The American Academy of Diplomacy is a non-profit, limited membership societyof 100 men and women, now retired from government service. Members have heldsenior positions in the conduct of American foreign policy, whether as careeror political appointees, and include all living former secretaries of state.The Academy is dedicated to fostering the highest standards in the conduct ofdiplomacy, particularly those nominated by the president as ambassadors.
The Sol M. Linowitz Visiting Professor of International Affairs wasestablished in 1986. It is named in honor of a 1935 Hamilton graduate whoserved as ambassador to the Organization of American States, chairman of theboard of Xerox and co-negotiator of the Panama Canal treaties. He was PresidentJimmy Carter's representative in the Middle East negotiations from 1979 to1981.
Ambassador Laingen is a Minnesotan who served in the U.S. Navy in World WarII and in the Foreign Service from 1949-87, including tours in Germany, Iran,Pakistan and Afghanistan. After serving as deputy assistant secretary forEuropean affairs, he was ambassador to Malta from 1977 to 1979. Later that yearhe returned to Iran for a second tour, as charge d'affaires of the Embassy,before being taken hostage in the Iran hostage crisis.
Following his release he served as vice president of the National DefenseUniversity in Washington, D.C., until his retirement from the service in 1987.He was executive director of the National Commission on the Public Service (theVolcker Commission) from 1987 until it completed its work in 1990.
Ambassador Laingen serves as chairman of the board of "A PresidentialClassroom for Young Americans." He is a board member of the Mercersburg Academyin Pennsylvania, No Greater Love, and the National
Defense University Foundation. He has also been a member of the NationalCommission on the State and Local Public Service.
Among his awards and citations, Ambassador Laingen holds the Award for Valorfrom the Department of State, the Distinguished Public Service medal from theDepartment of Defense, the Distinguished Alumnus
Award from St. Olaf College, the Golden Plate Award from the American Academyof Achievement, and a Presidential Meritorious Award.
He is a cum laude graduate of St. Olaf College, and the National War College,and earned a master's degree in international affairs from the University ofMinnesota. Ambassador Laingen has honorary degrees from Columbia College inMissouri, Hahneman University in Philadelphia, the Western University of HealthServices in Los Angeles and the University of Dubuque in Iowa.
He is the author of Yellow Ribbon; the Secret Journal of Bruce Laingen(1992).
Previous Linowitz professors have included Samuel Lewis, former U.S.ambassador to Israel; Roy Atherton, former U.S. ambassador to Egypt; Richard N.Haass, director of National Security Programs and senior fellow of the Councilon Foreign Relations; Stephen Bosworth, president of the U.S. -Japan Foundationand former U.S. ambassador to the Philippines; Harry G. Barnes, Jr., U.S.former ambassador to Chile, India and Romania; and Gideon Rafael, formerIsraeli ambassador to the United Kingdom and Belgium, and permanentrepresentative to the United Nations.
Ambassador Linowitz is a former senior partner in the international law firm ofCoudert Brothers and the author of The Betrayed Profession, a criticallook at the legal profession. He currently serves as honorary chairman of the Academy for Educational Development.
Hamilton College is an independent, highly selective, liberal arts collegethat was founded in 1812. It is named for Alexander Hamilton, the firstsecretary of the treasury and features a strong curriculum in the humanities,the arts, the sciences and the social sciences.
