Jack F. Matlock Jr.

Jack F. Matlock, Jr.
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
United States Ambassador to the Soviet Union
In office April 6, 1987 – August 11, 1991
President	Ronald Reagan
Preceded by	Arthur A. Hartman
Succeeded by	Robert S. Strauss
Personal details
Born	1929 Greensboro, North Carolina
Spouse	Rebecca Matlock

Jack Foust Matlock, Jr. (b. 1929, North Carolina) is a former American ambassador, career Foreign Service Officer, a teacher, a historian, and a linguist. He was a specialist in Soviet Affairs during some of the most tumultuous years of the Cold War, and served as U.S. Ambassador to the Soviet Union from 1987 to 1991. He is a historian of the Cold War and scholar of Russian history and culture.

Biography

Jack Matlock 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.

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 (1981-83) and as Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs and Senior Director for European and Soviet Affairs on the National Security Council Staff (1983-86). His languages are Czech, French, German, Russian, and Swahili.

Matlock was US President Ronald Reagan's choice for the position of ambassador to the Soviet Union, serving from 1987 to 1991. His previous tours in Moscow were as Vice Consul and Third Secretary (1961-1963), Minister Counselor and Deputy Chief of Mission (1974-1978), and Chargé d’Affaires ad interim (1981).

After he retired from the State Department in 1991, Matlock became 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 and at Hamilton College. He is an Adjunct Professor in the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs. He has been awarded honorary doctorates by Greensboro College, Albright College and Connecticut College.

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.

Captivated by Russia

By his own account, Matlock became captivated by Russia having read Dostoyevsky as an undergraduate at Duke University. He went on to study Russian language and area studies at the Russian Institute at Columbia University, and became convinced that the principal challenge of American diplomacy in the post World War II period would be dealing with the Soviet Union. After his 1953 appointment to a position as Russian Instructor at Dartmouth College, he supplemented his income by preparing an index to Joseph Stalin’s collected works on contract with the State Department. Because, in 1956, the Soviet Union was a closed society, he decided his best chance to get to know Russia was to join the Foreign Service and become a diplomat. His ultimate career goal was clear from the beginning:

…when I entered the Foreign Service I shocked a lot of people by what seemed to be overweening ambition when I was asked "What do you want out of the Foreign Service?" I stated frankly, "I want to be the American ambassador to the Soviet Union."

Moscow: as Third Secretary

After a tour in Vienna, Austria and Russian language training at the U.S. Army Russian Institute in Oberammergau, Matlock arrived in Moscow for the first time in 1961. Initially a Vice Consul, Matlock met with individuals seeking to visit or emigrate to the United States. His most famous case was Lee Harvey Oswald, who applied for a repatriation loan to return to the United States after having previously moved to the Soviet Union.

After a year, Matlock was promoted to Third Secretary in the Political Section. American foreign policy with regard to the Soviet Union, known as containment, had been articulated in 1947 by George F. Kennan, who was later to become a good friend of Matlock’s. The American policy was basically to contain the spread of Communism, in the expectation that it would eventually collapse of internal contradictions. This did not prevent discussions between the Superpowers. In June 1961, President John F. Kennedy and General Secretary Nikita Khruschev met in Vienna, and in December the UN General Assembly approved a draft joint resolution on principles for negotiating disarmament. This period also saw the beginnings of U.S. - U.S.S.R.cultural exchanges, notably the visit of poet Robert Frost to Moscow.

The containment policy was tested during the October 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. Matlock, along with Richard Davies and Herbert Okun, translated communications between President John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev.

Ghana and Tanzania

In late 1963, the Matlocks left Moscow for West Africa, arriving in Accra, Ghana. Kwame Nkrumah had become the first president of newly independent Ghana and post-colonial Africa was to be a venue for competition between the U.S. and Soviet Union for influence.

From there, in 1966, Matlock was sent to Zanzibar as consul. It was his first opportunity to be head of a diplomatic post. His predecessor as consul, Frank Carlucci, was later to become Secretary of Defense, and his successor, Thomas R. Pickering, was later to become Ambassador to the U.N..

Matlock's next assignment was as Deputy Chief of Mission in the capital of Tanzania, Dar es Salaam. Even in Africa, knowledge of Soviet Affairs proved useful. With Leonid Brezhnev in power, Soviet foreign policy as of 1968 was dictated by the Brezhnev Doctrine, which held that, once a country became Communist, it was never to leave the Soviet sphere of influence.

Washington: as Director of Soviet Affairs

In 1971 Matlock became Director of Soviet Affairs in the State Department. During Richard Nixon's presidency, a period known as détente, there was a reduction of Cold War tension.

