Margaret Joy Tibbetts (August 26, 1919 – April 25, 2010) was an American diplomat. A career Foreign Service Officer, she was the United States Ambassador to Norway from 1964 to 1969 under President Lyndon Johnson. She attended Gould Academy, Wheaton College in Massachusetts and her Ph.D. from Bryn Mawr College. She was awarded an honorary degree from Bates College in 1962 and Bowdoin College in 1973. Early career Tibbetts was sworn into the Foreign Service in 1949, and her first assignment was in the Political Affairs section of the U.S. embassy in England. One of her major tasks over the next few years was to monitor British policy towards Africa, especially the debate over whether or not to create a Central African Federation. The Federation was formed in 1953, and it consisted of Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), Northern Rhodesia (Zambia), and Nyasaland (Malawi). Tibbetts encouraged the U.S. government to support the British decision, and thus helped facilitate American involvement in the Federation. While serving at the embassy in London, Tibbetts attended a conference in Mozambique, visiting several parts of Africa on her journey. In 1955, the State Department posted her to the consulate in Leopoldville (Kinshasa), in what was then the Belgian Congo (Democratic Republic of Congo). She served for two years, focusing on economic issues. In one noteworthy message, she warned her colleagues back in Washington about the potential for Congolese union leaders such as Patrice Lumumba to play a key role in future nationalist movements. In 1957, Tibbetts returned to the State Department and joined the European Bureau. Ambassador to Norway After two years working in the State Department's office of European affairs, in 1959 Tibbetts joined the staff of the International Cooperation Administration and served a two-year stint. Then, in 1961, she was posted at the U.S. embassy in Belgium and labored for three years. After that tenure she was enrolled in the prestigious State Department senior seminar, and it was while she was participating in that seminar that news of her possible appointment as an ambassador became known. On 28 March 1964 during a press conference at his ranch in Texas, President Lyndon Johnson announced that "We have named, or planned to name, as Ambassador, Miss Margaret Tibbetts, who is a foreign service officer of the first class." He then added that "she has a Ph.D from Bryn Mawr. She was born in Maine." In her diary