[1] The Smithsonian Institution's 1940 National Zoological Park expedition to Monrovia met with Blowers and he presented his household pets, a red forest duiker, a civet cat and a West African linsang, to them for use as zoo exhibits.
[3][4] Blowers was appointed governor of the State Bank of Ethiopia in 1943 following a request by Emperor Haile Selassie for more American advisers to replace the British staff that predominated in his court.
The 1942 Anglo-Ethiopian Agreement required Selassie to seek British approval prior to the appointment of any foreign staff.
[8] He became known as an expert of African economics and was appointed head of a UN mission to Libya, looking into its currency and banking system, in 1950.
[8][9] He later worked with the International Monetary Fund and in 1952 was appointed governor of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (which functioned as the central bank but couldn't be described as such under Islamic law), having been recommended to the position by Arthur N Young, the director of Harry Truman's Point Four Program in the country.