Jack F. Matlock Jr.
Jack F. Matlock Jr. is a retired U.S. career diplomat and scholar specializing in Soviet and Russian affairs. Born in Greensboro, North Carolina in 1929, Matlock earned his B.A. summa cum laude from Duke University in 1950 and an M.A. from Columbia University in 1952, where he studied Russian language and area studies. His interest in Russia was sparked by reading Dostoyevsky as an undergraduate at Duke.
Before his diplomatic career, Matlock taught Russian language and literature at Dartmouth College from 1953 to 1956. He then served 35 years in the U.S. Foreign Service from 1956 to 1991, holding key positions including Vice Consul in Moscow, Director of Soviet Affairs in Washington, Ambassador to Czechoslovakia, and most notably, Ambassador to the Soviet Union from 1987 to 1991, where he witnessed the final years of the Cold War and attended nearly all major U.S.-Soviet summits between 1972 and 1991. Throughout his career, he held positions in Ghana, Zanzibar, and Tanzania, while also serving as a specialist on Soviet affairs at the National Security Council.
After his retirement from the Foreign Service, Matlock became a respected historian and author, writing influential works including Autopsy on an Empire (1995) and Reagan and Gorbachev: How the Cold War Ended (2004). He has taught diplomacy and international relations at Columbia University, Princeton University, Duke University, and Hamilton College, and held the George F. Kennan Professorship at Princeton’s Institute for Advanced Study from 1996 to 2001. In recognition of his scholarly contributions, Matlock was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1998 and earned his Ph.D. from Columbia University in 2013 at age 83. He is fluent in Czech, French, German, Russian, and Swahili.
- Armenia-EU Relations— Armenia's partnership with the European Union, the CEPA trade agreement, the EU monitoring mission on the border, and prospects for closer integration.
- Armenia-NATO Relations— Armenia's relationship with NATO, including military exercises, interoperability programs, and the debate over whether deeper ties are feasible or desirable.
- Armenia-US Relations— U.S.-Armenia relations, including USAID programs, defense cooperation talks, Armenian-American lobby efforts, and Washington's South Caucasus policy.
- Geopolitics— Armenia's strategic position in the South Caucasus and its relationships with regional and global powers in a rapidly shifting multipolar world.
- Armenian History— Armenia's long history — from the ancient Urartu kingdom and the Battle of Avarayr through the medieval Cilician kingdom, the First Republic, and the Soviet era.