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{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2022}}
{{Short description|American diplomat}}
{{Infobox Ambassador
| birth_place = [[Providence, Rhode Island|Providence]], Rhode Island
| birth_date = {{birth date|1912|8|23}}
| death_date = {{death date and age|1979|8|22|1912|8|23}}
| resting_place = [[Arlington National Cemetery]]
| successor2 = [[Stuart W. Rockwell]]
| predecessor2 = [[John H. Ferguson]]
| successor1 = [[Jack B. Kubisch]]
| predecessor1 = [[Phillips Talbot]]
| death_place = [[Lausanne]], Switzerland
| ambassador_from1 = United States
| termend2 = 1969
| termstart2 = 1965
| termstart1 = 1969
| termend1 = 1974
| country2 = Morocco
| country1 = Greece
| ambassador_from2 = United States
| nationality = American
| rank = [[Lieutenant commander (United States)|Lieutenant Commander]]
| branch = [[United States Navy]]
| battles = [[World War II]]
| birth_name = Henry Joseph Tasca
| honorific_prefix = Ambassador
| alma_mater = *[[Temple University]] (undergraduate)
*[[University of Pennsylvania]] (graduate)
| image = Henry J Tasca.png
}}
'''Henry Joseph Tasca''' (August 23, 1912 – August 22, 1979)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ancexplorer.army.mil/publicwmv/index.html|title=Arlington National Cemetery Explorer|website=army.mil|access-date=February 17, 2017|archive-date=January 12, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170112213413/http://ancexplorer.army.mil/publicwmv/index.html|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="State1">{{cite web|url=https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/people/tasca-henry-joseph|title=Henry Joseph Tasca – People – Department History – Office of the Historian|website=history.state.gov}}</ref> was an American [[diplomat]] during the 1960s and 1970s, as well as an author.
== Early life ==
Tasca was born in [[Providence, Rhode Island|Providence]], Rhode Island. He would get an undergraduate degree from [[Temple University]] and later receive both [[Master's degree|master's]] and [[Doctorate|doctoral]] degrees from the [[University of Pennsylvania]], although he did spend some time studying at the [[London School of Economics]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|title=H. J. Tasca Dies in Crash, Former Envoy to Greece|language=en-US|newspaper=Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1979/08/25/h-j-tasca-dies-in-crash-former-envoy-to-greece/29cf94bb-c5ba-413a-a517-5180e628a073/|access-date=2021-05-03|issn=0190-8286}}</ref>
He would also serve as an officer during [[World War II]], achieving the rank of [[Lieutenant commander (United States)|Lieutenant Commander]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite news|last=BITSIKA|first=PANAGIOTA|date=November 24, 2008|title=The American ambassadors to Athens|language=Greek|work=To Vima|url=https://www.tovima.gr/2008/11/24/culture/oi-amerikanoi-presbeytes-stin-athina/|access-date=May 3, 2021}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web|title=Arlington National Cemetery Explorer|url=https://ancexplorer.army.mil/publicwmv/#/arlington-national/search/results/1/CgVUYXNjYRIFSGVucnk-/|access-date=2021-05-04|website=ancexplorer.army.mil|publisher=Arlington National Cemetery}}</ref>
== Political career ==
Tasca began his career at the [[United States Department of State|State Department]] in 1937 as an economic analyst. He went on to serve as the [[United States Department of the Treasury|Treasury Department's]] representative to the U.S. embassy in [[Rome]] from 1945 to 1948, and later took on a roll as adviser to Ambassador [[W. Averell Harriman]]. He would then be assigned to [[South Korea]] in 1953, before ultimately returning to Europe.<ref name=":0" />
Tasca served as the [[United States Ambassador to Morocco]] from 1965 to 1969 and to [[United States Ambassador to Greece|Greece]] from 1969 to 1974.<ref name="State1" /> During his time as ambassador to the [[Greek junta]], he would find difficulty contacting [[Dimitrios Ioannidis]], known then as 'The Invisible Dictator' of the country.<ref>{{Cite web|last=PAPACHELAS|first=ALEXIS|date=February 3, 2002|title=What did the CIA say about Ioannidis?|url=https://www.tovima.gr/2008/11/24/archive/ti-elege-i-cia-gia-ton-iwannidi/|website=to Vima}}</ref> At first Tasca was uncertain if the Greek government held true authority, but after meeting Ionnidis, Tasca reported back to the U.S. and shared with the British counterparts that he found the Greek leader [[hawkish]] and recommended using access to [[military aid]] as a means to manage the state.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Salmon |first1=Patrick |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SB6OrCp0qZ4C&dq=H.+J.+Tasca&pg=PA110 |title=Documents on British Policy Overseas |last2=Hamilton |first2=Keith |date=2006 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=978-0-7146-5114-9 |language=en}}</ref>
