At the end of World War II, Mr. Cromwell took the Foreign Service Exam, which he passed, and then enrolled at Iowa's Grinnell College, where he earned a bachelor's degree in 1948 in political science and philosophy.
The next year, he earned a master's degree in international affairs from the School of Advanced International Studies of the Johns Hopkins University in Washington.
He joined the State Department in 1949 and began his career in Portugal, where he held a diplomatic post. By the late 1950s, he had served as secretary of the Embassy at Lisbon and consul in Nigeria and Angola.
