He also served as United Nations Deputy High Commissioner from 1951 to 1960, and was a vice president of the Charles F. Kettering Foundation from 1969 until his retirement in 1974.

In 1950 he was named Chief of the Division of Education and Cultural Relations of the United States High Commissioner for Germany.

In 1974, when he attained the mandatory retirement age, Read chose to continue his association with the Foundation, serving as Senior Consultant in International Affairs.

In his capacity as Senior Consultant in International Affairs, Read was involved in three of the Dartmouth Conferences (XII, XIII, and XIV), a series of informal talks between leading citizens of the US and USSR initiated at the suggestion of President Eisenhower and administered and co-sponsored by the Kettering Foundation.

In 1983, he acted as a Consultant to Crosscurrents to study the possibility of establishing an office for the Friedrich Naumann Foundation.