Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

See the University of Virginia Library’s use policy.

Preferred Citation

Papers of W. Nathaniel Howell, Accession #12815, -a, -b, Special Collections, University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.

Acquisition Information

These papers were given to the University of Virginia by W. Nathaniel Howell, Director of the Institute for Global Policy Research and Director Arabian Peninsula and Gulf Studies Program, Minor Hall, University of Virginia, on February 18, 1999, March 9, 1999, and July 11, 2003.

Biographical/Historical Information

Nathaniel Howell was born in Portsmouth, Virginia, on September 14, 1939, to Wilson Nathaniel Howell, Sr. (1909-1982) and Josephine E. Howell. He attended Norfolk County schools including Churchland High School, Norfolk, Virginia, where he graduated in 1957. Howell then attended the University of Virginia, receiving a B.A. degree in Foreign Affairs with Honors in 1961 and a Ph.D. in Foreign Affairs in 1965. At the University, he also served as a part-time instructor in the Woodrow Wilson Department of Government and Foreign Affairs, 1964-1965.

Howell entered the Foreign Service in 1965, attending the State Department Foreign Service Institute's Basic Foreign Officers' Course from August through October, 1965 as part of the 68th Class. He first served abroad in Cairo, 1966-1967 as the Executive Assistant to the Ambassador. He was then assigned to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in Paris and Brussels, Belgium, as a Political Officer with the U.S. Mission (1967-1968) and in the Department as Egyptian Analyst in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research (1968-1970). After completion of his Arabic language study at the Foreign Service Institute in Beirut, Howell became the Deputy Principal Officer and Chief of the Economic/Commercial Section in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (1972-1974) before his return to Beirut as Political Officer (1974-1976). Beginning in 1976, Howell served as Country Officer for Lebanon, Deputy Director of the Office of Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria Affairs (NEA/ARN), 1977-1979, and Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of State for Near East and South Asian Affairs.

Beginning in 1980, he served as the Director of the Office of Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria Affairs (NEA/ARN) in the Department of State. He left in July 1982 to attend the National War College in Washington, D.C. where he co-authored an award-winning strategy essay. In August 1983, he assumed his position as Deputy Chief of Mission in Algiers, where he remained until August 1985. Following his service in Algiers, Howell became Political Advisor to the Commander-in-Chief, Central Command, McDill Air Force Base, Florida. Howell served as Ambassador to Kuwait 1987 August until December of 1990, during the time of the Iraqi Invasion. Howell and Roberta Culbertson have written a book about that arduous time in his career, called Siege .

Howell retired from the Foreign Service of the United States in December 1992. During 1991-1992, he was assigned to the University of Virginia as Diplomat-in-Residence in the Woodrow Wilson Department of Government and Foreign Affairs. Currently Howell is the John Minor Maury Jr. Professor of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia, where he is also the Director of the Institute for Global Policy Research and the Arabian Peninsula and Gulf Studies Program.

Nathaniel Howell has been awarded the Department of State Superior Honor Award (1967), the Meritorious Honor Award (1976), the Secretary of State Award for Valor (1977 and 1991), and the Secretary of Defense Distinguished Civilian Service Medal (1988). In 1992, he was awarded the Kuwait Decoration with Sash of the First Class by the Amir of Kuwait for his actions during and after the Iraqi invasion. He married Margie Anne Saunders and they had two sons.

Scope and Content

This collection consists of the papers of W. Nathaniel Howell, a career Foreign Service Officer and expert in Middle Eastern affairs, ca. 1947-2001, ca. 2,150 items (6 Hollinger boxes and 2 cubics, ca. 4 linear shelf feet). Materials include an appointment desk diary; correspondence; research material concerning the Kurds, which includes related material on the history of Iraq, the Soviet Union, and the Baath Party; memorabilia and papers pertaining to Howell's high school and college education; news clippings; and photographs.

Other items include drafts of his dissertation The Soviet Union and the Kurds (2 volumes); files pertaining to the Center For the Study of the Mind and Human Interaction and the Conferences on Ethnicity, Nationalism and Political Change; speeches and public statements by Howell, 1987-1992; a first draft typescript of his book, Siege Crisis Leadership: The Survival of the United States Embassy Kuwait , written with Roberta Culbertson; and U.S. Foreign Service memorabilia files which cover much of his career in a chronological fashion, including programs, news clippings, photographs, press releases, invitations, statements and position papers, and schedules for meetings and conferences.

Correspondence includes letters from President George H.W. Bush (1999-2001), Marshall Coleman, Virginia Attorney General (April 3, 1978); Aldous Huxley (July 7, 1960), and colleagues in the U.S. Foreign Service field.

Arrangement

This collection is arranged alphabetically by folder heading and chronologically within each folder. The exception is the United States Foreign Service scrapbooks which were housed at the end within cubic boxes due to their size.