American diplomat
Jeffrey S. Davidow
(born January 26, 1944) is a career foreign service officer from the
U.S. state
of
Virginia
. Davidow has served as a member of the
Senior Foreign Service
, as well as having been the U.S. Ambassador to
Zambia
,
[1]
Venezuela
,
[1]
and
Mexico
.
[2]
Upon completion of 34 years of service, he retired as the highest ranking U.S. diplomat. Davidow was one of the few people to hold the rank of
Career Ambassador
.
[3]
[4]
Early life
[
edit
]
Davidow was born in
Boston
, Massachusetts. He received a
B.A.
from the
University of Massachusetts
in 1965 and an
MA
from the
University of Minnesota
in 1967. He also did postgraduate work in India 1968 on a Fulbright travel grant.
Career
[
edit
]
Davidow joined the U.S. Foreign Service in 1969 and began his career as a junior officer at the American Embassy in
Guatemala City
,
Guatemala
, from 1970 to 1972. From 1972 to 1974, he was a U.S. political observer in
Santiago, Chile
(involved in the case of
Charles Horman
), and held the same position in
Cape Town
,
South Africa
, from 1974 to 1976. He returned to
Washington, D.C.
in 1976 to take a position as a desk officer in the Office of Southern African Affairs, and he went on to be a Congressional fellow from 1978 to 1979.
He later became the head of the liaison office at the U.S. Embassy in
Harare
,
Zimbabwe
, from 1979 to 1982. He returned shortly thereafter to pursue a fellowship at
Harvard University
, as well as to take-over as Director of the Office of Southern African Affairs in 1985.
On May 5, 1988, President
Ronald Reagan
nominated Davidow to be U.S. Ambassador to
Zambia
, a position he held until 1990.
[5]
After his ambassadorship to Zambia, he served as deputy assistant secretary of state.
[6]
In 1993, President
Bill Clinton
nominated Davidow to be U.S. Ambassador to
Venezuela
. Davidow remained ambassador until 1996.
From 1996 to 1998, he was the State Department's chief policy maker for the Western Hemisphere, serving in the position of
Assistant Secretary of State
.
Clinton again nominated Davidow in 1998, this time as U.S. Ambassador to
Mexico
. Davidow held this post from August 5, 1998, until September 14, 2002.
[7]
After leaving Mexico in September 2002, he returned to Harvard to become a visiting fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government and the
David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies
. During the 2002?03 academic year, he worked extensively with undergraduate and graduate students and wrote a book on
U.S.?Mexican relations
.
The US and Mexico: The Bear and the Porcupine
[8]
was first published in Spanish in Mexico by Casa Editorial Grijalbo and in English by Markus Weiner Publishers in April 2004.
Davidow assumed the presidency of the Institute of the Americas on June 1, 2003. The Institute of the Americas, founded in 1983, is an independent, non-profit institution at the
University of California, San Diego
. Its mission is to be a catalyst for promoting development and integration as a means to improve the economic, political, and social well-being of the people of the Americas.
In 2004, Davidow was among 27 retired diplomats and military commanders called
Diplomats and Military Commanders for Change
who publicly said the administration of President
George W. Bush
did not understand the world and was unable to handle "in either style or substance" the responsibilities of global leadership.
[9]
On June 16, 2004 the former senior diplomats and military commanders issued a statement against the
Iraq War
.
[10]
He has also served as adviser to President
Barack Obama
for the
Summit of the Americas
.
[11]
He is also a member of the advisory board for the
Mexico Institute
.
Personal life
[
edit
]
Davidow and his wife, Joan, reside in
La Jolla, California
.
The Archives and Special Collections at
Amherst College
holds some of his papers.
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
"Clinton Is Near a Selection for Mexico Post"
.
The New York Times
. January 7, 1998
. Retrieved
December 22,
2010
.
- ^
Bob Deans (January 7, 1998).
"Clinton's pick for Mexican envoy praised"
.
Austin American-Statesman
. Retrieved
December 22,
2010
.
- ^
"Career Ambassadors"
. United States Department of State
. Retrieved
July 17,
2011
.
- ^
"A Head of State should not solicit hatred and resentment"
.
El Universal (Caracas)
. August 10, 2009. Archived from
the original
on August 17, 2009
. Retrieved
December 22,
2010
.
- ^
http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1988/050588d.htm
- ^
"Unita to leave captured towns"
.
The Independent
. December 21, 1992
. Retrieved
December 22,
2010
.
- ^
"Changing the guard: U.S. Ambassador Jeffrey Davidow heads home. (Spotlight)"
.
Business Mexico
. October 1, 2002
. Retrieved
December 22,
2010
.
- ^
Starr, Alexandra (August 17, 2004).
"Migrant Headaches"
.
The Washington Post
. Retrieved
December 22,
2010
.
- ^
Brownstein, Ronald (June 13, 2004).
"Retired Officials Say Bush Must Go"
.
Los Angeles Times
. Retrieved
June 25,
2018
.
- ^
Diplomats and Military Commanders for Change Official Statement
Archived
October 11, 2007, at the
Wayback Machine
(June 16, 2004)
- ^
"Fidel Castro Meets With 3 U.S. Lawmakers"
.
CBS News
. April 7, 2009
. Retrieved
December 22,
2010
.
External links
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]
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