BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA — The significant contributions to American diplomacy made by Ambassador Terence Todman are preserved in a newly-dedicated conference room at the U.S. Embassy in Argentina that features a permanent museum-quality exhibition honoring the life of the St. Thomas native, whose final appointment as an ambassador was from 1989 to 1993 in Argentina.
During his 41-year diplomatic career in the U.S. Department of State from 1952 to 1993, Todman served as an ambassador over two decades from 1969 to six nations — beginning with Chad and Guinea in Africa, and continuing with Costa Rica, Spain, and Denmark before ending with Argentina. He died at the age of 88 on August 13, 2014 on St. Thomas.
The U.S. Embassy in Argentina held a ceremony in the auditorium for the inauguration of the Terence A. Todman Conference Room on Wednesday that featured remarks by Ambassador Marc Stanley, the curator of the exhibition, and a mentee of Todman who works for the State Department.
WATCH: Ceremony
Stanley, who has served as the U.S. ambassador to Argentina since 2022, said the “drab” conference room was transformed into an exhibition dedicated in honor of Todman thanks to the Buenos Aires facilities team, the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations, and the Foundation for Art and Preservation in Embassies. He said their commitment transformed the conference room into a “beacon of diplomatic excellence.”
“The Terence Todman Conference Room stands as a testament to the enduring legacy of Terence Todman, who served as ambassador of Buenos Aires from 1989 to 1993,” Stanley said. “But if you walk through that room, you’re gonna learn a lot more about his career and the courage that one person took to change the world. Throughout his career, he exemplified the values of integrity, diplomacy, and cooperation. His unwavering commitment to human rights and cultural understanding, along with successful efforts in support of racial equality continue to resonate with us today.”
Stanley spoke of the courage it took for Todman to be a Black ambassador of the United States in 1969, as well as to integrate a lunchroom in Virginia.
Known for his advocacy for equality during a time of segregation when he joined the Department of State 12 years before the Civil Rights Act, Todman challenged policies of deeply entrenched systemic racism at the State Department while he was a student at the Foreign Service Institute in 1957. His principled objection to the segregation of a privately-owned restaurant next to the FSI campus in Rosslyn, Virginia that prevented him and his Black classmates from eating lunch with their white colleagues led to the State Department leasing half of the restaurant and erecting a partition between the public so all federal employees could dine together, according to a February 2, 2022 article published online by the National Museum of American Diplomacy. He went on to lobby for more African Americans in the diplomatic corps during his career. He spoke eight languages — English, Spanish, Japanese, Hindi, Arabic, French, Russian, and Danish.
Stanley said the conference room, which features photographs taken of Todman throughout the years with U.S. and foreign dignitaries, quotes from Todman, and a timeline of his achievements as ambassador, is not only a captivating display but a tribute to Todman’s life and work.
“From his early years to advocacy for human rights, each panel offers a glimpse into a remarkable career of a true trailblazer,” he said, adding that Todman’s impact transcends borders and generations.
Joseph Angemi Jr., senior curator within the Office of Cultural Heritage at the Department of State, Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations, was the visionary who brought the conference room exhibition, “A Life Less Ordinary,” to life after researching Todman’s career for about five months. He acknowledged Lorraine Creque Moolenaar, of St. Thomas, for keeping his passion high and encouraging him during the struggles of the project.
The exhibition features three legacy points on the walls that define Todman’s character, passion, and loves, Angemi said. He discussed Todman’s legacy as a civil and human rights advocate, his legacy of language, and his legacy of culture.
“For me when I studied the man, his life screamed the love of peoples and places no matter what the scenario was,” Angemi said.
Stacy Williams, chief of staff for the Bureau of Budget and Planning within the Department of State, spoke of his time as a mentee of Todman. He said they had a special bond that remains with him. He said Todman was a founding member in 1973 of the Thursday Luncheon Group, which he described as a platform for African Americans to support each other in their careers.
After joining the State Department as an intern in 1997, Williams said TLG leadership told him that he was expected to do a lot of work in the organization’s activities. He said Todman, who he described as the patriarch of the organization, would travel to Washington, D.C. often and attend TLG events. He said Todman would meet with him during his trips to the nation’s capital.
