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Rozanne L. Ridgway

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Rozanne L. Ridgway
Ridgway in 2010
14th Assistant Secretary of State for European and Canadian Affairs
In office
July 19, 1985 – June 30, 1989
PresidentRonald Reagan
George H. W. Bush
Preceded byRichard Burt
Succeeded byRaymond Seitz
United States Ambassador to East Germany
In office
January 26, 1983 – July 13, 1985
PresidentRonald Reagan
Preceded byHerbert Okun
Succeeded byFrancis Meehan
19th Counselor of the United States Department of State
In office
March 20, 1980 – February 24, 1981
PresidentRonald Reagan
Preceded byMatthew Nimetz
Succeeded byRobert McFarlane
United States Ambassador to Finland
In office
August 5, 1977 – February 20, 1980
PresidentJimmy Carter
Preceded byMark Austad
Succeeded byJames Goodby
Personal details
Born
Rozanne Lejeanne Ridgway

(1935-08-22) August 22, 1935 (age 89)
Saint Paul, Minnesota, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
Alma materHamline University

Rozanne Lejeanne Ridgway (born August 22, 1935) is an American diplomat who served 32 years with the U.S. State Department, holding several posts, including ambassador to Finland and to East Germany, and finished her career as Assistant Secretary of State for European and Canadian Affairs.

Ridgway has been an American foreign policy leader since the Richard Nixon administration. She has acted as an international negotiator on behalf of the United States.

Political career

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In the early 1970s, Ridgway negotiated longstanding issues over fishing rights in Brazil, Peru and the Bahamas. This led to her appointment in 1976 as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and Fisheries. During her tenure, she negotiated the 200-mile (370 km) fishing rights treaty. Ridgway's subsequent negotiations led to the return of property of U.S. citizens from Czechoslovakia.[1]

As Special Assistant to the Secretary of State for Negotiations and, subsequently, the Assistant Secretary of State for European and Canadian Affairs, she was the lead negotiator at all four Reagan-Gorbachev summits. These brought the first substantive reductions in nuclear weapons, signaled the beginning of the end of Communism and the Cold War, and established the fundamental realignment of global power as America prepared to enter the twenty-first century.[1]

Between Ridgway's positions at the Department of State, she served as America's Ambassador to Finland from 1977 to 1980 and as the Ambassador to the German Democratic Republic between 1983 and 1985.[2]

She is a member of the following organizations:

She was president of the Atlantic Council from 1989 to 1996, and currently the chairwoman of the Baltic-American Freedom Foundation.[3]

Honors

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In 1998, Ridgway was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.[4]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Ridgway, Rozanne L." National Women's Hall of Fame. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
  2. ^ Rozanne L. Ridgway archived copy
  3. ^ Giovanni Angioni (2010-09-20). "Building on success, investing in Human Capital". Estonian Free Press. Retrieved 2010-09-27.
  4. ^ National Women's Hall of Fame, Rozanne L. Ridgway.
[edit]
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by United States Ambassador to Finland
1977–1980 		Succeeded by
Preceded by United States Ambassador to East Germany
1983–1985 		Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded by Counselor of the United States Department of State
1980–1981 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Assistant Secretary of State for European and Canadian Affairs
1985–1989 		Succeeded by


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