MICHAEL P.E. HOYT

MICHAEL P.E. HOYT Michael P.E. Hoyt, 87, passed peacefully at his home in Santa Fe, New Mexico on December 14, 2016. Hoyt was born November 16, 1929, and raised in Chicago by parents Frank and Elizabeth Hoyt, where his father was a theoretical nuclear physicist teaching at the University of Chicago while also involved in the Manhattan Project. His father's research found the family spending many of his early years in Europe and Los Alamos, New Mexico. Hoyt received undergraduate degrees in Philosophy, 1950, and in History, 1955, from the University of Chicago and a Master's Degree in Modern European History from the University of Illinois. He subsequently went on to graduate studies in economics and African affairs at Northwestern University. He met Jo Wasson in Espanola, New Mexico and they married in 1954 and began to raise a family. Hoyt served as an Air Traffic Controller during the Korean War before entering the U. S. Foreign Service in 1956, where he served until retirement in 1980. His experience in Foreign Service found him in diplomatic and consular posts in Pakistan, Morocco, Congo, Cameroon, Burundi, Nigeria, Switzerland, and Washington DC. It was as US Consul in Stanleyville 1964, (now Kisangani of the Democratic Republic of Congo) that Hoyt found himself at the center of an international hostage crisis. Followers of Patrice Lumumba, "Simbas", took 2000 hostages, including the US and Belgian Consuls. For 111 days, Hoyt was at the center of the conflict, negotiating with the rebels in an attempt to protect the hostages and limit the violence. Several times during the crisis, Hoyt and a handful of other diplomats were beaten, tormented, and paraded in public with threat of execution. After 3 ½ months, a joint US-Belgian rescue effort, Operation Dragon Rouge, managed save the hostages, but not without the loss of many lives. In 1965, the U.S. Department of State awarded Hoyt its highest award, the Secretary's Award. The inscription read, "FOR OUTSTANDING COURAGE AND DIGNITY IN HIGHEST TRADITIONS OF THE FOREIGN SERVICE WHILE A PRISONER AND HOSTAGE OF CONGOLESE REBELS AUGUST 5-NOVEMBER 26, 1964" Subsequently, Hoyt wrote a compelling inside account of the seizure, "Captive in the Congo: A Consul's Return to the Heart of Darkness" published by the Naval Institute Press in 2000. In his assignment as Deputy Chief of Mission in Bujumbura, Burundi, Hoyt was charge d'affaires during the 1972 genocide against the Hutu and reported extensively on the events, trying to encourage international intervention to stop the massacres. While at State Department in Washington, D.C., Hoyt worked in the African Bureau and International Organizations, which included delegations to UN specialized agencies. His last assignment was as Counselor for Human Rights at the U. S. Mission to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. He retired to Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he consulted, wrote, and lectured on international affairs. He also taught college level African History. Michael P. E. Hoyt served his country with courage, aplomb, and an undying commitment to Human Rights. Hoyt is survived by his children, Reed, Phelps, Scot and Evans.