| Donald B. Easum | |
| Order: | 5th |
| Ambassador From: | United States |
| Country: | Burkina Faso |
| Term Start: | December 8, 1971 |
| Term End: | January 19, 1974 |
| President: | Richard Nixon |
| Predecessor: | William E. Schaufele, Jr. |
| Successor: | Pierre R. Graham |
| Order2: | 5th |
| Ambassador From2: | United States |
| Country2: | Nigeria |
| Term Start2: | May 22, 1975 |
| Term End2: | October 15, 1979 |
| President2: | Richard Nixon |
| Predecessor2: | John E. Reinhardt |
| Successor2: | Stephen Low |
| Birth Name: | Donald Boyd Easum |
| Birth Date: | 27 August 1923 |
| Birth Place: | Culver, Indiana |
| Death Place: | Summit, New Jersey |
| Spouse: | Augusta M Pentecost (d. 1992) |
| Profession: | Diplomat |
| Office3: | 5th Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs |
| Term Start3: | March 18, 1974 |
| Term End3: | March 26, 1975 |
| Preceded3: | David D. Newsom |
| Succeeded3: | Nathaniel Davis |
Donald Boyd Easum (August 27, 1923 - April 16, 2016) was an American diplomat.
Easum spent 27 years in the United States Foreign Service at posts in Nicaragua, Indonesia, Senegal, the Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Niger, Upper Volta (Ambassador, 1971–74)[1] and Nigeria (Ambassador, 1975–79).[2] During the Nixon/Ford Administration, Easum served as Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs.[1] Earlier State Department assignments included Executive Secretary of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Staff Director of the United States National Security Council's Interdepartmental Group for Latin America. Easum was also president of the Africa-America Institute from 1980 to 1988.[3] [4]
In 2004, Easum was among 27 retired diplomats and military commanders called who publicly said the administration of President George W. Bush did not understand the world and was unable to handle "in either style or substance" the responsibilities of global leadership.[5] On June 16, 2004 the Diplomats and Military Commanders for Change issued a statement against the Iraq War.[6]
Easum was born in Culver, Union Township, Marshall County, Indiana, the son of Chester Verne Easum and Norma Moore Brown.[7] He grew up in Madison, Wisconsin because his father taught at the University of Wisconsin. During World War II, Easum served in the United States Army Air Forces in the Pacific. Easum was Senior Fellow at Yale University's Stimson Seminar from 1998 to 2004 and taught at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. He lectured widely in the United States, Europe and Africa on U.S.-African relations. Easum attended The Hotchkiss School, and held a B.A. degree (Phi Beta Kappa) from the University of Wisconsin - Madison. Easum also received his M.P.A. degree, in 1950, and his Ph.D. degree, in 1953, from Princeton University. He also studied at the University of London on a Fulbright scholarship and in Buenos Aires on a Doherty Foundation grant and a Penfield fellowship. He was a member of the American Academy of Diplomacy and Council on Foreign Relations. Easum lived in New York City.