Eagleton House
Eagleton House is the home of the Consulate’s Public Affairs Section. Eagleton House is named after Ambassador William Lester Eagleton. Ambassador Eagleton had a distinguished 42-year career in the U.S. Foreign Service that began in Madrid and subsequently took him to Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, Mauritania, London, Yemen, Algeria, Libya, Iraq, and Syria again where he served as ambassador. Following retirement from the Foreign Service, he launched a second career with the United Nations, first as Deputy of UNRWA in Vienna, then as Special Coordinator for Sarajevo during the Bosnian war, and finally as Special Representative to the Secretary General for Western Sahara. He briefly rejoined U.S. Government service in 2003, as Special Adviser for Northern Iraq.
Author of two books, The Kurdish Republic of Mahabad (1954) and Kurdish Rugs and Other Weavings (1985), he first established his friendship with the people of this region in the early 1950s. Ambassador Eagleton served as Consul General in Isfahan and Tabriz; he also served as an officer with the United States Information Service (USIS) in Kirkuk.
Although widely respected throughout the Middle East, Ambassador Eagleton had a unique bond with Iraq, and in particular its Kurdish citizens; a champion of their rights, a chronicler of their history, and an admirer of their culture, Ambassador Eagleton was welcome in every home in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
Today’s American diplomats assigned to Erbil, and throughout Iraq, walk in his footsteps and benefit from the friendships he built over half a century.