Michael Holt Newlin (May 16, 1926 – August 9, 2021) was an American diplomat who served as the

United States Ambassador to Algeria The ambassador of the United States to Algeria is the official representative of the president of the United States to the head of state of Algeria. Until 1962, Algeria had been under the dominion of France. Independence from France was formally ...

. A career Foreign Service officer, he was nominated by

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 ...

in August 1981, and served from October 28, 1981, until July 21, 1985. He was also the Representative of the U.S.A. to the Vienna Office of the United Nations from August 12, 1988, until September 6, 1991.

Early life

Born in Greensboro, he lived there until the age of ten or eleven when the family moved to Sanford, North Carolina. He attended

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 ...

, living in Leverett House, majoring in government with a “second in economics.” While attending Harvard he wanted to go see operas but did not have enough money to do so, becoming extras in operas to see them while making some money to pay for tuition. He graduated in 1949 and went on to graduate from the

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA p ...

(M.B.A., 1951).

Career

Newlin was a civilian expert with the Department of the Air Force in 1951-52, leaving to enter the Foreign Service. He was an economic and consular officer in Frankfurt and political officer in Oslo in 1954-58. Within a week of arriving in Norway he went skiing (for the first time) with his wife Milena and broke his leg. Later positions included foreign affairs officer in the Office of United Nations Political Affairs (1958–63), deputy chief of the political section in Paris/USNATO (1963–67) and in Brussels/USNATO (1967–68), counselor for political affairs at the United States Mission to the United Nations in New York in 1968-72. Deputy Chief of Mission in Kinshasa (1972–75) and principal officer in Jerusalem in 1975-80. In 1980-81 he was Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs. After his term as

, Newlin served as Deputy

Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs The Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs is the head of the Bureau of Consular Affairs within the United States Department of State. The Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs reports to the Under Secretary of State for ...

, where, before the Senate and opposed by Kurt Vonnegut, he defended provisions of the

Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 (), also known as the McCarran–Walter Act, codified under Title 8 of the United States Code (), governs immigration to and citizenship in the United States. It came into effect on June 27, 1952. Before ...

involving good moral character, including denial of visas to aliens prejudicial to the public interest.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Newlin, Michael H. 1926 births 2021 deaths Harvard College alumni Harvard Business School alumni People from Greensboro, North Carolina People from Sanford, North Carolina Ambassadors of the United States to Algeria Representatives of the United States to the United Nations International Organizations in Vienna American expatriates in West Germany American expatriates in Norway American expatriates in France American expatriates in Belgium American expatriates in the Democratic Republic of the Congo American expatriates in Israel 20th-century American diplomats