Former Ambassador to Soviet Union to speak at Rowan

Jack F. Matlock Jr., former ambassador to the Soviet Union during the Reagan presidency, will discuss innovative ways of addressing post-Cold War global conflicts during a talk Tuesday, March 11, at Rowan University.

Matlock, who also served as an ambassador to Czechoslovakia during President Ronald Reagan's years in office, will present his talk, "America, Russia and the World Since the End of the Cold War: Resolving Conflict in a New Era," at 3:15 p.m. in the Eynon Ballroom of the Chamberlain Student Center.

Matlock's address, which is free and open to the public, is part of the University's Hollybush Lecture Series, a year-long celebration marking the 40th anniversary of the Hollybush Summit at Rowan.

In June of 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson and Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin met at the University's Hollybush Mansion for a two-day Summit. Their talks worked to ease Cold War tensions between the U.S. and the Soviet Union.

Matlock's 35-year career as an ambassador and Foreign Service officer spanned some of the tensest years of the Cold War. He entered the Foreign Service in 1956 and, in 1962, he helped to translate messages between President John F. Kennedy and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

As a vice consul in Moscow (1961-1963), he met with people who wanted to visit or emigrate to America, including Lee Harvey Oswald in 1962.

In 1971, Matlock was appointed director of Soviet Affairs in the State Department. From 1972-1991, he attended every U.S.-Soviet summit, except for the Carter-Brezhnev summit in 1979.

Matlock served as ambassador to Czechoslovakia from 1981-83, when Reagan assigned him to the National Security Council, where he worked to develop a negotiating strategy to end the arms race. In 1987, Reagan appointed Matlock as ambassador to the Soviet Union, a post he held until his retirement from the Foreign Service in 1991.

Matlock, who holds degrees from Duke and Columbia universities, is the author of Autopsy on an Empire: The American Ambassador's Account of the Collapse of the Soviet Union and Reagan and Gorbachev: How the Cold War Ended. Most recently, he has taught at Princeton and Columbia universities and Hamilton College.

Rowan's Provost's Office, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the history and political science departments are sponsoring Matlock's appearance.

Matlock's talk is part of a year-long series of events planned at the University to commemorate the summit and to explore issues that faced the world then--and now. Among the upcoming events are:

"40 Years of Space Exploration, presented by Dr. Greg Olsen, the third private citizen to orbit the earth on the International Space Station (1:30 p.m., Rowan Hall auditorium).

"Soldiers of the Cold War: Political activism of ethic groups in the U.S. during the Cold War," featuring a host of panelists from colleges and universities nationwide (10:30 a.m., Eynon Ballroom, Chamberlain Student Center).

Panel discussion with moderator Dan Rather, former CBS Evening News anchor, and the following panelists: William Porter, director of the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies and Sam Nunn and Richard Lugar Professor of Nonproliferation Studies at Monterey Institute of International Studies; Joseph Cirincione, senior fellow and director for the Nuclear Policy Center for American Progress; and Rose Gottemoeller, Moscow Centre Director of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (4:30 p.m., Pfleeger Concert Hall, Wilson Hall).

For more information about Hollybush activities, to listen to past lectures in the series, or to view historic video from the Summit, visit www.rowan.edu/hollybush or call 856-256-4240.