John A. Scali

John Scali
11th United States Ambassador to the United Nations
In office 1973–1975
President	Richard Nixon Gerald Ford
Preceded by	George H. W. Bush
Succeeded by	Daniel Patrick Moynihan
Personal details
Born	April 27, 1918 Canton, Ohio
Died	October 9, 1995(1995-10-09) (aged 77) Washington, D.C.
Political party	Republican
Profession	Journalist

John Alfred Scali (April 27, 1918 – October 9, 1995) was the United States Ambassador to the United Nations from 1973 to 1975.

Scali was an ABC News reporter who became an intermediary in the Cuban Missile Crisis and later a part of the Nixon Administration. Scali gained fame after it became known in 1964 that in October 1962, a year after he joined ABC News, he had carried a critical message from KGB Colonel Aleksandr Fomin to U.S. officials. He left ABC in 1971 to serve as a foreign affairs adviser to President Nixon, becoming U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations in 1973. Scali re-joined ABC in 1975 where he worked until retiring in 1993.

Scali was contacted by Soviet embassy official (and KGB Station Chief) Fomin about a proposed settlement to the crisis, and subsequently he acted as a contact between Fomin and the Executive Committee. However, it was without government direction that Scali responded to new Soviet conditions with a warning that a U.S. invasion was only hours away, prompting the Soviets to settle the crisis quickly.

References

• Arlington National Cemetery biography
• NYTimes Book Review about Cuban Missile Crisis

Diplomatic posts
Preceded by George H. W. Bush	U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations 1973 – 1975	Succeeded by Daniel Patrick Moynihan