Obituaries : Everett F. Drumright; Envoy to Taiwan During Crisis

Everett F. Drumright, 86, former U.S. ambassador to Taiwan. A career foreign service officer, Drumright was ambassador to Taiwan from 1958 until his retirement in 1962. During his tenure, he served as official go-between for Secretary of State John Foster Dulles and Nationalist Chinese Gen. Chiang Kai-shek during an attempt by Communist China to take over two small islands off the China coast, Quemoy and Matsu, held by Nationalist China. A native of Oklahoma, Drumright graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 1929 and began his diplomatic career the next year in Juarez, Mexico. Among his postings were Beijing, Shanghai, London, Seoul and Tokyo. In 1945 he became chief of the State Department’s Division of Chinese Affairs, and in 1953 he was named deputy assistant secretary of state for Far Eastern affairs. On Saturday in Poway.