Matlock participated in the negotiation of arms control treaties and other bilateral agreements. In fact, he attended every one of the U.S.-Soviet summits for the 20 year period 1972-1991, with the exception of the 1979 Carter - Brezhnev summit.

Summit Meetings 1972-79

Leaders	Topic	Venue	Dates	Reference
Nixon - Brezhnev	SALT I and ABM Treaties	Moscow	May 26, 1972	[13]
Nixon - Brezhnev	Official Visit	Washington	June 18-26, 1973	[14]
Nixon - Brezhnev	Official Visit	Moscow, Simferopol, Minsk	June 27-July 3, 1974	[15]
Ford - Brezhnev	SALT I	Vladivostok	November 23, 1974	[16]
Ford - Brezhnev	Helsinki Final Act	Helsinki	August 1, 1975	[17]
Carter - Brezhnev	SALT II Treaty	Vienna	June 16-18, 1979	[18]

Moscow: as Deputy Chief of Mission

After four years in Washington, he spent four years as Deputy Chief of Mission (DCM), the number two position, at Embassy Moscow. These years cemented his reputation within the State Department as a Soviet expert.

In early 1976, the State Department made public the fact that the Soviet Union had been beaming microwaves at the Moscow Embassy from a nearby building for many years. This caused concern about possible health effects of the low-level microwave radiation. Ironically, it was Soviet research that documented the psychological symptoms of electrical sensitivity to microwave exposure. In the United States, the standards for safe exposure to microwaves were much more lenient than in the Soviet Union.

The August 26, 1977 ABC Evening News covered the story of a major fire at the embassy. Despite the severity of the fire, all personnel were evacuated safely, and the efforts of the embassy staff elicited a commendation from President Jimmy Carter. Former KGB agent Victor Sheymov testified before Congress in 1998 that the fire was deliberately induced by the Soviets in an effort to gain access to sensitive areas by agents posing as firemen.

Stateside

Matlock returned to the United States and taught for a year at Vanderbilt University under the Diplomats in Residence program.

The following year, he came to Washington DC to take the number two posittion at the Foreign Service Institute, the State Department’s language training school.

In January 1980, in response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, President Carter postponed consideration of the SALT-2 Treaty and imposed a trade embargo.

Also in 1980, the new embassy under construction in Moscow was found to be so riddled with listening devices that it would be unusable for secure work.

Moscow: as Chargé d'Affaires

Matlock returned to Moscow in 1981 as acting Ambassador, or Chargé d’Affaires. By April 24, President Reagan had cancelled the export embargo, and trade resumed. Matlock signalled the American desire for constructive engagement with the Soviets:

We are seeking an active dialogue on all levels. But a dialogue is useful only if it is candid, and we must learn not to take offense at candor but to use it to help us understand each other.

- Jack F. Matlock, Jr. (New York Times Quote of the Day for July 5, 1981)

On August 6, 1981 President Reagan ordered the development of a neutron bomb. While contentious, this had the desired effect of bringing the Soviets to the bargaining table, and negotiations on limiting nuclear weapons in Europe started on November 30.

Czechoslovakia: as Ambassador

In late 1980 Matlock had been appointed Ambassador to Czechoslovakia by President Jimmy Carter. However, the appointment was not ratified by the Senate before Carter’s election loss, and so it was with Ronald Reagan’s re-appointment in 1981 that he became Ambassador to Czechoslovakia.

During his tenure, he was able to help resolve a major impediment to good relations: the return of 18.4 tons of gold that had been looted by the Nazis in World War II and kept, ever since its recovery by Allied forces, in American and British banks.

On March 23, 1983, President Reagan announced the Strategic Defense Initiative, a ground and space-based weapons system designed to protect from nuclear attack.

Matlock continued to advise the President on policy toward the Soviet Union. When, on September 1, 1983, the Soviets shot down commercial flight KAL 007, Matlock returned to Washington to work with White House officials.

Washington: National Security Council

Reagan appointed Matlock to the position of Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director of European and Soviet Affairs in the National Security Council (NSC) in order to develop a negotiating strategy to end the arms race. Earlier in the year, the long-standing containment strategy toward the U.S.S.R. had been modified by Matlock's predecessor Richard Pipes to include bringing internal pressure on the Soviets while conducting negotiations in the mutual interest.

In following years, discussions with the Soviets were conducted under a "Four-Part Agenda" including:

1. Human Rights
2. Regional Issues
3. Arms Control
4. Bilateral Issues

On November 25, 1983, Soviet leader Yuri Andropov announced the resumption of nuclear missle deployment in the western U.S.S.R.

