Wharton stamp dedication

During the recent Washington, D.C., dedication ceremony of the U.S. Postal Service's Distinguished American Diplomats commemorative postage stamps, Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics Co-Chairman Clifton R. Wharton Jr., son of the late Dr. Clifton R. Wharton Sr. (1899-1990), speaks about his famous father, who is highlighted in the stamp series.

The elder Wharton (whose stamp appears at lower right) was America's first Black Foreign Service Officer and the first Black diplomat to lead an American delegation to a European country as minister to Romania. The stamps honor Wharton and five other diplomats' contributions to international relations as negotiators, administrators, shapers of policy, peacemakers and humanitarians. Other diplomats honored on the stamps are Hiram Bingham IV, Charles E. Bohlen, Philip C. Habib, Robert D. Murphy, and Frances E. Willis. The ceremony was held during the Washington 2006 World Philatelic Exhibition at the Washington Convention Center in D.C.