Jack F. Matlock, Jr.

Jack Foust Matlock, Jr. (born October 1, 1929) is a former American ambassador, career Foreign Service Officer, a teacher, an 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. Matlock became interested in Russia as a Duke University undergraduate, and after studies at Columbia University and a stint as a professor of Russian at Dartmouth College, entered the Foreign Service in 1956. His 35 year career encompassed much of the Cold War period between the Soviet Union and the United States. His first assignment to Moscow was in 1961, and it was from the embassy there that he experienced the 1962...