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Article: Robert L. Thompson Assistant ...
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- May 9, 2006
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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Robert Luther Thompson, 99, former director of the State
Department's publications division and assistant secretary of state
for inter-American affairs, died of pneumonia May 2 at Wilson Health
Care Center in Asbury Methodist Village in Gaithersburg, where he
lived.
While working on his doctorate in history from Columbia University
and teaching history at Hofstra College in Hempstead, N.Y., Mr.
Thompson published what is still considered a classic work, "Wiring a
Continent: The History of the Telegraph Industry in the United
States, 1832-1866" (1947).
He worked for the State Department during the 1950s, then left to
work for the National Education Association. He later was executive
vice ...