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 The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other n ...

. He was the 12th president of the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

Early life and education

Macomber was born in

Rochester, New York Rochester () is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, the county seat, seat of Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, ...

, 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 Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

, graduating in 1943. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, he served in the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

, 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 A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

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 Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...

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 ...

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

, then moved on to the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

, 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 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, ...

in 1951. Two years later, he moved to the

as a special assistant of intelligence. In 1957, 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, ...

nominated Macomber as

assistant secretary of state for legislative affairs The Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs is the head of the Bureau of Legislative Affairs within the United States Department of State. List of Assistant Secretaries of State for Legislative Affairs External linksList of Assis ...

and served until February 27, 1961. President

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination i ...

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 The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government that is primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance. With a budget of over $27 bi ...

. 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 Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...

, and Macomber served in this office from March 7, 1967, through October 2, 1969.

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

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

appointed him

United States ambassador to Turkey The United States has maintained many high level contacts with Turkey since the 19th century. Ottoman Empire Chargé d'Affaires *George W. Erving (before 1831) * David Porter (September 13, 1831 – May 23, 1840) Minister Resident * David Port ...

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

. As president, he oversaw implementation of the MMA's master plan developed under his predecessor

C. Douglas Dillon Clarence Douglas Dillon (born Clarence Douglass Dillon; August 21, 1909January 10, 2003) was an American diplomat and politician, who served as U.S. Ambassador to France (1953–1957) and as the 57th Secretary of the Treasury (1961–1965). He was ...

. 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 Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...

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 The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

.
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