| Hugh H. Smythe | |
| Office: | United States Ambassador to Malta |
| President: | Lyndon Johnson Richard Nixon |
| Term Start: | December 29, 1967 |
| Term End: | August 16, 1969 |
| Predecessor: | George Joseph Feldman |
| Successor: | John C. Pritzlaff, Jr. |
| Office2: | United States Ambassador to Syria |
| President2: | Lyndon Johnson |
| Term Start2: | October 28, 1965 |
| Term End2: | June 8, 1967 |
| Predecessor2: | Ridgway Brewster Knight |
| Successor2: | Thomas James Scotes |
| Birth Date: | August 19, 1913 |
| Birth Place: | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Death Place: | Manhattan, New York, U.S. |
| Birthname: | Hugh Heyne Smythe |
| Alma Mater: | Virginia State University Atlanta University Northwestern University |
| Profession: | Diplomat, professor, sociologist |
Hugh Heyne Smythe (August 19, 1913 – June 22, 1977) was an American author, sociologist, diplomat and professor. He was an authority on African anthropology and East Asian studies. He served as the United States Ambassador to Syria from 1965 to 1967 and United States Ambassador to Malta from 1967 to 1969.[1]
Smythe taught sociology and anthropology at the university level at multiple schools, both in the United States and abroad. From 1951 to 1953, he taught at the Yamaguchi National University as a Visiting Professor of Sociology and Anthropology.[2] From 1962 to 1965, he taught sociology at Brooklyn College. At the same time, he worked as a Fulbright Professor at Chulalongkorn University.
From 1961 to 1962, Smythe was a senior adviser in economic and social affairs to the US Mission to the United Nations. He also served a tour as the US senior advisor to the National Research Council in Thailand.
Smythe was the tenth African-American U.S. ambassador and the first to a Middle Eastern country. His tenure coincided with the Six-Day War and the severing of diplomatic ties with the United States. He later became notorious for the "Smythe Telegram" that he wrote during the increasing tensions before the war, where he demanded that the U.S. return to a pro-Arab foreign policy and said that the U.S. should ignore previous promises to Israel that Egypt would not be allowed to ban Israeli ships from transiting the Straits of Tiran. He left the country on June 8, 1967.