August 13, 1955
PEURIFOY KILLED IN ACCIDENT: Bangkok, 12 – US Ambassador to Thailand John Peurifoy and his 9-year-old son Daniel died of injuries sustained in an automobile accident this morning near Hua Hin. (…) US President Dwight Eisenhower said in a tribute to the late ambassador that he had been a pioneering force in the struggle for freedom and peace in the world. (…) US Secretary of State John Foster Dulles said that Peurifoy, as US ambassador to Greece and Guatemala, had done much toward preventing the spread of international communism in these countries. BEST FRIEND IN COUNTRY’S HISTORY: Greece’s ambassador in Washington, Mr Melas, has paid the country’s condolences in a visit to the US State Department, expressing the sympathy of King Pavlos of the Hellenes and Queen Frederika. «Peurifoy was one of America’s greatest diplomats,» said Melas. «Our country has not had a better friend in its long history.» SERVICE IN GREECE: John Peurifoy was United States ambassador to Greece from September 1950 to August 1953.
