United States Ambassador to the Soviet Union
In office
April 6, 1987 – August 11, 1991
President Ronald Reagan
George H.W. Bush
Preceded by Arthur A. Hartman
Succeeded by Robert S. Strauss
United States Ambassador to Czechoslovakia
In office
September 28, 1981 – September 20, 1983
President Ronald Reagan
Preceded by Francis J. Meehan
Succeeded by William H. Luers
Personal details
Born Jack Foust Matlock Jr.
October 1, 1929 (age 88)
Greensboro, North Carolina, United States
Spouse(s) Rebecca Matlock (m. 1949)
Alma mater Duke University
Columbia University
Profession Politician, foreign officer, educator, historian, linguist
Born in 1929 in Greensboro, North Carolina, Jack Matlock graduated from Greensboro Senior High School (see Grimsley High School) in 1946, married Rebecca Burrum in 1949, graduated summa cum laude from Duke University in 1950, and later earned an M.A. from Columbia University in 1952. He taught Russian language and literature at Dartmouth College from 1953 to 1956.[4]
He joined the Foreign Service in 1956, and served in Vienna, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Moscow, Accra, Zanzibar, and Dar es Salaam. He was Director of Soviet Affairs in the State Department (1971–74), Diplomat in Residence at Vanderbilt University (1978–79), and Deputy Director of the Foreign Service Institute (1979–80). He served as U.S. Ambassador to Czechoslovakia[5] (1981–83) and as Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs and Senior Director for European and Soviet Affairs[6] on the National Security Council Staff (1983–86). His languages are Czech, French, German, Russian, and Swahili.[5]
Matlock was US President Ronald Reagan's choice for the position of ambassador to the Soviet Union,[7] serving from 1987 to 1991. His previous tours in Moscow were as Vice Consul and Third Secretary (1961–1963), Minister Counsellor and Deputy Chief of Mission (1974–1978), and Chargé d’Affaires ad interim (1981).[4]
After he retired from the Foreign Service in 1991, Matlock reentered the academic world, becoming the Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Professor of the Practice of International Diplomacy at Columbia. After five years in that position he moved to the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, where he was George F. Kennan Professor from 1996 to 2001. Matlock has held visiting appointments at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, at Hamilton College, at the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs[8] and at Mount Holyoke College.[9] He has been awarded honorary doctorates by Greensboro College, Albright College and Connecticut College.[10] Matlock completed his dissertation and received his Ph.D. from the Columbia University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at their commencement ceremony on May 22, 2013.[11]
Jack and Rebecca Matlock now divide their time between a home in Princeton and Rebecca's family farm in Booneville, Tennessee. They have five children and three grandchildren.[4]