William Howard Wriggins (February 14, 1918 – August 30, 2008) was a US diplomat, author and academic who served as the United States ambassador to Sri Lanka and the Maldives from 1977 until 1979.
[2] He temporarily left his academic studies for four years during World War II in order to work with the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) on their relief missions in Portugal, France, North Africa and Spain.
[2] He later co-authored a biography of former Sri Lankan President Junius Richard Jayewardene with K. M. de Silva, a Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Ceylon.
[2] Wriggins was working as a professor at Columbia University when U.S. President Jimmy Carter nominated him to be ambassador to Sri Lanka and the Maldives in 1977.
[2] Wriggins was a Bryce Professor of International Relations, Emeritus, at Columbia University at the time of his death in 2008.