James Keough Bishop Jr. (born July 21, 1938) is an American Foreign Service Officer, who served as U.S.

Bishop's last ambassadorial posting to Somalia ended in a rescue by the U.S. military in Operation Eastern Exit, when the embassy came under threat as a result of military action in the Somali Civil War.

[3] He graduated from the College of the Holy Cross (B.S., 1960) and Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies (M.I.I.P., 1981).

[2][4] After graduating from college in 1960, Bishop entered the Foreign Service in 1960, where he held the following diplomatic positions: Bishop retired from the Foreign Service in 1993.

[7] Bishop and his wife mechanical engineer Kathleen Marie Kirby (February 14, 1947 – September 29, 2011)[8] have six children and were married from 1977 until Kathleen death.