Editing Stuart E. Eizenstat

{{Short description|American diplomat and attorney (born 1943)}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| image               = Stuart E. Eizenstat (3x4 cropped).jpg
| caption             = Official portrait, 2014
| office              = Special Advisor for [[The Holocaust|Holocaust Issues]]
| president           = [[Barack Obama]]<br />[[Donald Trump]]<br />[[Joe Biden]]<br />[[Donald Trump]]
| term_start          = December 18, 2013
| term_end            = 
| predecessor         = Position established
| successor           = 
| office1             = 8th [[United States Deputy Secretary of the Treasury]]
| president1          = [[Bill Clinton]]
| term_start1         = July 16, 1999
| term_end1           = January 20, 2001
| predecessor1        = [[Lawrence Summers|Larry Summers]]
| successor1          = [[Kenneth W. Dam|Kenneth Dam]]
| office2             = 14th [[United States Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment|Under Secretary of State for Economic, Business, and Agricultural Affairs]]
| president2          = [[Bill Clinton]]
| term_start2         = June 6, 1997
| term_end2           = July 16, 1999
| predecessor2        = [[Joan E. Spero|Joan Spero]]
| successor2          = [[Alan Larson]]
| office3             = [[Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade]]
| president3          = [[Bill Clinton]]
| term_start3         = April 1996
| term_end3           = June 6, 1997
| predecessor3        = [[Timothy Hauser]] (acting)
| successor3          = [[David L. Aaron]]
| office4             = [[United States Ambassador to the European Union]]
| president4          = [[Bill Clinton]]
| term_start4         = August 2, 1993
| term_end4           = April 1996
| predecessor4        = [[James Dobbins (diplomat)|James Dobbins]]
| successor4          = [[A. Vernon Weaver|Vernon Weaver]]
| office5             = [[United States Domestic Policy Council|White House Domestic Affairs Advisor]]
| president5          = [[Jimmy Carter]]
| term_start5         = January 20, 1977
| term_end5           = January 20, 1981
| predecessor5        = [[James M. Cannon|James Cannon]]
| successor5          = [[Ralph Bledsoe]] (1985)
| birth_name          = Stuart Elliott Eizenstat
| birth_date          = {{birth date and age|1943|1|15}}
| birth_place         = [[Chicago]], [[Illinois]], U.S.
| death_date          = 
| death_place         = 
| party               = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
| spouse              = Frances Eizenstat
| education           = [[University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])<br />[[Harvard University]] ([[Juris Doctor|JD]])
}}

'''Stuart Elliott Eizenstat''' (born January 15, 1943) is an American diplomat and attorney. He served as the [[United States Ambassador to the European Union]] from 1993 to 1996 and as the [[United States Deputy Secretary of the Treasury]] from 1999 to 2001. For many years, and currently (as of 2025) he has served as a partner and Senior Counsel at the [[Washington, D.C.]]–based law firm [[Covington & Burling]] and as a senior strategist at [[APCO Worldwide]].

==Biography==

===Early life===
Stuart E. Eizenstat was born on January 15, 1943, in Chicago and raised in Atlanta; he was an all-city and honorable-mention All-America basketball player in high school.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/business/1999/05/14/for-no-2-job-a-familiar-figure/917cdffc-1a13-4d3c-b1d6-e7dcf3c48ba0/|title=For No. 2 Job, a Familiar Figure|last=Hager|first=George|date=1999-05-14|newspaper=Washington Post|access-date=2018-07-05|language=en-US|issn=0190-8286}}</ref> He earned an A.B. ''[[cum laude]]'' and [[Phi Beta Kappa]], in political science from the [[University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill]] where he was a brother of the Alpha Pi chapter of [[Zeta Beta Tau]] fraternity.<ref name="covington">[http://www.cov.com/seizenstat/ Covington & Burling: Stuart E. Eizenstat]</ref> He received his [[Juris Doctor]] degree from [[Harvard Law School]] in 1967.<ref name="covington"/> Eizenstat attended [[Blue Star Camps]] in Hendersonville, North Carolina, as a youth.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.jta.org/1997/06/24/lifestyle/around-the-jewish-world-southern-summer-camp-spawns-generations-of-committed-jews/amp|title=AROUND THE JEWISH WORLD Southern summer camp spawns generations of committed Jews|date=24 June 1997}}</ref>

===Career===
[[File:Stuart Eizenstat and Anne Wexler - NARA - 180722.tif|thumb|left|Stuart Eizenstat and [[Anne Wexler]], August 10, 1978]]

He served as a [[law clerk]] for the Honorable [[Newell Edenfield]] of the [[United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia]].

