When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Up for sale a RARE! "Economist" Edwin M. Martin Hand Signed 3X5.5 Card.
ES-6198
Edwin
McCammon Martin (May
21, 1908 – January 12, 2002) worked for the government of the United States
from 1935 to 1975, first as an economist, then on the mobilization of the US
economy for World War II and then as a diplomat in the US and abroad. Edwin M.
Martin was born in Dayton, Ohio, on May 21, 1908. He was
educated at Northwestern University,
receiving a B.A. in 1929. He
stayed at Northwestern until 1935 as a graduate student in the political science department, but did not receive another
degree. Martin became an economist at the Central Statistical Board within the
Commerce Department in 1935. A year later, he married Margaret
Milburn of Baltimore, Maryland. The
Martins had a daughter and a son. From 1938 to 1940, Martin served with
the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
During World War II, Martin served with the War Production Board from
1940 to 1944. He became Chief of the Urgency Ratings Division in 1943. In 1944,
he joined the Office of Strategic Services as
Deputy Chief of Division. In 1945, he participated in economic planning for
Japan, in light of the anticipated Occupation of Japan,
working in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs and
as State Department Adviser
on Japanese Economic Affairs from August until October. In October 1945, he
became Chief of the State Department's Division of Japanese and Korean Economic
Affairs. In 1947, Martin was appointed Acting Chief of the Division of Occupied
Areas Economic Affairs. Martin remained at the State Department, becoming
Deputy Director of the Office of International Trade Policy in 1948; Director
of the Office of European Regional Affairs in 1949; and Special Assistant for
Mutual Security Affairs to United States Secretary of
State Dean Acheson, in 1952. In 1953, Martin was
named Deputy Chief of the United States Mission to the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization and European Regional Organizations and an
alternate United States member of the North Atlantic Council in Paris.
He served in this post until 1957. The next two years he served at the United States Embassy in London,
as Economic Minister. In 1960, President of the United States Dwight D. Secretary of State for Economic Affairs. In April
1961, he served a temporary alternate governor with the U.S. Delegation to the
Inter-American Bank Meeting in Brazil. Later that year in August, Martin served as a senior
State Department representative on the United States Delegation, to the Special
Meeting of the Inter-American Economic and Social Council at Punta del Este, Uruguay.
On November 4, Martin traveled to Hakone, Kanagawa, as principal adviser to Secretary of
State Dean Rusk and as chief of the U.S. Delegation at the
meeting of the Joint United States-Japan Committee on Trade and Economic
Affairs. In March 1962, President John F. Kennedy appointed Martin as Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs, a
position he held until January 2, 1964. In that post, he helped direct
new Kennedy administration policies
toward Latin America, including managing U.S. involvement in
the Alliance for Progress.
Martin was responsible for Latin American affairs during the Cuban Missile Crisis: he
served on the so-called Executive Committee (EXCOMM) created
by the President to manage the crisis. In May 1963, he headed the U.S.
delegation to a meeting of the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America in Mar del Plata, Argentina.
He then acted as Alternate U.S. Representative to the Inter-American Economic and
Social Council Conference at the Ministerial Level in Sao Paulo, Brazil in November. In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson named Martin United States
Ambassador to Argentina; Martin presented his credentials to the
Argentinian government on June 11, 1964 and remained ambassador until January
5, 1968. From 1968 to 1974, he served as Chairman of the Development Assistance
Committee of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. In
1974, Martin was appointed Special Advisor to Secretary of State to oversee
U.S. preparations for the World Food Conference.
From 1975 to 1978, Martin served as Chairman of the Consultative Group on Food
Production in Developing Countries at the World Bank. Martin retired from diplomatic service as a Career
Ambassador in 1975. From 1975 to 1978, Martin served as Chairman of the
Consultative Group on Food Production in Developing Countries at the World Bank. Thereafter he held various positions with
Population Crisis Committee and participated in numerous conferences around the
world dealing with population and other issues related to economic development.
He died of pneumonia in Washington, D.C. on January 12, 2002.
ABOUT 
