The Foreign Service Journal, January 2004

J A N U A R Y 2 0 0 4 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 75 I N M E M O R Y William Macomber , 82, former ambassador and under secretary of State for administration during the critical years of AFSA’s campaign to become a union, died at his home in Nantucket, Mass., on Nov. 19 of complications from Parkinson’s dis- ease. “Bill was a dear friend to many, a great diplomat and a great contribu- tor to the Foreign Service,” AFSA Secretary F.A. “Tex” Harris said. “We will miss him, but will cherish his memory and many accomplish- ments.” Ambassador Macomber was known in the Foreign Service com- munity as a reformer. He was a founding member of the American Academy of Diplomacy. As deputy under secretary of State for adminis- tration from 1969 to 1973, Macom- ber led an effort to not only reform the department, but to change the way American diplomacy was con- ducted. His recommendations were set forth in an action blueprint titled, “Diplomacy for the 70s.” The pro- posals introduced the cone system and open bidding for jobs, emanci- pated wives from ratings and unpaid work, mandated gender equality, and provided for due process allow- ing officers to see their “secret” per- formance appraisals, among other reforms. “It was a true revolution,” wrote Harris in “The Macomber Era, 1969-73” ( FSJ , June 2003, p. 20). “In all these battles, AFSA was Macomber’s strategic ally, but some- times his tactical enemy.” Macom- ber himself wrote a book about his experiences managing change at State. The Angels’ Game: A Hand- book of Modern Diplomacy, origi- nally published in 1975, was revised and reprinted in 1997. Amb. Macomber was part of a small group of top officials, Patricia Sullivan wrote in an obituary in the Washington Post , who refused President Richard Nixon’s demand to punish Foreign Service officers who participated in demonstrations against the Vietnam War. In a 1984 newspaper column he denounced the exchange of campaign contribu- tions for ambassadorships. William Macomber was born in Rochester, N.Y., and graduated from Yale University. He received a mas- ter’s degree in government from Yale in 1947, a law degree from Harvard University in 1949 and a master's degree in social science from the University of Chicago in 1951. From 1943 to 1946, Macom- ber was a Marine lieutenant assigned to the Office of Strategic Services. He twice parachuted into France to work with the French underground, and later worked in Burma. He taught government for two years at Boston University while in graduate school, and worked for the CIA from 1951 to 1953 in Washington before begin- ning his career with the State Department. Amb. Macomber twice headed the congressional affairs bureau, from 1957 to 1961 and again from 1967 to 1969. In 1961 he was named ambassador to Jordan by President Kennedy, a position he held until 1964, when he was made assistant administrator for Near East and South Asia at USAID. In 1973 he was appointed ambassador to Turkey. Following retirement in 1977, Amb. Macomber became president of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, serving until 1987. He then settled in Nantucket, Mass., where he taught history and coached football at the local high school. “He had all kinds of honors and awards, but two things were more important to him than any- thing: teaching at the high school and coaching the JV football team,” his brother John told the Nantucket Inquirer and Mirror. “He was amazingly dedicated to kids. He believed very strongly in education, and he loved our kids,” Nantucket Public Schools Superintendent Alan Myers said. “He was just one of those people so dedicated to his country, who truly served his coun- try. When he retired, he did the same thing here. We were very, very fortunate to have him with us.” Mr. Macomber also served on the Nantucket School Committee and started the Friends of the Athen- eum. Survivors include his wife of 39 years, Phyllis of Nantucket; his brother John and sister-in-law Caroline Macomber of Washington, D.C., and their children; and his sis- ter-in-law Jacquie Macomber. His brother Bob predeceased him. The family requests that tributes be made in his name to the “AFSA Scholarship Fund.” Amb. Macom- ber had originally established a schol- arship in his name in 1997, with a donation of all proceeds from his book, The Angels’ Game , to AFSA’s Scholarship Fund. Family and friends hope to reach the goal of $12,000 in contributions to make it a permanent scholarship.