Eizenstat worked as the issues director of [[Jimmy Carter]]'s [[1970 Georgia gubernatorial election|1970]] gubernatorial campaign.<ref name="Burke">{{cite book |last1=Burke |first1=John P. |title=Presidential Transitions: From Politics To Practice |date=2000 |publisher=Lynne Rienner Publishers |location=Boulder |isbn=1555879160 |page=19}}</ref> 

Eizenstat worked on Carter's [[Jimmy Carter 1976 presidential campaign|1976 presidential campaign]]. He served as his point man in the drafting of the 1976 [[party platform]] and headed the issues operations of Carter's campaign.<ref name="Burke"/>


From 1977 to 1981, he was President Carter's Chief Domestic Policy Adviser, and Executive Director of the White House Domestic Policy Staff.<ref name="covington" /><ref name="apco">[http://www.apcoworldwide.com/content/international_advisory_council/KeyStaff.aspx?ksid=e86800e4-dcba-437d-8adb-f2704f0099a1&name=SEizenstat APCO Worldwide: Stuart E. Eizenstat] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100920163243/http://apcoworldwide.com/content/international_advisory_council/KeyStaff.aspx?ksid=e86800e4-dcba-437d-8adb-f2704f0099a1&name=SEizenstat |date=2010-09-20 }}</ref> 
[[File:Jimmy Carter hosts budget meeting with Stuart Eizenstat, Jack Watson, James McIntyre and other White House aides. - NARA - 182624.tif|thumb|Jimmy Carter hosts budget meeting with Eizenstat, [[Jack Watson (presidential adviser)|Jack Watson]], James McIntyre and other White House aides.]]
In 1983, he wrote for ''Quarante'' magazine an article entitled "The Quiet Revolution". He was the first to describe the "[[feminization of poverty]]". He was President [[Bill Clinton]]'s [[Deputy Secretary of the Treasury]] (1999–2001), [[Under Secretary of State for Economic, Business, and Agricultural Affairs]] (1997–1999), and also served as the Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade at the [[International Trade Administration]] (ITA) from 1996 to 1997.<ref name="apco"/>

In 1984, Eizenstat was elected as a fellow of the [[National Academy of Public Administration (United States)|National Academy of Public Administration.]]<ref>{{Cite web |last=Incorporated |first=Prime |title=National Academy of Public Administration |url=https://napawash.org/fellow/14213 |access-date=2023-02-07 |website=National Academy of Public Administration |language=en}}</ref>

[[File:Secretary Kerry Greets Former U.S. Diplomat Stuart Eizenstat Before Delivering Speech at U.N. Herzog Commemoration in New York (22955620345).jpg|thumb|US Secretary of State Kerry Greets Eizenstat before delivering speech at U.N., 2015]]

He has served as the [[United States Ambassador to the European Union]] from 1993 to 1996 and as co-chairman of the [[European-American Business Council]] (EABC).<ref name="covington"/> Additionally, he is a member of the Board of Advisors of the [http://www.globalpanel.org Global Panel Foundation].<ref>[http://globalpanel.org Global Panel Foundation]</ref>

Eizenstat led the U.S. delegation at the [[United Nations Climate Change conference#1997: COP 3, Kyoto, Japan|Third Conference of the Parties]] in Kyoto, Japan, which concluded by adopting the [[Kyoto Protocol]] and military exemptions to emissions controls.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Hermann|first1=Burkely|date=January 20, 2022|title=National Security and Climate Change: Behind the U.S. Pursuit of Military Exemptions to the Kyoto Protocol|language=en|publisher=[[National Security Archive]]|url=https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/environmental-diplomacy/2022-01-20/national-security-and-climate-change-behind-us|url-status=live|access-date=March 9, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220123162738/https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/environmental-diplomacy/2022-01-20/national-security-and-climate-change-behind-us|archive-date=January 23, 2022|series=[[National Security Archive#Publications|Briefing Book]] # 784}}</ref>

