Philip V. Cardon

Philip Vincent Cardon was an American agronomist who rose through the United States Department of Agriculture to become the third Director-General of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, serving from 1954 to 1956. He worked as an agronomist in the USDA's Bureau of Plant Industry from 1909 to 1919, returning in 1935 to head its Division of Forage Crops and Diseases, and chaired the United States delegation to the Fourth International Grasslands Congress in Aberystwyth, Wales, touring several European countries to study grassland farming practices. He received the USDA Distinguished Scientist Award in 1948, retired as Administrator of the Agricultural Research Administration in 1952, and directed the USDA Graduate School from 1952 to 1954 before succeeding Norris E. Dodd as FAO Director-General.