Christian Magelssen Ravndal (January 6, 1899 Beirut–October 18, 1984 Vienna, Austria) was an American Career Foreign Service Officer FSO who served as the 2nd Director General of the Foreign Service from May 1, 1947, until June 23, 1949, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Uruguay (1949–1951), Hungary (1951–1956),[1] Ecuador (1956–1960), and Czechoslovakia (1960–1961), among many other postings during a prolific career spanning 40+ years.
His father, Gabriel (Known as G.Bie Ravndal) was born in Norway but became a naturalized United States Citizen and was a prominent newspaper editor and elected to the South Dakota House of Representatives before joining the foreign service.
[3] Christian served in the Army during World War I before joining the Foreign Service as a code clerk at the U.S. mission in Vienna in 1921.
[2] Christian retired in 1961 after 40 years with the State Department, was the 2nd director general of the newly formed Foreign Service from 1947 to 1949, and later served as ambassador to Uruguay, Ecuador, and Czechoslovakia.
His style of diplomacy included informal contacts with ordinary people in the countries where he was posted in addition to dealing with government officials.