In 2008, the Ambassador Stuart E. Eizenstat Distinguished Professorship in Jewish history and culture was endowed in Eizenstat's honor at the [[University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill]]. For his work he has received the Courage and Conscience Award from the [[Government of Israel]], the Knight Commander's Cross (Badge and Star) of the [[Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany]], the [[French Legion of Honor]] from the [[Cabinet of France|Government of France]], and the International Advocate for Peace Award from the Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution.<ref name="apco"/>

Eizenstat is also a member of the [[Atlantic Council]]'s Board of Directors.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/about/board-of-directors/|title=Board of Directors|website=Atlantic Council|language=en-US|access-date=2020-02-11}}</ref>

On January 9, Eizenstat gave a eulogy for Carter upon the event of his [[Death and state funeral of Jimmy Carter|2025 state funeral]]. His stated purpose was to dispel the myth that Carter was an unsuccessful president but was successful in the years of his post-presidency.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Williams |first=Shania Shelton, Michael |date=2025-01-09 |title=Live updates: Jimmy Carter funeral service {{!}} CNN Politics |url=https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/jimmy-carter-funeral-01-09-25/index.html |access-date=2025-01-09 |website=CNN |language=en}}</ref>

===Holocaust restitution===
Eizenstat has devoted much effort to various aspects of [[Holocaust]] restitution.<ref>Covington & Burling web-page http://www.cov.com/seizenstat</ref>  This has included partial recompense for slave and forced labor, and most recently in 2018 for the trauma suffered by [[Kindertransport]]. It has also included restitution of Holocaust-era assets to their original owners or their heirs. Initially, he did this as President Clinton's "Special Representative of the President and Secretary of State on Holocaust-Era Issues." In this position, he took a leadership role for many nations.  In this role, he was approached by Turkish ambassador [[Şükrü Elekdağ]] who told him that "Turkey could no longer guarantee the safety of the [[Jews in Turkey]]" if there was any mention of the [[Armenian genocide]] in the [[United States Holocaust Memorial Museum]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Baer |first1=Marc D. |author-link=Marc David Baer |title=Sultanic Saviors and Tolerant Turks: Writing Ottoman Jewish History, Denying the Armenian Genocide |date=2020 |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=978-0-253-04542-3 |page=124}}</ref> Eizenstat has continued this role as a private citizen.{{citation needed|date=January 2021}} In 1998, he organized the Washington Conference on Holocaust Era Assets, resulting in the [[Washington Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art]].<ref name="USF">{{cite web |url=https://fcit.usf.edu/holocaust/resource/assets/index.HTM |title=The Washington Conference on Holocaust-Era Assets |publisher=Fcit.usf.edu |access-date=4 August 2016}}</ref>

Eizenstat acted on many occasions as a negotiator to gain payments by the current German government to Holocaust survivors, or their heirs.<ref>Claims Conference http://claimscon.org</ref> He also negotiated major agreements with the Swiss, Austrian, French, and other European governments, concerning slave and forced labor, which included life insurance policy payments to heirs of victims of the Holocaust; and restitution of Holocaust victim bank account assets, as well as of artworks which had been looted by the Nazis to their original owners, or their heirs. (Many such artworks had been acquired at a later date by National museums or important private museums.) One such piece is [[Gustav Klimt]]'s ''[[Lady in Gold]]'' which was returned to Maria Altmann.{{citation needed|date=January 2021}} 

In 2018, he helped negotiate a symbolic payment of 2,500 euros to those who had survived the Holocaust by having escaped it through the [[Kindertransport]] program, which had been assisted by the British government. This followed the precedent established in 2014 when Child Survivors negotiated a symbolic payment of 2,500 euros to child Holocaust survivors. The Kindertransport survivors were also Holocaust survivors, since they had been separated from their parents, often as very young children, and nearly all of them later discovered that their parents had died as victims of the Nazis. Eizenstat wrote about his restitution efforts in his book ''Imperfect Justice: Looted Assets, Slave Labor, and the Unfinished Business of World War II'' (2009). 

