State of Residence : District of Columbia Ended Service : Embassy in Russia closed on September 14 , 1919 Appointed : February 20 , 1945 Presentation of Credentials : October 5 , 1945 Termination of Mission : Left post on October 8 , 1947 Appointed : April 8 , 1948 Presentation of Credentials : August 3 , 1949 Termination of Mission : Left post on October 30 , 1949 Following the retirement of John K. Caldwell in 1945 , Cole was selected as his replacement . Emperor Haile Selassie was concerned that Cole had spent a great deal of his career in colonial territories , and through the Ethiopian ambassador to the United States , '' Blatta '' Ephrem Tewelde Medhen , voiced his objection at least twice . On presenting the Emperor 's objection for the last time , according to John Spencer , the acting Secretary of State Joseph C. Grew " was visibly angered . Tossing his head , he declared that he found that objection ridiculous and that if we persisted , the United States would not be represented in Ethiopia . " The Ethiopian fears proved to be accurate soon after Cole arrived in Ethiopia October 1945 . At the Potsdam Conference , the United States , Great Britain , and Soviet Union had proclaimed their intent " to seize German government property wherever it was found , even though on the territory of friendly states . " Cole then took the initiative , over the protests of the Ethiopian government , of seizing the official archives of the German legation in Addis Ababa . Spencer observes , " His arrogance confirmed in the minds of the Ethiopian officials the view that the minister still held to his colonialist outlook . " He was assisted in this endeavor by the caretaker of the German legation , whom " to rub salt in Ethiopia 's wounds " he proceeded to appoint an official of the legation with diplomatic privileges . The Ethiopian government immediately declared the former caretaker '' persona non grata '' , an act Ambassador Cole ignored . In 1947 the former caretaker was murdered in a legation car ; in a footnote to his memoirs Spencer " can not dismiss the suspicion that this assassination had been planned with the approval and the complicity of the Imperial Guard " , although he admits the facts both then and later " are extremely sketchy "
Potsdam Conference
Potsdam Conference
Felix Cole