[1] When he retired from the Foreign Service in 1974, Symmes became President of Windham College followed by becoming Resident Director of Mount Vernon in 1977.
[2][3] Symmes finished his bachelor's degree in Philosophy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and earned a master's degree in International Relations at George Washington University in 1947.
He was a member of the National Honor Society, Phi Beta Kappa, and Pi Gamma Mu.
[2] On April 17, 1970, King Hussein asked that Symmes be recalled because the Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs, Joseph J. Sisco, was not intending to stop in Jordan while he was in the Middle East.
[4] After the West Bank was seized by Israel during the Six-Day War, members of the militant Palestinian group Fedayeen ultimately ”attacked” the US Embassy in Amman as part of a series of events “ seeking retribution for their dislocation.” As a result, Sisco cancelled the trip he had planned while he was in the region.