William Butts Macomber Jr. (March 28, 1921 – November 19, 2003) was an American diplomat who served in several positions in the United States Department of State. He was the 12th president of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Early life and education

Macomber was born in Rochester, New York, on March 28, 1921. He attended

Phillips Academy ("Not for Self") la, Finis Origine Pendet ("The End Depends Upon the Beginning") Youth From Every Quarter Knowledge and Goodness , address = 180 Main Street , city = Andover , state = Ma ...

, graduating in 1940, and Yale University, graduating in 1943. During World War II, he served in the United States Marine Corps, assigned to the

Office of Strategic Services The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was the intelligence agency of the United States during World War II. The OSS was formed as an agency of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) to coordinate espionage activities behind enemy lines for all branc ...

. After the war, he returned to Yale, receiving a master's degree in 1947. He next attended

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

, receiving his law degree in 1949. He then worked at Boston University as a

lecturer Lecturer is an List of academic ranks, academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. T ...

in government, then moved on to the University of Chicago, receiving a second master's degree in 1951.

Career

Macomber worked in the

U.S. Government The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 states, a city within a fede ...

for decades, serving under five presidents. His positions were unstable, however, because he was always a political appointee and not a career Foreign Service officer. Macomber joined the Central Intelligence Agency in 1951. Two years later, he moved to the United States Department of State as a special assistant of intelligence. In 1957, President Dwight D. Eisenhower nominated Macomber as assistant secretary of state for legislative affairs and served until February 27, 1961. President John F. Kennedy then named Macomber as

United States ambassador to Jordan The following is a list of Chief of Mission, chiefs of mission from the United States to Jordan. The first chief of mission, Gerald A. Drew held the title of Diplomatic rank, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary. The second chief of m ...

and Macomber held this post from April 5, 1961, until December 25, 1963. In 1964, he became assistant administrator of the United States Agency for International Development. Macomber returned to the office of assistant secretary of state for legislative affairs after he was named to the office by President Lyndon B. Johnson, and Macomber served in this office from March 7, 1967, through October 2, 1969. Richard Nixon appointed Macomber deputy

under secretary of state for management The Under Secretary of State for Management is a position within the United States Department of State that serves as principal adviser to the Secretary of State and Deputy Secretary of State on matters relating to the allocation and use of Depar ...

on September 26, 1969, and he served in this role from October 3, 1969, to April 4, 1973. President Richard Nixon appointed him United States ambassador to Turkey on March 27, 1973. He presented his credentials on May 16, 1973, and served until he left his post on June 15, 1977. In 1975, he published a book, ''The Angels' Game: A Handbook of Modern Diplomacy''. He retired from the United States Foreign Service in 1977.

Post-government life

In 1978, Macomber became the first full-time president of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. As president, he oversaw implementation of the MMA's master plan developed under his predecessor C. Douglas Dillon. He retired in 1986 due to the Met's mandatory retirement age of 65. In 1983, he was among the founders of the American Academy of Diplomacy. In retirement, Macomber taught social studies and coached football at

Nantucket High School Nantucket High School is a public high school in Nantucket, Massachusetts, United States. It is the only high school on the island of Nantucket. The school serves students in grades 9–12 and has an approximate enrollment of 530 students. The sch ...

Personal life

Macomber was married to the Boston native and

Simmons College Institutions of learning called Simmons College or Simmons University include: * Simmons University, a women's liberal arts college in Boston, Massachusetts * Simmons College of Kentucky, a historically black college in Louisville, Kentucky * Har ...

graduate, Phyllis Dorothy Bernau (1924–2014) in . They lived in a

Fifth Avenue Fifth Avenue is a major and prominent thoroughfare in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It stretches north from Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village to West 143rd Street in Harlem. It is one of the most expensive shopping stre ...

apartment and had a summer home in

Nantucket, Massachusetts Nantucket () is an island about south from Cape Cod. Together with the small islands of Tuckernuck and Muskeget, it constitutes the Town and County of Nantucket, a combined county/town government that is part of the U.S. state of Massachuse ...

. Macomber died of complications related to Parkinson's disease at his home in Nantucket, on November 19, 2003.

References

External links

September 30, 1989 Interview with William B. Macomber Jr.
at the Library of Congress.
Oral history interview with William B. Macomber , 1994 June 28-Dec. 15
from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Archives, New York. {{DEFAULTSORT:Macomber, William B. Jr. 1921 births 2003 deaths United States Assistant Secretaries of State People from Rochester, New York Yale University alumni Harvard Law School alumni University of Chicago alumni Boston University faculty Ambassadors of the United States to Jordan Ambassadors of the United States to Turkey United States Marine Corps personnel of World War II Presidents of the Metropolitan Museum of Art People of the Office of Strategic Services 20th-century American diplomats