Angier Biddle Duke (November 30, 1915 – April 29, 1995) was an American diplomat who served as Chief of Protocol of the United States in the 1960s. Prior to that, at the age of 36, he became the youngest American ambassador in history when he was appointed to be the U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador. Early life Duke was born in New York City. His father was Angier Buchanan Duke (1884–1923) and his mother was Cordelia Drexel Biddle, later Cordelia Biddle Robertson. Angier Buchanan Duke was an heir to the American Tobacco Company fortune while Cordelia Drexel Biddle was a member of the Biddle family who were prominent in business, political and cultural affairs in Philadelphia. Angier Biddle Duke's only sibling was Anthony Drexel Duke (1918–2014). After separating in 1918, Duke's parents divorced in 1921. His paternal grandfather was Benjamin Newton Duke (1855–1929), a major benefactor of Duke University and brother of James Buchanan Duke, himself the father of Doris Duke, Angier's cousin. His maternal grandfather was Anthony Joseph Drexel Biddle, Sr. Through his mother, he was a great-great-grandson of banker Anthony Joseph Drexel. Duke attended St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire. He dropped out of Yale University in 1936. Career In the late 1930s, Duke became skiing editor for a sports magazine and, by 1940, he enlisted as a private in the United States Army Air Forces. Upon his discharge in 1945, Duke was a major serving in North Africa and Europe. His uncle, Anthony Joseph Drexel Biddle, Jr., was serving as ambassador to most of the governments-in-exile that were occupied by Germany during World War II. Diplomatic career In 1949, Duke joined the United States Foreign Service as an assistant in Buenos Aires and subsequently Madrid. From 1952 to 1953, he served as the U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador during the Truman administration and was, aged 36, the youngest ever U.S. Ambassador up to that time. People thought Angie was just a rich playboy when President Truman appointed him Ambassador to El Salvador. He was 32 or 33 years old, the youngest ambassador in United States history, and the Duke name represented entrenched, giant capitalists. With the Democratic Party out of power in 1953, he left the foreign service and returned to private life. During much of this time he served as President of the International Rescue Commission. Originally a Republican, he later became a Democrat. In