In 2013 Eizenstat was appointed "Special Advisor for Holocaust Issues" to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.<ref>U.S. State Dept. https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/ei/biog/218946.htm</ref> He served as Expert Advisor on Holocaust Issues during the first Trump administration, and in 2021 he was appointed by the Biden administration to serve as Special Advisor on Holocaust Issues.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Shapiro |first=Dmitriy |date=2021-12-28 |title=Eizenstat reappointed as Special Advisor for Holocaust Issues at State Department |url=https://www.jns.org/eizenstat-reappointed-to-special-advisor-for-holocaust-issues-at-state-department/ |access-date=2025-01-09 |website=JNS.org |language=en-US}}</ref>

===Personal life===
He was married to the late Frances Eizenstat and has two sons and eight grandchildren.

==Honors==
* [[Leo Baeck Medal]] (2013)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://forward.com/schmooze/192535/stuart-eizenstat-honored-by-leo-baeck-institute/|title = Stuart Eizenstat Honored by Leo Baeck Institute| date=10 February 2014 }}</ref>

== Publications ==
* {{Cite book|title=Imperfect Justice: Looted Assets, Slave Labor, and the Unfinished Business of World War II |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u8wC2nZ7suIC|access-date=21 August 2013|date=5 August 2009 |publisher=PublicAffairs|isbn=978-0-7867-5105-1}}
** [https://www.berg-institute.org/portfolio/justicia-imperfecta/  ''Justicia Imperfecta'']. Berg Institute. Spain. {{ISBN|978-84-948528-4-8}}.
* {{Cite book|title=The Future of the Jews: How Global Forces are Impacting the Jewish People, Israel, and Its Relationship with the United States |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WJih0-wq--cC|access-date=21 August 2013|date=3 May 2012|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers|isbn=978-1-4422-1629-7}}
* {{Cite book|title=President Carter: The White House Years|date=24 May 2018 |publisher=Thomas Dunne Books |isbn=978-1-2501-0455-7}}
* {{Cite book|title=The Art of Diplomacy: How American Negotiators Reached Historic Agreements That Changed The World |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z4LwEAAAQBAJ|access-date=4 June 2024|date=28 May 2024|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers|isbn=978-1538167991}}

== See also ==
* [[Christoph Meili]]

== References ==
<references/>

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Stuart E. Eizenstat}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20010520193237/http://www.law.harvard.edu/alumni/bulletin/backissues/summer99/article4.html Taking on the Unfinished Business of the Twentieth Century]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100920163243/http://apcoworldwide.com/content/international_advisory_council/KeyStaff.aspx?ksid=e86800e4-dcba-437d-8adb-f2704f0099a1&name=SEizenstat APCO Worldwide]
* {{C-SPAN|2247}}
* [https://www.cov.com/en/professionals/e/stuart-eizenstat Bio] at Covington & Burling

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Eizenstat, Stuart}}
[[Category:1943 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:20th-century American diplomats]]
[[Category:Ambassadors of the United States to the European Union]]
[[Category:American recipients of the Legion of Honour]]
[[Category:Carter administration personnel]]
[[Category:Clinton administration personnel]]
[[Category:Harvard Law School alumni]]
[[Category:Jewish American government officials]]
[[Category:Jews from Georgia (U.S. state)]]
[[Category:Jews from Illinois]]
[[Category:Knights Commander of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany]]
[[Category:People associated with Covington & Burling]]
[[Category:Politicians from Atlanta]]
[[Category:Politicians from Chicago]]
[[Category:Under Secretaries of Commerce for International Trade]]
[[Category:United States Deputy Secretaries of the Treasury]]
[[Category:United States special envoys]]
[[Category:United States Under Secretaries of Commerce]]
[[Category:United States under secretaries of state]]