Bruce Laingen

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Lowell Bruce Laingen was the senior American official held hostage during the Iran hostage crisis. Bruce Laingen was President of the American Academy of Diplomacy from 1991-2006. The Academy is a nonprofit, limited membership society of men and women retired from government service who served as ambassadors in major American embassies or who have held other senior positions in the conduct of American foreign policy, whether as career or political appointees. The Academy is dedicated to fostering the highest standards in the conduct of diplomacy.

Ambassador Laingen is a Minnesotan, who served in the Foreign Service for 38 years, including time as a hostage in Iran from 1979-1981. Following his release, Ambassador Laingen served as Vice President of the National Defense University in Washington, D.C. until his retirement from the Foreign Service in 1987. He was Executive Director of the National Commission on the Public Service (The Volcker Commission) from 1987 until the Commission completed its work in 1990. He has been President of the American Academy of Diplomacy since l991.

In addition to his work with the Academy, Ambassador Laingen serves on the boards of A Presidential Classroom for Young Americans, the Mercersburg Academy of Pennsylvania, No Greater Love and the National Defense University Foundation. He lectures occasionally on the subject of U.S.-Iranian affairs and on the practice of diplomacy.

He is a graduate of St. Olaf College in Minnesota, the National War College and has a Masters degree in international relations from the University of Minnesota. He has honorary degrees from Columbia College in Missouri, the University of Dubuque in Iowa, Hahneman University in Philadelphia, the Western University of Health Sciences in California and the University of Minnesota.

He is the author of Yellow Ribbon, the Secret Journal of Bruce Laingen in 1992.

SHORT BIO: Laingen was born on a farm in southern Minnesota, going on to graduate from St. Olaf College. He also studied at the National War College, and received a M.A. in International Relations from the University of Minnesota. During World War II Laingen served in the US Navy, and in 1949 he joined the US Foreign Service. He served until 1987 at posts in Germany, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and then was appointed ambassador to Malta in 1977. Laingen was then sent back to Iran as the US chargé d'affaires, but within months of his arrival, the US embassy was overrun by student protesters. He, along with two other American officials, were at the Iranian Foreign Ministry at the time of the assault, but were trapped and held for the next 14 months. After his ordeal, Laingen was awarded the State Department's Award for Valor along with several other recognitions.

[edit] References

• Interview with Foreign Affairs Oral History Program
• Academy of Diplomacy Bio