The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2006

30 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / J U LY- A U G U S T 2 0 0 6 n June 22, Ambassador Morton I. Abramowitz received the American Foreign Service Association’s award for Lifetime Contributions to Ameri- can Diplomacy, in recognition of a dis- tinguished 31-year Foreign Service career and equally impressive achieve- ments in public service after his retirement. Born in Lakewood, N.J., on Jan. 20, 1933, the future ambassador was drawn to the Foreign Service from an early age. He studied Chinese affairs at Stanford, earning a B.A. in 1953 and an M.A. from Harvard in 1955. After a year in the Army, he worked for the International Cooperation Administration from 1958 to 1960, when he joined the Foreign Service as an economic officer specializing in Chinese affairs. In keeping with that background, his first two assignments were as a consular-economic officer in Taipei (1960-1962) and a economic officer in Hong Kong (1963-1966). 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. The next phase of his diplomatic career, from 1973 to 1978, centered on relations with the Department of Defense: he was political adviser to the Commander-in- Chief of the Pacific Command from 1973 to 1974 and then deputy assistant secretary of Defense for international affairs, on detail from the Foreign Service, from 1974 to 1978. The familiarity with politico-military affairs he gained as a result would stand him in good stead in all three of his ambassadorships. In 1978, Abramowitz was selected as chief of mission in Thailand, serving in Bangkok until 1981. He next became the U.S. representative to the Mutual and Balanced Force Reduction Negotiations in Vienna, with ambassadorial rank, a position he held from 1983 to 1984. From 1985 to 1989, Amb. Abramowitz served as the first assistant secretary of the Bureau of Intelligence and Research. His third and final ambassadorship was in Turkey, a position he held from 1989 to 1991. During that time he also attained the rank of career ambassador. In 1991, Amb. Abramowitz retired from the Foreign H ONORING AN “A GGRESSIVE I NTERVENTIONIST ”: A MBASSADOR M ORTON A BRAMOWITZ L AST MONTH AFSA RECOGNIZED THE RETIRED A MBASSADOR FOR HIS MANY CONTRIBUTIONS TO A MERICAN DIPLOMACY AND A LIFETIME OF PUBLIC SERVICE . O B Y S TEVEN A LAN H ONLEY Amb. Abramowitz introduces Pres. George H.W. Bush, who visted Turkey in July 1991 after the Gulf War.