John M. Steeves

Following the Second World War, Steeves became a career diplomat. He served as a political counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo from 1951 to 1953. He was acting Ambassador to Jakarta, Indonesia, and then returned to Japan as Consul General in the Ryukyu Islands from 1955 to 1956. He was Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs from 1959 to 1962, and subsequently was made Ambassador to Afghanistan from 1962 to 1966. Upon his return from Afghanistan, Steeves served as Director General of the American Foreign Service from 1966 to 1969. He died in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania in 1998.

John Milton Steeves (May 6, 1905 – October 1, 1998) was an American career diplomat who served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs from 1959 to 1962; Ambassador to Afghanistan from 1962 to 1966; and Director General of the Foreign Service from 1966 to 1969.

Steeves was born in Brinsmade, North Dakota in 1905. His ancestors were German immigrants from Osnabruck who immigrated to North America and eventually settled in New Brunswick, Canada. John Steeves father relocated to North Dakota as a young man, lured by the promise of the North Dakota Homestead Act, and acquired property in the Devils Lake area. Later, when John Steeves was still a child, the family moved again to establish a homestead in northern Alberta.