Edwin M. Wright

Template:Short description Template:About Edwin Milton Wright (1897–1987) was an American foreign policy specialist. Employed by the U.S. State Department from 1945 to 1955 in a number of capacities, he was especially involved in the events leading up to and surrounding the establishment of Israel.

Life

Wright was born in Tabriz, the son of American missionaries.<ref name="Thomas2016">Template:Cite book</ref> Educated at Wooster College and Columbia University, he worked on refugee resettlement in Iraq from 1921 to 1924, and from 1924 until 1937 taught in American secondary schools in Iran.<ref>'Who's Who in the Middle East and North Africa', The Middle East and North Africa 1965-66, Europa Publications Limited, 1966.</ref> When World War II broke out, as one of the few Americans who could speak Persian he was recruited into US intelligence.<ref name="Lockman2016">Template:Cite book</ref>

He served as a Middle East specialist for the U.S. State Department from 1945 to 1946; on the Bureau for Near East, South Asian, and African Affairs from 1946 to 1947; as an advisor on United Nations affairs from 1947 to 1950, and as an advisor on intelligence from 1950 to 1955.