Dartmouth alumnus E. William Crotty '53 has been appointed the new ambassador to Barbados, Barbuda, the Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, St. Lucia and St. Vincent -- all islands in the Eastern Caribbean.
Crotty was appointed to the position by President Bill Clinton last June, but has been undergoing background checks by the Federal Bureau of Investigation since then. After these checks concluded, Crotty received the appointment.
While attending Dartmouth with a tennis scholarship, Crotty also made the Dean's List and was a member and business manager of Alpha Delta Phi Fraternity.
"That might have hampered the FBI check," he said, chuckling.
In his capacity as ambassador, Crotty will supervise 195 people, most of them American Marines.
Currently a senior partner at a law firm in Daytona Beach, Fl., he will be moving to Barbados when he begins his ambassadorship.
There is no term limit for ambassadors, as they "serve at the pleasure of the president."
Although he said he is "not a career politician," Crotty has served as the national chairman of the 1985 Democratic Gala, the national finance chairman for Gore for President and was a national trustee for the Democratic Victory Fund in 1988.
In addition, Crotty has received numerous awards for his political activism, including the Most Outstanding Democrat in Volusia County in 1984 and the Bethune Cookman College Award for Human Rights.
Crotty graduated from the University of Michigan Law School in 1956 and obtained a Master's degree from New York University Law School.
