American diplomat (born 1933)
Morton Isaac Abramowitz
(born January 20, 1933) is an American
diplomat
and former U.S.
State Department
official. Starting his overseas career in
Taipei
,
Taiwan
after joining the foreign service, he served as U.S. Ambassador to Thailand and Turkey and as the
Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research
. He retired from the State Department with the rank of Career Ambassador. He then became president of the
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
and founded the
International Crisis Group
.
Abramowitz currently serves as co-chair for the
Bipartisan Policy Center
's Turkey Initiative.
[2]
Early life
[
edit
]
Morton Abramowitz was born in
Lakewood Township, New Jersey
, on January 20, 1933, the son of Mendel and Dora (Smith) Abramowitz.
[3]
He received his B.A. from
Stanford University
(in history and economics
[4]
) in 1953.
[5]
He then attended
Harvard University
, earning an
M.A.
in 1955.
[5]
He also served in the
U.S. Army
and U.S. Army Reserves from 1958 to 1961.
In 1956, Abramowitz joined the
United States Department of Labor
as a management intern and, then, as a
labor economist
from 1957?58, while waiting for an appointment at the Department of State.
Career in the Foreign Service
[
edit
]
In 1959, he joined the
United States Department of State
. His first two assignments were as a consular-economic officer in
Taipei
(1960-1962) and an economic officer in
Hong Kong
(1963-1966). He was known as
Ai Mo-huei
(
艾莫惠
), his
Mandarin name
during his tour in
Taiwan
.
[1]
He returned to Washington in 1966, spending the next seven years there in various capacities, including serving as special assistant to Under Secretary Elliot Richardson.
From 1973 to 1978, he was political adviser to the Commander-in-Chief of the Pacific Command (1973-1974) and then deputy assistant secretary of Defense for international affairs (1974-1978).
In 1978,
President of the United States
Jimmy Carter
named Abramowitz
United States Ambassador to Thailand
, and he held this post from August 9, 1978 until July 31, 1981.
[6]
In 1983, President
Ronald Reagan
named Abramowitz as the U.S. representative to the Mutual and Balanced Force Reduction Negotiations in Vienna, with ambassadorial rank.
[5]
In 1985, President Reagan nominated Abramowitz as
Director of the Bureau of Intelligence and Research
, and Abramowitz held this office from February 1, 1985 through May 19, 1989 (with the name of the office changing to
Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research
in 1986).
In 1989, President
George H. W. Bush
named Abramowitz
United States Ambassador to Turkey
, a post he held until 1991.
In 1990, he was awarded the rank of
Career Ambassador
.
[7]
Post Government career
[
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]
Abramowitz retired from government service in 1991 and took over as president of the
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
. He was elected a Fellow of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
in 1995.
[8]
He retired from that position in 1997. Since then, he has been a Senior Fellow of
The Century Foundation
[9]
and a director of the
National Endowment for Democracy
.
He is a long-time board member of the
International Rescue Committee
.
[10]
Abramowitz played a leading role in the foundation of the
International Crisis Group
, and has been a board member since its inception in 1995.
[11]
Abramowitz served for nine years on the board of the
National Endowment for Democracy
, and on retirement in 2007 was awarded its Democracy Service Medal.
[12]
Family
[
edit
]
Abramowitz is married to Sheppie Glass Abramowitz, the sister of composer
Philip Glass
. Sheppie Abramowitz spent her career advocating on behalf of refugees and asylum seekers for the International Rescue Committee and KIND (Kids in Need of Defense).
The couple have two adult children. Michael Abramowitz, the president of
Freedom House
, is a former reporter and editor at the
Washington Post
and headed the Committee on Conscience of the
U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum
.
[13]
He is married to Susan Baer, a former reporter at the
Baltimore Sun
. Daughter Rachel Abramowitz had a successful career as an entertainment reporter for the
Los Angeles Times
before embarking on a second career writing scripts for cable television pilots with her husband, screenwriter (
Wonderful World
) and director Joshua Goldin.
