Clare Hayes Timberlake (October 29, 1907 – February 22, 1982) was an American diplomat and career Foreign Service Officer who served as the first United States Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and later as special assistant to the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs and as a member of the Board of Examiners of the Foreign Service.

He served in the Department of State for forty years and held diplomatic posts in Canada, Latin America, Europe, and Asia throughout his career.

After brief postings in Aden and French Somaliland he returned to Washington and headed the State Department's Division of African Affairs.

[8] In March 1961, Hayes personally ordered five U.S. Navy vessels into the waters off the Congo, a move that caught the Kennedy administration off guard.

He was sent to Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama to serve as State Department liaison officer, a position viewed as a demotion.