Julie Finley (born c. 1937) was the United States
Ambassador to the
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is the world's largest regional security-oriented intergovernmental organization with observer status at the United Nations. Its mandate includes issues such as arms control, pro ...
(OSCE). She was nominated by President
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
.
Education
Finley is a 1952 graduate of the
Potomac School and a 1955 graduate of
Miss Porter's School
Miss Porter's School (MPS) is an elite American private college preparatory school for girls founded in 1843, and located in Farmington, Connecticut. The school draws students from 21 states, 31 countries (with dual-citizenship and/or residence), ...
. She then attended
Vassar College
Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States, closely foll ...
,
graduating with a B.A. degree.
Career
After graduation, Finley worked for several media organizations, including
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
's Office of Corporate Affairs,
ABC News
ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include Breakfast television, morning ...
and the ''
Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large na ...
''. She also worked for syndicated columnist
Joseph Kraft
Joseph Kraft (September 4, 1924 – January 10, 1986) was an American journalist.
Career
Kraft began his career in journalism at the age of 14 where he worked as a stringer covering high school sports for the New York World-Telegram. Kraft wo ...
.
Finley has been active in
Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
politics for many years and served the party in a number of capacities. She was the
Washington, D.C.
)
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, Republican Party Chairman from 1992 through 2000 and the D.C. Republican National Committeewoman from 2000 to 2004. Finley also served as National Finance Co-Chairman for the
Bush-Cheney 2004 campaign for Washington, D.C., and as Co-Chairman of Team 100, the major fundraising arm for the
Republican National Committee
The Republican National Committee (RNC) is a U.S. Political action committee, political committee that assists the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party of the United States. It is responsible for developing and promoting the Republi ...
, from 1997 through 2004.
Finley assumed her duties in
Vienna, Austria
en, Viennese
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, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
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, on August 18, 2005.
In November 2005, in response to a report that
press freedoms in
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...
were being violated by
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
* President (education), a leader of a college or university
* President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
Nursultan Nazarbayev
Nursultan Abishuly Nazarbayev ( kk, Нұрсұлтан Әбішұлы Назарбаев, Nūrsūltan Äbişūlı Nazarbaev, ; born 6 July 1940) is a Kazakh politician and military officer who served as the first President of Kazakhstan, in off ...
, Finley made a statement that, according to reporter C.J. Chivers of the ''New York Times,'' seemed to dismiss the significance of the crackdown on the press. Addressing a Kazakh official in a speech during an OSCE session in Vienna, Finley stated, "When I was in Kazakhstan a couple of weeks ago I had the interesting pleasure of reading some of this
icnewspapers that have been seized. Maybe you saved some readers some waste of time, anyway."
The
U.S. State Department had been pushing Nazarbayev to respect press freedoms, but that message "became mixed" when Finley made her comment, Chivers wrote. The ''Times'' reported that the transcript of the speech was removed from the American mission's website but had already been circulated independently by Western diplomats. Finley declined to comment to the ''Times'' about her statement, though a colleague said that the quote had been
ad libbed and did not reflect the Ambassador's "true feelings."
In 2020, Finley, along with over 130 other former Republican national security officials, signed a statement that asserted that President Trump was unfit to serve another term, and "To that end, we are firmly convinced that it is in the best interest of our nation that Vice President Joe Biden be elected as the next President of the United States, and we will vote for him."
Personal
Finley is the daughter of Edward Frederick Hamm Jr. (March 27, 1908 – March 19, 1985) and Joy Elizabeth (Fairman) Hamm (April 13, 1910 – April 15, 1990). Her father was the first managing director of the
Interstate Commerce Commission. She was married to William Thompson Finley Jr. (May 2, 1936 – May 21, 1992) and they had two sons. Her husband was a lawyer who clerked for Associate
Supreme Court Justice
William J. Brennan Jr. in 1964 and became a partner in the law firm of
Steptoe & Johnson
Steptoe & Johnson LLP is an international law firm headquartered in Washington, D.C. with offices in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, London, Brussels, Beijing, and Hong Kong.
History
Philip Steptoe and Louis A. Johnson, both ...
in January 1991.
References
External links
Profile, Institute for Policy Studies
, -
{{DEFAULTSORT:Finley, Julie
Atlantic Council
1930s births
Living people
Miss Porter's School alumni
Vassar College alumni
Washington, D.C., Republicans
Women in Washington, D.C., politics
American women diplomats
American diplomats
Recipients of the Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana, 2nd Class
21st-century American women