Morton I. Abramowitz
United States Ambassador to Turkey
In office
1989–1991
PresidentGeorge H. W. Bush
Preceded byRobert Strausz-Hupe
Succeeded byRichard Clark Barkley
United States Ambassador to Thailand
In office
June 27, 1978 – July 31, 1981
PresidentJimmy Carter
Preceded byCharles S. Whitehouse
Succeeded byJohn Gunther Dean
Personal details
Born (1933-01-20) January 20, 1933
Lakewood Township, New Jersey, U.S.
SpouseSheppie Glass Abramowitz
ProfessionCareer FSO
Other namesAi Mo-huei (艾莫惠)[1]

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

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

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

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

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

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

  • 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

  1. 1 2 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
  2. ↑ "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.
  3. ↑ "Obiturary of Dora Abramowitz," Boston Globe, May 5, 1972, p. 35.
  4. ↑ "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.
  5. 1 2 3 ""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)
  6. ↑ "Conscience and Catastrophe". New Republic. Retrieved 2017-10-03.
  7. ↑ Ann Devroy; John E. Yang; Kenneth J. Cooper (15 May 1990). "Two Named Career Ambassadors". Washington Post. p. a.21. Retrieved 22 December 2010.
  8. ↑ "Book of Members, 1780-2010: Chapter A" (PDF). American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 20 March 2011.
  9. ↑ The Century Foundation, Morton Abramowitz – Senior Fellow
  10. ↑ International Rescue Committee, Board and Overseers
  11. ↑ "The Lost American - A Hero Of Our Time | FRONTLINE | PBS". www.pbs.org. Retrieved 2017-10-03.
  12. 1 2 National Endowment for Democracy, June 18, 2007, 2007 Democracy Service Medal
  13. ↑ "Michael J. Abramowitz Named President of Freedom House". freedomhouse.org. Retrieved 2017-10-03.
  14. 1 2 3 "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-06-13. Retrieved 2013-05-23.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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