The thaw in relations can be taken to begin with Ronald Reagan's January 16, 1984 speech declaring that the U.S. and U.S.S.R. had "common interests and the foremost among them is to avoid war and reduce the level of arms" in which he added that "I support a zero option for all nuclear arms." While the speech was commonly seen as propaganda, Lawrence Wittner, professor of History at the State University of New York - Albany says of it that "a number of officials--including its writer, Jack Matlock Jr.--have contended that it was meant to be taken seriously by Soviet leaders."

On June 30, 1984, the Soviets offered to start negotiations on space-based weapons.

Gorbachev period

On March 11, 1985 Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in the Soviet Union, and the next day negotiations on nuclear and space-based weapons began in Geneva. A few weeks later, he proposed a moratorium on the development of nuclear and space weapons during the negotiations, and in July, he proposed to ban nuclear testing. Reagan rejected the proposal.

Gorbachev began a period of internal economic restructuring, known as perestroika, and agreed to a series of summits with the American President. Matlock was instrumental in preparing Reagan for his first summit with Gorbachev, arranging for specialists within the government to write a “Soviet Union 101” course of 21 papers on Russia for Reagan to study. Matlock also participated in a mock summit, playing the role of Gorbachev, allowing Reagan to practice the encounter in advance.

Summit Meetings 1985-91

Leaders	Topic	Venue	Dates	Reference
Reagan - Gorbachev	Geneva Summit	Geneva	November 19-21, 1985	[19]
Reagan - Gorbachev	The Iceland Summit	Rejkjavik	October 11-12, 1986	[20]
Reagan - Gorbachev	INF Treaty	Washington, DC	December 7-10, 1987	[21]
Reagan - Gorbachev	INF Treaty ratification	Moscow	June 1, 1988	[22]
Reagan - Gorbachev	End of Class Struggle	New York	December 7, 1988	[23]
Bush - Gorbachev	Malta Summit	Malta	December 2-3, 1989	[24]
Bush - Gorbachev	Official Visit	Washington	May 30-June 3, 1990	[25]
Bush - Gorbachev	Persian Gulf War	Helsinki	September 8-9, 1990	[26]
Bush - Gorbachev	START I Treaty	Moscow	July 31, 1991	[27]

Relations took a turn for the worse with the Soviet’s arrest of U.S. reporter Nicholas Daniloff, evidently for use as a bargaining chip in response to the August 30, 1986 arrest of suspected KGB agent Gennadiy Zakharov. Since Daniloff was not engaged in espionage, Matlock advised taking a hard line with the Soviets. While charges against Daniloff were dropped, a diplomatic row ensued, leading by the end of October, to the expulsion of 100 Soviets, including 80 suspected intelligence officers. The U.S. lost 10 diplomats from Embassy Moscow, along with all 260 of the Russian support staff.

Moscow: as Ambassador

In 1987 Reagan appointed Matlock as Ambassador to the Soviet Union. Conditions at the Embassy were tense, as Marine Sargeant Clayton Lonetree had been found to have compromised Embassy security. Within a few months of the Lonetree scandal, all U.S. intelligence assets in the Soviet Union had been exposed. The Americans suspected that the security breach had meant that the Embassy code room was no longer secure and worked frantically to determine how. It was not until 1994 that Aldrich Ames, a mole within the CIA, was caught. Another mole, Robert Hanssen, this time within the FBI, was only caught in 2001.

In June 1991, Matlock, received word of a possible coup against Gorbachev, and warned him. It was to no avail; shortly thereafter, Gorbachev was removed from power in the August 1991 coup.

The Soviet Union collapsed by the end of 1991, just a few months after Matlock retired from a diplomatic career spanning 35 years. He began work on his magnum opus, Autopsy on an Empire: The American Ambassador's Account of the Collapse of the Soviet Union. This 836 page book details the final years of the Soviet Union, and is considered by many to be the definitive insider's guide to the subject.

End of the Cold War

A subsequent book, Reagan and Gorbachev: How the Cold War Ended goes into the relationship of the two men and their efforts to reach agreement on arms reductions between the superpowers. Matlock takes the position that the military build-up by Ronald Reagan in the early-1980s has contributed to the inaccurate characterization of Reagan as a war hawk. The quote atop the first page of Reagan and Gorbachev is by Ronald Reagan, speaking in 1981 during the beginnings of a one trillion dollar defence spending surge, that states "I've always recognized that ultimately there's got to be a settlement, a solution."

Reagan, according to Matlock, never altered from his goals as annunciated at his first press conference as President when he stated that, appearances to the contrary, he was in favor of "an actual reduction in the numbers of nuclear weapons." This would contradict the claims of Reagan-victory-school proponents such as Peter Schweitzer.

