 He served as vice and deputy consul-general to Barcelona, Spain, and Frankfurt, Germany; and consul at Rosario, Argentina; Montevideo, Uruguay; Danzig, Poland; and Munich, Germany.Dawson was consul-general at large from 1922 to 1924 and served as chief instructor at the Department of State's Foreign Service School from 1925 to 1928.He married Agnes Balloch Bready on 8 June 1926.