J. William Middendorf

J. William Middendorf (center) in conversation with Lieutenant General Frank E. Petersen (left) and General Alfred M. Gray (1987)

John William Middendorf II (born September 22, 1924 in Baltimore , Maryland ) is a former American diplomat and politician ( Republican Party ), who served as Secretary of State for the United States from 1974 to 1977 .

Life

Middendorf, who served in the US Navy during World War II , began his academic career at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester , where he graduated in 1945 as a Bachelor of Naval Science ; two years later he received a Bachelor of Arts from Harvard College . In 1954 he graduated then as a Master of Business Administration at New York University .

In the run-up to the 1964 presidential election , he was part of the campaign team of Republican candidate Barry Goldwater and served as its treasurer. He later wrote a book about this time. In "Glorious Disaster: Barry Goldwater's Presidential Campaign And the Origins of the Conservative Movement" he shows how the significant defeat of the senator from Arizona against the Democratic incumbent, Lyndon B. Johnson as the foundation for the rise of conservative served movement in the US.

John William Middendorf (1969)

Middendorf was Treasurer of the Republican National Committee from 1965 to 1969 , before President Richard Nixon appointed him Ambassador to the Netherlands to succeed William R. Tyler , where he remained until 1973. On his return to the United States, he was initially Undersecretary in the Naval Office of the Department of Defense ; In 1974 he took over the office of Secretary of the Navy , which had held cabinet rank until 1947 . During this time, the Marine Corps Marathon was launched, a road run between Arlington and Washington , the winner of which receives a trophy named after Middendorf.

After working in banking between 1977 and 1981, he succeeded Gale W. McGee as Permanent Representative of the United States with the rank of Ambassador to the Organization of American States . He was one of the architects of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). From 1985 to 1987 he was the United States Ambassador to the European Union. Since 1989 he has been a member of the Board of Trustees of the Heritage Foundation , a conservative think tank based in Washington.

Web links

Commons : J. William Middendorf  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• J. William Middendorf in nndb (English)
• Heritage Foundation