U.S. policy and politics

After retirement from the Foreign Service, Matlock has occasionally joined with other experts to criticize U.S. government policy. On June 26, 1997 he signed an Open Letter to Bill Clinton criticizing plans for NATO expansion. His reason for opposition, as given in his testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is the belief that NATO expansion will preclude significant nuclear arms reduction with Russia, and consequently increase the risk of a terrorist nuclear attack.

Matlock drew the ire of many Republicans during the 2004 Presidential election when he signed the Diplomats and Military Commanders for Change Official Statement of June 16, 2004, criticizing the policies of George W. Bush and endorsing John Kerry for President.

Published works

1. An index to the collected works of J. V. Stalin External Research Staff, Office of Intelligence Research, Dept. of State, (1955); reprinted by Johnson Reprint Corp ASIN B0006CV1AA (1971)
2. ISBN 0679413766 Autopsy of an Empire: The American Ambassador's Account of the Collapse of the Soviet Union, Random House (1995).
3. The Chechen Tragedy, The New York Review of Books (February 16, 1995)
4. Russia: The Power of the Mob, The New York Review of Books (July 13, 1995)
5. The Go-Between, The New York Review of Books (February 1, 1996)
6. The Russian Prospect, The New York Review of Books (February 29, 1996)
7. The Chechen Conflict and Russian Democratic Development Testimony before the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (March 6, 1996)
8. Dealing with a Russia in Turmoil: The Future of Partnership Foreign Affairs (May/June 1996)
9. The Struggle for the Kremlin, The New York Review of Books (August 8, 1996)
10. 'Struggle for the Kremlin': An Exchange, The New York Review of Books (September 19, 1996)
11. Gorbachev: Lingering Mysteries, The New York Review of Books (December 19, 1996)
12. 'The Gorbachev Factor': An Exchange, The New York Review of Books (March 27, 1997)
13. Gorbachev & the Coup: An Exchange, The New York Review of Books (June 26, 1997)
14. Success Story, The New York Review of Books (September 25, 1997)
15. Testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee NATO Expansion And the International Coalition in Europe (October 30, 1997)
16. Russia's Leaking Nukes, The New York Review of Books (February 5, 1998)
17. It's a Bad Idea; Vote Against It The Great NATO Debate, Center for War, Peace, and the News Media of New York University and MSNBC.com (March 3, 1998)
18. Too Many Arms to Twist New York Times, OpEd Page (March 22, 1998)
19. Chinese Checkers New York Times, Book Section (September 13, 1998)
20. The Poor Neighbor New York Times, Book Section (April 11, 1999)
21. The One Place NATO Could Turn for Help New York Times, OpEd Page (April 20, 1999)
22. Why Were We in Vietnam? New York Times, Books Section (August 8, 1999)
23. Can Civilizations Clash? American Philosophical Society Proceedings vol. 143, 3 (September, 1999)
24. The Dreamer: The World According to Gorbachev Foreign Affairs (January/February 2000)
25. The Nowhere Nation, The New York Review of Books (February 24, 2000)
26. Russia Votes: Will Democracy Win? New York Times, OpEd Page (March 26, 2000)
27. Policing the World New York Times, Books Section (March 26, 2000)
28. 'Ukraine Today', The New York Review of Books (April 13, 2000)
29. Security:The Bottom Line Arms Control Today (October, 2000)
30. Read Their Lips New York Times, Book Section (August 12,2001)
31. Dmitri Sergeyevich Likhachev American Philosophical Society Proceedings vol. 145, 3 (September, 2001)
32. The End of the Cold War: Rethinking the Origin and Conclusion of the US-Soviet Conflict Harvard International Review Vol. 23 (3) (Fall 2001)
33. The War We Face, Reflections NTI Research Library (October 15, 2001)
34. Deterring the Undeterrable New York Times, Books Section (October 20, 2002)
35. ISBN 0679463232 Reagan and Gorbachev: How the Cold War Ended, Random House (2004).
36. It Takes a Global Village New York Times, Books Section (March 21, 2004)
37. Western Intelligence and the Collapse of the Soviet Union, 1980-1990: Ten Years That Did Not Shake the World (review) Journal of Cold War Studies - Volume 6, Number 2, Spring 2004, pp. 99-101
38. Putin 'Made a Big Mistake' Interfering in Ukraine Politics Council on Foreign Relations, Interview by Bernard Gwertzman (December 6, 2004)
39. On the Battlefields of the Cold War: A Soviet Ambassador's Confession (review) The Russian Review ISSN 0036-0341, Volume 64, Number 1, (January 2005), 163-164.
40. Where is Putin’s Russia Going? World Affairs Councils of America (video) (January 20, 2006)
41. Boris Yeltsin, the Early Years New York Times, Opinion Section, (April 24, 2007)