Morton Isaac Abramowitz (born 1933) is an American diplomat and former State Department official.
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Abramowitz was born in Lakewood Township, New Jersey on January 20, 1933. He was educated at Stanford University, receiving a B.A. in 1953.[1] He then attended Harvard University, earning an M.A. in 1955. He spent the next year studying at American University.
In 1956, Abramowitz joined the United States Department of Labor, first as a management intern, then as a labor economist from 1957-58. In 1959, he joined the United States Department of State as a program analyst posted in Taipei. From 1960 to 1962, he was Consular-Economic Officer in Taipei. He was then posted as a political officer in Hong Kong from 1963 to 1966. He returned to the United States in 1966, becoming a State Department international economist. From 1968 to 1971, he served as a Special Assistant in the Office of the Under Secretary of State. He was a State Department foreign affairs analyst 1971-73. From 1974 to 1968, he was a Deputy Assistant Secretary of State.
In 1978, President of the United States Jimmy Carter named Abramowitz United States Ambassador to Thailand, and he held this post from August 9, 1978 until July 31, 1981.
In 1983, President Ronald Reagan named Abramowitz U.S. Ambassador to the Mutual and Balanced Force Reductions talks in Vienna.
President Reagan nominated Abramowitz as Director of the Bureau of Intelligence and Research in 1985, and Abramowitz held this office from February 1, 1985 through May 19, 1989 (with the name of the office changing to Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research in 1986).
In 1989, President George H. W. Bush named Abramowitz United States Ambassador to Turkey, a post he held until 1991. In 1990, he was awarded the rank of Career Ambassador.[2]
Abramowitz retired from government service in 1991, becoming president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1995.[3] He retired from that position in 1997. Since then, he has been a Senior Fellow of The Century Foundation and a director of the National Endowment for Democracy.
| Diplomatic posts | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Charles S. Whitehouse |
United States Ambassador to Thailand August 9, 1978 – July 31, 1981 |
Succeeded by John Gunther Dean |
| Government offices | ||
| Preceded by Hugh Montgomery |
Director of the Bureau of Intelligence and Research February 1, 1985 – May 19, 1989 |
Succeeded by Douglas P. Mulholland |
| Diplomatic posts | ||
| Preceded by Robert Strausz-Hupé |
United States Ambassador to Turkey 1989 – 1991 |
Succeeded by Richard Clark Barkley |