John Marshall Evans

After Evans's recall, the Armenian Assembly of America and the Armenian National Committee of America put pressure on the U.S. Senate to postpone the appointment of Richard E. Hoagland, the new nominee for the ambassadorship to Armenia, until the Bush administration clarified the reason for Evans's dismissal and on the suspicion that Hoagland did not sympathize with Armenian causes. Hoagland was nominated by President Bush during the 109th Congress, during which his nomination did not come up for a vote. The Bush Administration re-nominated Hoagland when the 110th session of the United States Congress convened, but the nomination, ultimately, was not confirmed. A new nominee, Marie L. Yovanovitch, came up for the post in 2008 and served till 2011. Currently Lynne M. Tracy serves in the position as U.S. ambassador to Armenia.

John Marshall Evans (born 1948) served as United States ambassador to Armenia. He was confirmed to this position by the U.S. Senate on June 25, 2004. Evans began his service on August 8, 2004, but, as confirmed by President George W. Bush on May 24, 2006, was terminated for undisclosed reasons.

Born in Newport News, Virginia, Evans attended the Williamsburg-James City County public schools and later St. Andrew's School in Middletown, Delaware, where he won the Latin Prize and the St. Andrew's Cross and served as Senior Prefect. He studied Russian history at Yale University, earning an undergraduate degree with honors in Russian Studies. He pursued doctoral studies in History at Columbia University but left after one semester to join the U.S. Foreign Service in 1971. Evans served in the US foreign service in various capacities in Iran, Czechoslovakia, the former Soviet Union, and with the OSCE and NATO, as well as in the Office of Secretary of State Cyrus Vance and on the USSR desk. He studied languages and became fluent in Persian, Russian and Czech, as well as French. He does not speak Armenian beyond a smattering of phrases.