Michael Armacost

{{Infobox officeholder

| honorific_prefix =

| name = Michael Armacost

| honorific_suffix =

| image = Michael Armacost 1987.jpg

| image_size = 160

| caption = Armacost in 1987

| ambassador_from = United States

| country = Japan

| term_start = May 15, 1989

| term_end = July 19, 1993

| predecessor = Mike Mansfield

| successor = Walter Mondale

| president = George H. W. Bush
Bill Clinton

| office2 = Acting United States Secretary of State

| president2 = George H. W. Bush

| term_start2 = January 20, 1989

| term_end2 = January 25, 1989

| predecessor2 = George Shultz

| successor2 = James Baker

| office3 = 13th Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs

| president3 = Ronald Reagan

| term_start3 = May 18, 1984

| term_end3 = March 2, 1989

| predecessor3 = Lawrence Eagleburger

| successor3 = Robert M. Kimmitt

| ambassador_from4 = United States

| country4 = the Philippines

| term_start4 = March 12, 1982

| term_end4 = April 18, 1984

| predecessor4 = Richard W. Murphy

| successor4 = Stephen W. Bosworth

| president4 = Ronald Reagan

| office5 = President of the Brookings Institution

| term_start5 = October 2, 1995

| term_end5 = July 1, 2002

| predecessor5 = Bruce K. MacLaury

| successor5 = Strobe Talbott

| birth_name = Michael Hayden Armacost

| birth_date = {{birth date|1937|4|15}}

| birth_place = Ohio, U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age|2025|3|8|1937|4|15}}

| death_place = near San Francisco, California, U.S.

| education = Carleton College (BA)
Columbia University (PhD)

| occupation = Diplomat

}}

Michael Hayden Armacost (April 15, 1937 – March 8, 2025) was an American diplomat and a fellow at Stanford University's Freeman Spogli Institute, who was acting United States Secretary of State during the early days of the administration of President George H. W. Bush, before Secretary James Baker was confirmed by the Senate. Armacost also served as United States Ambassador to Japan and the president of the Brookings Institution from 1995 to 2002.

Life and career

Armacost was born in Ohio on April 15, 1937.{{cite news |title=Former US Ambassador to Japan Michael Armacost dies at 87 |url=https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20250313_11/ |access-date=13 March 2025 |publisher=NHK World Japan |date=13 March 2025}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ATgzo8jnNtYC&q=%22Armacost,+Michael+Hayden%22+AND+%221937%22|title = The International Who's Who, 1989–90|year = 1989| publisher=Europa Publications Limited |isbn = 9780946653508}}

In the 1960s, Armacost taught international relations and foreign policy at Pomona College.{{cite news |title=Faculty Spotlight: Michael Armacost |url=https://aparc.fsi.stanford.edu/news/faculty-spotlight-michael-armacost |accessdate=July 29, 2020 |work=aparc.fsi.stanford.edu |date=October 29, 2014 |language=en}}

Armacost was a White House Fellow in 1969–1970. Founded in 1964, the White House Fellowship is one of America’s most prestigious programs for leadership and public service. The Fellowship, awarded on a strictly non-partisan basis, offers exceptional young leaders first-hand experience working at the highest levels of federal government.

In January 1977, Armacost was selected as a member of the National Security Council to handle East Asian and Chinese affairs under the Carter administration until July 1978, when he was replaced by Nicholas Platt. Years later, he was appointed to be the United States Ambassador to Japan from 1989 to 1993, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs from 1984 to 1989, and United States Ambassador to the Philippines from 1982 to 1984, during a critical period of political upheaval during the Ferdinand Marcos presidency.{{cite web|url=http://www.aliciapatterson.org/APF_Stories/Bird/Bird02/Bird.html |title=Inside the Manila Embassy |publisher=Kai Bird |accessdate=November 12, 2009 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20091009014056/http://www.aliciapatterson.org/APF_Stories/Bird/Bird02/Bird.html |archivedate=October 9, 2009 }}

Armacost served as Acting Secretary of State from January 20, 1989, to January 25, 1989. Between 1995 and 2002, he served as president of the Brookings Institution.

Armacost had received the President's Distinguished Service Award, the Defense Department's Distinguished Civilian Service Award, and the Secretary of State's Distinguished Services Award.

Armacost was the author of three books, the most recent of which, Friends or Rivals?, was published in 1996 and draws on his tenure as ambassador. He also co-edited, with Daniel Okimoto, The Future of America's Alliances in Northeast Asia, published in 2004 by Stanford Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center.{{Cite web |title=The Future of America's Alliances in Northeast Asia |url=https://fsi9-prod.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/1_introduction_future_of_americas_alliances.pdf |access-date=September 8, 2023}} Armacost has served on numerous corporate and nonprofit boards, including TRW, AFLAC, Applied Materials, USEC, Inc., Cargill, Inc, Carleton College, and The Asia Foundation.

Armacost received a Bachelor of Arts in international relations (1958) and an honorary degree{{cite web |title=Board of Trustees - Carleton College |url=http://apps.carleton.edu/trustees/}} (1989) from Carleton College. He was an international fellow of the School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University in 1961.{{Cite web |date=June 2006 |title=The Regional Institutes and the International Fellows Program |url=https://sipa.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/SIPA-News-June-2006.pdf |access-date=September 3, 2021 |website=SIPA News}} He earned his Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1965.

Armacost was a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration.{{Citation needed|date=September 2023}} He was chairman of Carleton College's board of trustees from 2004 to 2008.{{Cite web |last= |title=Carleton Announces New Board of Trustees Chair, Members - Carleton College |url=https://www.carleton.edu/news/stories/carleton-announces-new-board-of-trustees-chair-members/ |access-date=2023-09-08 |website=www.carleton.edu |language=en-US}}

Armacost died at his home near San Francisco, on March 8, 2025, at the age of 87.

Honors

50px،Order of the Rising Sun, Grand Cordon, 2007 (Japan).Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA): [http://www.mofa.go.jp/ICSFiles/afieldfile/2007/11/08/2007AutumnConfermentofDecor.pdf 2007 Autumn Conferment of Decorations on Foreign Nationals, p. 1.]

References

External links

{{IMDb name| 4668441}}
[http://www.nbr.org/publications/element.aspx?id=246 The Mismatch between Northeast Asian Change and American Distractions], by Michael H. Armacost, NBR Analysis, January 2007
{{C-SPAN|524}}
[https://www.nippon.com/en/people/e00020/ Forging Even Closer Japan-US Ties | Nippon.com]