Maxwell Milton Rabb (September 28, 1910 – June 9, 2002) was an American lawyer who served in various positions as an advisor to U.S. President

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...

, and later as Ambassador to Italy under President

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

. Rabb was born in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, Massachusetts and earned an A.B. and an

LLB Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the China, People's Republic ...

from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

in 1932 and 1935, respectively. From 1937 to 1943, Rabb served as administrative assistant (secretary) to U.S. Senator

Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. (July 5, 1902 – February 27, 1985) was an American diplomat and Republican United States senator from Massachusetts in both Senate seats in non-consecutive terms of service and a United States ambassador. He was considered ...

of Massachusetts. In 1944, when Lodge left the Senate, Rabb briefly worked as an administrative assistant for Lodge's successor as U.S. Senator, Sinclair Weeks. From 1944 to 1946, Rabb joined the

United States Navy Reserve The United States Navy Reserve (USNR), known as the United States Naval Reserve from 1915 to 2005, is the Reserve Component (RC) of the United States Navy. Members of the Navy Reserve, called Reservists, are categorized as being in either the Sele ...

and served as a lieutenant. In 1946 he would also serve as legal consultant to

United States Secretary of the Navy The secretary of the Navy (or SECNAV) is a statutory officer () and the head (chief executive officer) of the United States Department of the Navy, Department of the Navy, a military department (component organization) within the United States D ...

James Forrestal. Rabb got involved in the Eisenhower for President campaign in late 1951 and worked full-time for the campaign in 1952. In January 1953 he joined the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...

staff as aide to

Sherman Adams Llewelyn Sherman Adams (January 8, 1899 – October 27, 1986) was an American businessman and politician, best known as White House Chief of Staff for President Dwight D. Eisenhower, the culmination of an 18-year political career that also incl ...

and counsel to the President, and in 1954 he became Secretary to the Cabinet (or Cabinet Secretary), a position he held until he resigned in 1958. Throughout all his time in the White House, Rabb was viewed as the staff member in charge of minority affairs. Correspondence, reports, and printed materials involving Jewish issues, African-Americans, civil rights, segregation, integration, anti-Semitism, refugees, and immigration were often referred to Rabb. Following his resignation in 1958, Rabb became chairman of the U.S. delegation to the 1958

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

Conference in Paris. Rabb was a partner in the New York City law firm of

Stroock & Stroock & Lavan Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP (known as Stroock) is an American law firm based in New York City, with offices also in Los Angeles, Miami, and Washington, DC. Stroock provides transactional and litigation guidance to multinational corporations, ...

before returning to public life and serving as the United States Ambassador to Italy from 1981 to 1989. During his tenure as Ambassador he was accused by the actor

Nico Minardos Nico Minardos (February 15, 1930, Pangrati, Athens – August 27, 2011, Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California) was a Greek-American actor. He died in 2011 in Woodland Hills, California at age 81, from natural causes. Work in Hollywood His fir ...

of sanctioning, on behalf of the U.S. Government, an arms deal with Iran during a meeting between Rabb and Minardos at the U.S. Embassy in Rome. At the time, Minardos was involved in business dealings with famed Saudi arms merchant Adnan Khashoggi. Rabb emphatically denied his involvement and ultimately he was not required to testify after the criminal indictment against Minardos and others was dismissed by U.S. Attorney

Rudy Giuliani Rudolph William Louis Giuliani (, ; born May 28, 1944) is an American politician and lawyer who served as the 107th Mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001. He previously served as the United States Associate Attorney General from 1981 to 198 ...

in the wake of the Iran-Contra scandal.

References

External links

Papers of Maxwell Rabb, Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library * , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Rabb, Maxwell M. 1910 births 2002 deaths Ambassadors of the United States to Italy Eisenhower administration cabinet members Harvard Law School alumni Jewish American lawyers Massachusetts Republicans United States Navy officers 20th-century American diplomats