William Boudreau

William Boudreau is a retired career diplomat and a US Army veteran with service in Korea. Reared with the French language, as well as English, his diplomatic assignments were mostly to francophone countries. He began his career as Africa was emerging from colonialism and the struggles Africans endured to achieve self-determination and independence. Foreign mercenaries, mainly Europeans, were hired by one faction or another to facilitate their objectives. As American Consul in the former Belgian Congo, Mr. Boudreau gained first-hand knowledge of these activities and their operators, befriending some of the mercenaries. He served in Africa and Washington during the Cold War period when the United States and the West were engaged in containing the Soviet Union and its allies from achieving their goals. He traveled frequently into the interior of the Congo to ensure the safety of American citizens spread across the country.

As Acting Ambassador to Madagascar, Mr. Boudreau negotiated and signed the first bilateral agreement with the US. He was instrumental in taking action to prevent the Soviet Union from occupying a large naval base in Madagascar that would have impeded shipping in the area, including the Suez Canal and Persian Gulf. Agencies in Washington considered Mr. Boudreau as "the trailblazer" in The Comoros, where he was the visiting Acting Ambassador, providing American representation for the first time. The president and his government of The Comoros had been installed by some of the same mercenaries from the Congo. Among other assignments was The Pentagon with a focus on southern African countries, Tunisia with residence in a villa on the Mediterranean in Carthage, Geneva, Switzerland for non-tariff barrier negotiations, American Consul in Bermuda, as well as Visiting Professor at the US Coast Guard Academy.

In addition to writing books and articles in retirement, Mr. Boudreau has been involved in teaching social studies in schools as well as lecturing. He helped inaugurate the World Affairs Council of Charleston, where he served as Vice President for Programs, and was an elected member of the Town Council of Seabrook Island, SC, where he resided until moving to Manchester, NH. Mr. Boudreau has been an international consultant with various functions. Among these are assisting the United Nations with Cambodia's first free elections, doing a pre-election survey country-wide in Uganda and supervising the election, assisting US agencies with Somalia relief. He has also performed as tour director on several international destinations.