Harvey Frans Nelson, Jr.

Harvey Frans Nelson Jr (born January 6, 1924) was United States Ambassador to Swaziland from 1985 to 1988.

Nelson was born in 1924 in Long Beach, California, grandson of Nebraska Senator George William Norris. He served on active duty in the military from 1943 to 1946. He was then appointed the job position of the Ambassador to Swaziland on August 1, 1985.

July 11, 1985 President Ronald Reagan announced his intention to nominate Harvey Frans Nelson, Jr., a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, Class of Minister-Counselor, to be Ambassador of the United States of America to the Kingdom of Swaziland. He would succeed Robert H. Phinny.

Prior to entering government service, Mr. Nelson was a political science instructor at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, ME, in 1950-1951. Mr. Nelson entered the Foreign Service in 1951. In 1952-1953 he served as consular officer at the U.S. Embassy in Copenhagen, Denmark, to be followed as political officer in 1953-1955. He returned to the Department as a political analyst in the Office of Intelligence Research in 1955-1957 and then took Finnish language training at the Foreign Service Institute. Mr. Nelson studied East European studies at the Indiana University in 1957-1958. He became desk officer in the Office of Scandinavian Affairs in the Department in 1958-1960. He then went to the U.S. Embassy in Helsinki as political officer, where he served until 1965. This was followed by French language training at the Foreign Service Institute. From there he became political officer at the U.S. Embassy in Kinshasa, Zaire. In 1967-1969 he was deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Libreville, Gabon. Returning to the Department in 1969, he became deputy chief in the Office of Southern African Affairs. In 1971 he attended the senior seminar in foreign policy at the Foreign Service Institute. In 1972-1975 he was deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Lusaka, Zambia. In 1975 he was an adviser on Africa at the United States Mission to the United Nations in New York. In 1976 he served as a legislative management officer in the Office of Congressional Relations. From there, in 1976 he became deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Pretoria, South Africa. In 1979-1980 he was a diplomat-in-residence at Arizona State University in Tempe, AZ, and in 1980-1984 he was deputy commandant for international affairs at the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, PA.

He graduated from Occidental College (B.A., 1947) and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy (M.A., 1950). He served in the U.S. Navy in 1942-1946. His foreign languages are French, Swedish, and Danish. Mr. Nelson has four children. He was born January 6, 1924, in Long Beach, CA.

Citation: John T. Woolley and Gerhard Peters,The American Presidency Project [online]. Santa Barbara, CA: University of California (hosted), Gerhard Peters (database). Available from World Wide Web: http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=38863.