washington, DC. 

Colonel James Dandridge, a pioneer US Army special operations officer, retired in 1978 as a special operations branch chief in the organization of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Dandridge was one of the first to wear the US Army green beret as a staff officer of the US Army Special Warfare Center, under the command of Brigadier General William Yarborough, when President John F. Kennedy visited and authorized its wear in 1961. His military assignments abroad include Korea, Vietnam, and several Latin American countries. He was awarded several combat decorations and specialty badges, including the US Army Parachute Badge and two foreign military parachute badges. He also was licensed by the Federal Aviation Administration as a commercial multi-engine pilot.

After his military career, Jim Dandridge entered the career Foreign Service, retiring as a senior foreign service officer with a personal grade of minister counselor. His final diplomatic assignments were director of the Office of Policy Guidance in the United States Information Agency (USIA) and a detailed assignment to the State Department as a senior advisor to the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs. His diplomatic assignments abroad included Bombay, India; Sao Paulo, Brazil; La Paz, Bolivia; and Santiago, Chile. As the designated chargé d’affaires, ad interim, during postings to Embassy La Paz and Embassy Santiago, he temporarily headed the diplomatic missions in the absence of a US ambassador. 

Jim Dandridge entered a special program for foreign service annuitants as a senior inspector with the Department of State’s Office of Inspector General. His assignments were inspection team leader, deputy inspection team leader, and inspection compliance officer for 53 inspections in 21 countries and seven domestic offices. He also participated in the foreign affairs community as chairman of the Association for Diplomacy Studies and Training board of directors, Washington International Foreign Affairs board of directors, Vice-Chair of the Diplomacy Center Foundation board of directors, and DACOR president. Jim was the 2008 recipient of the US Department of State Director General’s Cup for the Foreign Service for his unceasing promotion of the Foreign Service both as a US diplomat and in retirement.