John D. Hickerson
United States Ambassador tothe Philippines
In office January 13, 1960 – December 8, 1961
President	Dwight D. Eisenhower
Preceded by	Charles E. Bohlen
Succeeded by	William E. Stevenson
United States Ambassador toFinland
In office November 23, 1955 – November 3, 1959
President	Dwight D. Eisenhower
Preceded by	Jack K. McFall
Succeeded by	Edson O. Sessions
2ndAssistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs
In office August 8, 1949 – July 27, 1953
President	Harry S. Truman Dwight D. Eisenhower
Preceded by	Dean Rusk
Succeeded by	Robert D. Murphy
Personal details
Born	John Dewey Hickerson (1898-01-26)January 26, 1898 Crawford, Texas, U.S.
Died	January 18, 1989(1989-01-18) (aged 90) Washington, D.C., U.S.
Spouse	Vida Corbin Hickerson ​ ​ (m. 1923)​
Children	1
Alma mater	University of Texas at Austin

John Dewey Hickerson (January 26, 1898 – January 18, 1989) was an Americandiplomat.

John D. Hickerson was born atCrawford, Texas, on January 26, 1898. He was educated at theUniversity of Texas at Austin, receiving aB.A. in 1920.

After college, Hickerson joined theUnited States Foreign Service. He was avice consul inTampico, Tamaulipas from 1920 to 1922, then inRio de Janeiro from 1922 to 1924. He was then promoted toconsul and served in that capacity atPará in 1924–25 and atOttawa 1925–27. He moved toWashington, D.C., in 1928, becoming Assistant Chief of theUnited States Department of State's Division of West European Affairs, a position he held until 1940. He also sat on the State Department's Board of Appeals & Review from 1934 until 1941.

In 1940, Hickerson became secretary of the American section of the newly formedPermanent Joint Board on Defense. He held this position for the duration ofWorld War II. He also served as Chief of the State Department's Division ofBritish Commonwealth Affairs in 1944, and from 1944 to 1947 was Deputy Director of the Office of European Affairs. In this capacity, he was an adviser to the U.S. delegation to theDumbarton Oaks Conference and to theUnited Nations Conference on International Organization. In 1947, he was promoted to Director of the Office of European Affairs. Along withTheodore Achilles, Hickerson was one of the primary authors of the text of theNorth Atlantic Treaty, which established theNorth Atlantic Treaty Organization, during 1948–1949. Hickerson later provided an extensive oral account of those developments.^[1]

In 1949, President of the United StatesHarry Truman nominated Hickerson asAssistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs, and Hickerson held this office from June 24, 1949 until July 27, 1953. He then spent the next two years as a faculty adviser at theNational War College.

PresidentDwight D. Eisenhower named HickersonUnited States Ambassador to Finland in 1955; Hickerson presented his credentials on November 23, 1955, and left this post on November 3, 1959. Eisenhower then appointed Hickerson asUnited States Ambassador to the Philippines, and Hickerson held this post from January 13, 1960, until December 8, 1961.

Hickerson was a regular lecturer at the School of Foreign Service of Georgetown University and served on the board of directors of the Atlantic Council.^[2]

In retirement, Hickerson lived inWashington, D.C. His wife, Vida Corbin Hickerson, died in June 1988. He died ofcancer on January 18, 1989. Survivors includes his son, John H. Hickerson, three grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

• "John D. Hickerson, 91; Foreign Service Officer",New York Times, Jan. 20, 1989
• Oral history from the Truman Library

• 1898 births
• 1989 deaths
• United States assistant secretaries of state
• People from Crawford, Texas
• University of Texas at Austin alumni
• Ambassadors of the United States to Finland
• Ambassadors of the United States to the Philippines
• United States Foreign Service personnel
• 20th-century American diplomats

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from December 2020
• Pages using infobox officeholder with ambassador from or minister from