Awards
[
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]
in 1980, and the President’s Award for Distinguished Federal Service in 1981, 1985, and 1988. He also was awarded the National Intelligence Medal in 1989, the Director General’s Cup of the Foreign Service in 1995, and the Award for Lifetime Contributions to American Diplomacy of the American Foreign Service Association.
Writing
[
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]
- Americans Are Ignoring Syria's Humanitarian Crisis, Washington Post, December 5, 2013
- With Richard Harris Moorsteen,
Remaking China Policy
. Harvard University Press. 1971.
ISBN
9780674759817
.
- Moving the Glacier: The Two Koreas and the Powers
International Institute for Strategic Studies, 1971
- East Asian Actors and Issues
(1991)
- China: Can We Have A Policy?
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 1997,
ISBN
9780870031526
- ed.
Turkey's Transformation and American Policy
, Century Foundation Press, 2000,
ISBN
9780870784545
- with James T. Laney,
Testing North Korea: The Next Stage in U.S. and Rok Policy
. Council on Foreign Relations. 2001.
ISBN
9780876092811
.
- ed.
The United States and Turkey: allies in need
, Century Foundation Press, 2003,
ISBN
9780870784798
- with
Stephen W. Bosworth
,
Chasing the Sun: Rethinking East Asian Policy Since 1992
Century Foundation, 2006,
ISBN
9780870785009
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
臺灣省通志 卷3 政事志 外事篇
[
General Gazetteer of Taiwan Province, Volume III: Political History: On Foreign Affairs
],
Taipei
: Historical Records Committee of Taiwan Province, 1971-06-30, p. 282
- ^
"Bipartisan Policy Center's Turkey Initiative Co-Chairs and Former U.S. Ambassadors Mort Abramowitz and Eric Edelman to Release Recommendations on Building Greater U.S.-Turkish Cooperation Amid Unstable Middle East"
.
Bipartisan Policy Center
. Retrieved
2018-07-27
.
- ^
"Obiturary of Dora Abramowitz,"
Boston Globe
, May 5, 1972, p. 35.
- ^
"Interview with Ambassador Morton I.Abramowitz"
(PDF)
.
Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training
. 2009. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on February 10, 2020
. Retrieved
March 28,
2021
.
- ^
a
b
c
"
"Nomination of Morton Isaac Abramowitz To Be United States Ambassador to Turkey"
"
. American Presidency Project. April 19, 1989. Archived from
the original
on January 21, 2021
. Retrieved
February 9,
2011
.
Ambassador Abramowitz was born January 20, 1933, in Lakewood, NJ. He graduated from Stanford University (B.A., 1953) and Harvard University (M.A., 1955)
- ^
"Conscience and Catastrophe"
.
New Republic
. Retrieved
2017-10-03
.
- ^
Ann Devroy
; John E. Yang; Kenneth J. Cooper (15 May 1990).
"Two Named Career Ambassadors"
.
Washington Post
. p. a.21
. Retrieved
22 December
2010
.
- ^
"Book of Members, 1780-2010: Chapter A"
(PDF)
. American Academy of Arts and Sciences
. Retrieved
20 March
2011
.
- ^
The Century Foundation
,
Morton Abramowitz ? Senior Fellow
- ^
International Rescue Committee
,
Board and Overseers
- ^
"The Lost American - A Hero Of Our Time | FRONTLINE | PBS"
.
www.pbs.org
. Retrieved
2017-10-03
.
- ^
a
b
National Endowment for Democracy
, June 18, 2007,
2007 Democracy Service Medal
- ^
"Michael J. Abramowitz Named President of Freedom House"
.
freedomhouse.org
. Retrieved
2017-10-03
.
- ^
a
b
c
"Archived copy"
. Archived from
the original
on 2013-06-13
. Retrieved
2013-05-23
.
{{
cite web
}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (
link
)
External links
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