Editing Michael Armacost

{{Short description|American diplomat (1937–2025)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2021}}
{{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]]<br />[[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]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]]) <br/> [[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 for International Studies|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 (corporate title) |president]] of the [[Brookings Institution]] from 1995 to 2002.

==Life and career==
Armacost was born in [[Ohio]] on April 15, 1937.<ref name="obit">{{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}}</ref><ref>{{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}}</ref>

In the 1960s, Armacost taught international relations and foreign policy at [[Pomona College]].<ref name="Shorenstein">{{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}}</ref>

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 [[United States National Security Council|National Security Council]] to handle [[East Asian]] and [[China|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.<ref>{{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 }}</ref>

Armacost served as Acting [[United States Secretary of State|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 University|Stanford]] Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center.<ref>{{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}}</ref> Armacost has served on numerous corporate and nonprofit boards, including [[TRW Inc.|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<ref>{{cite web |title=Board of Trustees - Carleton College |url=http://apps.carleton.edu/trustees/}}</ref> (1989) from Carleton College. He was an international fellow of the [[School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University]] in 1961.<ref>{{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}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{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}}</ref>

Armacost died at his home near San Francisco, on March 8, 2025, at the age of 87.<ref name="obit"/>

==Honors==
** [[File:JPN Kyokujitsu-sho 1Class BAR.svg|50px]]،[[Order of the Rising Sun|Order of the Rising Sun, Grand Cordon]], 2007 (Japan).<ref>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.]</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==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]

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{{Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs}}
{{US Ambassadors to Japan}}
{{US Ambassadors to the Philippines}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Armacost, Michael}}
[[Category:1937 births]]
[[Category:2025 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American diplomats]]
[[Category:Place of birth missing (living people)]]
[[Category:Acting United States secretaries of state]]
[[Category:Ambassadors of the United States to Japan]]
[[Category:Ambassadors of the United States to the Philippines]]
[[Category:Brookings Institution people]]
[[Category:Carleton College alumni]]
[[Category:Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni]]
[[Category:Grand Cordons of the Order of the Rising Sun]]
[[Category:National Bureau of Asian Research]]
[[Category:Pomona College faculty]]
[[Category:Stanford University fellows]]
[[Category:Under secretaries of state for political affairs]]
[[Category:United States National Security Council staffers]]
[[Category:White House Fellows]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of the Rising Sun| ]]