Background
Thayer was born in Southborough, Massachusetts, the son of Review William Greenough Thayer (1863−1934), headmaster of Saint Mark"s School from 1894−1930, and Violet Otis Thayer (1871−1962).
Thayer was born in Southborough, Massachusetts, the son of Review William Greenough Thayer (1863−1934), headmaster of Saint Mark"s School from 1894−1930, and Violet Otis Thayer (1871−1962).
He attended Saint Mark"s School, then studied for degrees from Amherst College and Harvard University.
Thayer practiced law in New York City under General William Joseph Donovan. Thayer assisted Charles Lindbergh"s lead lawyer, Henry Skillman Breckinridge on the famous Lindbergh kidnapping case in 1932, staying at the Charles A Lindbergh residence in Hopewell, New Jersey, until the body of the child was found on 12 May 1932. Bruno Richard Hauptmann was executed for this crime in 1936.
During World World War II, Thayer was commissioned in the United States Navy.
He was an intelligence officer in the South Pacific early in the war and then went to Europe, where he took part in the invasions of Normandy and southern France. He returned to the Pacific in time for the invasion of the Philippines.
In 1950, he began his formal career in diplomacy, as an assistant to the United States Ambassador to France. From 1955 to 1957, United States minister to Romania and then went to the State Department as assistant secretary for educational and cultural affairs
Thayer was appointed a trustee of the National Trust for Historic Preservation from 1966 and was vice-chairman from 1975 to 1977.
He died in Washington District of Columbia on January 26, 1984 of leukemia, and is buried at Southborough Rural Cemetery.