“He never once mentioned his time as an ambassador in any of his assignments,” Williams said. “He basically said to me, ‘where do you see yourself in organization, what are your interests, what are your goals?’ He was preparing my journey.”
Williams discussed organizing a commemoration event for TLG’s 40th anniversary in 2013 while serving as the organization’s president. He said he presented Todman, the guest speaker for the event, with the TLG Lifetime Achievement Award.
“This was me building the biggest stage to repay the man who invested so much in me,” he said.
Angemi led Stanley and Williams on a tour of the Terence A. Todman Conference Room. They were joined by Claudia Sanchez, an Argentinian who lives in Buenos Aires and met Todman after working on advertising campaigns filmed in the 1980s in the Virgin Islands, and her daughter, Candela Sanchez Rodriguez, who also knew Todman.
WATCH: Tour
Sanchez, after touring the conference room, said the ad campaigns she worked on featuring the Virgin Islands as the backdrop aired in South America, sparking a tourism boom to the territory in the late ’80s. The positive exposure resulted in Todman reaching out to meet her after he became ambassador to Argentina. Sanchez and her daughter, Rodriguez, also traveled to St. Thomas, where they would spend time with Todman and his wife, Doris. Sanchez once owned a home on St. Thomas, and her daughter has lived there for over 30 years. They said they attended the inauguration of the conference room because Todman was their friend.
WATCH: Interview with Sanchez and Rodriguez
Natalia Nis, mission support specialist at the U.S. Embassy for the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations, joined the embassy in 1987 and worked with Todman during the four years he served as ambassador to Argentina. She carried a framed photograph of herself with Todman while attending the inauguration ceremony.
“His life and his example is remarkable, so he built lots of good memories with us in this country,” she said.
WATCH: Interview with Nis
Todman was 19 years old when he got drafted into the Army during World War II and served in Japan, which had just surrendered following the atomic bombings at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He learned Japanese and discovered his diplomatic calling helping Americans and Japanese understand each other, according to the PBS documentary, “The American Diplomat.” Years later his service overseas earned him a place in the Infantry Hall of Fame at Fort Benning, Georgia.
Before becoming an ambassador in Africa, Todman held political officer positions in the U.S. Embassies in Lebanon and Tunisia between 1959 and 1964. He was then promoted to chief of mission and sent to the U.S. Embassy in Togo, a small West African nation. He returned to Washington, D.C. in 1968 to serve as the officer for East African affairs, covering Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and the Seychelles Islands.
A visionary leader who courageously spoke truth to power, Todman promoted human rights and social justice in the United States and abroad. He advocated for an end to the “Negro Circuit,” when most Black senior diplomats were assigned to African or Caribbean posts due to their race alone. After serving as ambassador to Chad from 1969 to 1972 and then Guinea from 1972 to 1975, Todman threatened to quit if he were not given opportunities to serve in other parts of the world. He was subsequently appointed ambassador to Costa Rica, becoming the first African American to serve in such a position in Latin America.
President George H.W. Bush named Todman a career ambassador, the State Department’s highest position equivalent to the military’s four-star general. Todman was one of the first Black Americans designated a career ambassador, according to the National Museum of American Diplomacy. He was the first Black person to serve as assistant secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs.
Terence Alphonso Todman was born March 13, 1926 on St. Thomas to Alphonso Todman and Rachael Callwood, according to legislation enacted by the VI Government in 2015 naming the airport road on St. Thomas as Ambassador Terrence A. Todman Drive. A road naming ceremony took place May 5, 2022.
Todman, a graduate of Charlotte Amalie High School, joined the Department of State in 1952 after earning a master’s degree in public administration from Syracuse University in New York. He subsequently enrolled in post-graduate political science courses at American University in Washington, D.C. As a result of his continuing education, he received numerous honorary degrees throughout the years from various universities, including Colgate, Syracuse, Morgan State, Boston University, and the University of the Virgin Islands, where he served as a member of the UVI board of trustees for more than 19 years.
The Department of State honored Todman’s legacy by renaming the cafeteria in its headquarters, the Harry S Truman Building, to be the Terence A. Todman Cafeteria on February 1, 2022. Todman married the former Doris Weston, of St. Thomas, in 1952. They had four children — Terence Jr., Patricia Rhymer Todman, Kathryn Todman Browne (deceased), and Michael.
