Career Comeback

For the second time in five years, scholarly Norman Armour, 62, was coaxed out of honorable retirement by the State Department last week and reassigned to active duty. Professional Diplomat Armour, who has served his country for 31 years in posts from old Petrograd to modern Buenos Aires, accepted appointment as Ambassador to Venezuela, where he will replace able Careerman Walter Donnelly, the new U.S. Minister and High Commissioner for Austria. Having served as ambassador to both Perón’s Argentina and Franco’s Spain, Armour is well qualified to deal with Venezuela’s heavy-handed military junta.

In the two years since his last retirement, from the post of Assistant Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Armour has passed the time resting and traveling in Europe and Canada. His new appointment filled the most important gap in the United States network of diplomatic missions in Latin America.