Tasca reportedly opposed [[Henry Kissinger]] on the issue of overthrowing [[Makarios III]] during the [[1974 Cypriot coup d'état]] and suggested that the [[United States Sixth Fleet|Sixth Fleet]] intervene to prevent the subsequent [[Turkish invasion of Cyprus]]. He would resign that same year from the State Department while expressing a desire to publish a book naming the agents of the [[CIA]] who had urged Ioannidis to overthrow [[Georgios Papadopoulos]].<ref name=":1" />
Tasca's reappointment as ambassador to Greece by Nixon was secured by the March 1973 pledging of hush money for Watergate defendants by Tasca friend Thomas Pappas, an American oil executive.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Weiner |first=Tim |title=One Man Against the World: The Tragedy of Richard Nixon |publisher=Henry Holt and Company |year=2015 |isbn=978-1-62779-083-3 |location=New York |pages=235–236}}</ref> In 1976 Tasca would be called before the [[House intelligence committee]] to provide off the record testimony during which he confirmed that the Greek Junta had made campaign contributions to the [[Richard Nixon|Nixon]]-[[Spiro Agnew|Agnew]] election fund.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Hitchens|first=Christopher|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Nk5tAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Henry+Tasca%22|title=Cyprus|date=1984|publisher=Quartet Books|isbn=978-0-7043-2436-7|language=en}}</ref>
[[File:Henry J. Tasca headstone.jpg|thumb|Gravestone of Henry Joseph Tasca, located at [[Arlington National Cemetery]]]]
== Death ==
Tasca died in an automobile accident near [[Lausanne]], [[Switzerland]] in August 1979, another vehicle having collided into him at an intersection, while driving with his, then 15-year-old, son John.<ref>{{Cite news|date=August 25, 1979|title=HENRY J. TASCA DIES, EX‐U, S. AMBASSADOR|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/08/25/archives/henry-j-tasca-dies-exus-ambassador-66yearold-diplomat-is-killed-in.html|access-date=2021-05-03|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> He was survived by his wife and five children, although one daughter had died before him.<ref name=":0" /> Tasca was buried in [[Arlington National Cemetery]].<ref name=":2" />
Eight years following his death, Tasca's son would accuse [[Kissinger]] of Tasca's death.<ref name=":1" />
==Publications==
* ''The Reciprocal Trade Policy of the United States : A Study in Trade Philosophy'' (Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania, 1938)<ref>
* ''World Trading Systems : A Study of American and British Commercial Policies'' (Paris : League of Nations, 1939)<ref>
==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{s-start}}
{{s-dip}}
{{succession box
▲| NAME = Tasca, Henry J.
| title = [[United States Ambassador to Morocco]]
| before = [[John H. Ferguson]]
| after = [[Stuart W. Rockwell]]
| years = 1965–1969
}}
{{succession box
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tasca, Henry J.}}▼
| title = [[United States Ambassador to Greece]]
| before = [[Phillips Talbot]]
| after = [[Jack B. Kubisch]]
| years = 1969–1974
}}
{{s-end}}
{{US Ambassadors to Greece}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:1912 births]]
[[Category:1979 deaths]]
[[Category:
[[Category:University of Pennsylvania alumni]]
[[Category:United States Navy personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:20th-century American diplomats]]
[[Category:Politicians from Providence, Rhode Island]]
[[Category:Ambassadors of the United States to Morocco]]
[[Category:Ambassadors of the United States to Greece]]
[[Category:Burials at Arlington National Cemetery]]
[[Category:20th-century American writers]]
▲{{US-politician-stub}}
[[Category:Writers from Providence, Rhode Island]]
[[Category:United States Navy officers]]
[[Category:20th-century American male writers]]
[[Category:Road incident deaths in Switzerland]]
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