Mark Evans Austad
American ambassador
Mark Evans Austad (April 1, 1917 – October 20, 1988) was an American radio and television commentator in Washington D.C. (under the name Mark Evans), and served under Gerald Ford as United States Ambassador to Finland from 1975 to 1977, and as United States Ambassador to Norway from 1981 to 1984, under Ronald Reagan.
Biography
Austad was born Marcus Jacob Austad in Ogden, Utah, to Norwegian immigrant parents, Jacob L. and Signa Anderson Austad. He was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and served a three-year mission to Finland and Norway from 1936 to 1939. From 1939 to 1941, he attended Weber College in Ogden where he was student body president and active in public speaking, in which he won first place in national competitions. Austad married the former Lola Brown in 1942 and they had three daughters.
Throughout his life Austad was active in the LDS Church, and in addition to his missionary service he was also a Sunday School teacher in the 1970s in Washington, D.C., and was ordained as a High Priest.
Broadcasting
Austad passed up law school for an opportunity to work in radio as an announcer with KSL in Salt Lake City in 1941. He was soon drafted into the U.S. Army Intelligence Corps for service during World War II. To treat a pre-existing knee injury, he was sent to Walter Reed General Hospital in Washington, D.C., where he was also assigned to the hospital's public address system referred to as WRGH. Among his duties was hosting a weekly program with prominent Washington personalities, such as First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. In late 1942 Austad also worked part-time for WWDC and then full-time upon his military discharge in 1945. After two years, he moved to the CBS station WTOP where he succeeded Arthur Godfrey on his own morning show.
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