Joseph John Sisco (October 31, 1919 – November 23, 2004) was a diplomat who played a major role in then-Secretary of State

Henry Kissinger Henry Alfred Kissinger (; ; born Heinz Alfred Kissinger, May 27, 1923) is a German-born American politician, diplomat, and geopolitical consultant who served as United States Secretary of State and National Security Advisor under the presid ...

shuttle diplomacy In diplomacy and international relations, shuttle diplomacy is the action of an outside party in serving as an intermediary between (or among) principals in a dispute, without direct principal-to-principal contact. Originally and usually, the proce ...

in the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

. His career in the

State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government responsible for the country's fore ...

spanned five presidential administrations.

Diplomatic career

Sisco had served for a year as an officer of the

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

before joining the State Department in 1951, where he served as a foreign affairs officer until 1965, when he was promoted to

Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs The Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs is the head of the Bureau of International Organization Affairs within the United States Department of State that creates and executes policy in international organizations ...

Dean Rusk David Dean Rusk (February 9, 1909December 20, 1994) was the United States Secretary of State from 1961 to 1969 under presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, the second-longest serving Secretary of State after Cordell Hull from the F ...

. In 1969, he was promoted to

Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs The Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs is the head of the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs within the United States Department of State. The Assistant Secretary guides the operation of the U.S. diplomatic establishment in variou ...

. He left the government in 1976, and served as the President of

American University The American University (AU or American) is a private federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Its main campus spans 90 acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, mostly in the Spring Valley neighborhood of Northwest D.C. AU was charte ...

until 1980.

Private sector career

In June 1980, he joined

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...

as a columnist, appearing occasionally on air as an expert on Middle Eastern and Asian affairs.

Personal life

Sisco's wife, Jean Head Sisco, whom he married in 1946 while they were students at the University of Chicago, died in 1990.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sisco, Joseph J. Leaders of American University 1919 births 2004 deaths Knox College (Illinois) alumni Lyndon B. Johnson administration personnel United States Assistant Secretaries of State Under Secretaries of State for Political Affairs University of Chicago alumni