Thomas R. Pickering
b. 1931, New Jersey -
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Service History
Career Ambassador
Career Foreign Service Officer
Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, 1997 – 2000
US Ambassador to Russia, 1993 – 1996
US Ambassador to India, 1992 – 1993
US Representative to the United Nations, 1989 – 1992
US Ambassador to Israel, 1985 – 1988
US Ambassador to El Salvador, 1983 – 1985
US Ambassador to Nigeria, 1981 – 1983
Assistant Secretary for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, 1978 – 1981
US Ambassador to Jordan, 1974 – 1978
State Department Executive Secretary, 1973 – 1974
Biography
Ambassador Tom Pickering holds the personal rank of career ambassador, the highest in the US Foreign Service. In a diplomatic career spanning five decades, he was US ambassador to the Russian Federation, India, Israel, El Salvador, Nigeria, and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. He also served on assignments in Zanzibar and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. In Washington, DC, Pickering was assistant secretary of state for the Bureau of Oceans, Environmental and Scientific Affairs, executive secretary of the Department of State, and special assistant to Secretaries of State William P. Rogers and Henry A. Kissinger.
Ambassador Pickering was also the US ambassador and representative to the United Nations (UN) in New York City under President George H. W. Bush. In this role, Pickering led the US effort to build a global coalition in the UN Security Council during and after the first Gulf War (1990 to 1991). He also was the under secretary of state for Political Affairs under President Bill Clinton.
In his long and illustrious career of government service, Ambassador Pickering helped advance American diplomacy by organizing the Security Council coalition at the UN during the lead up to Gulf War, helping to provide Hawk missiles to Jordan, resolving problems in Russia regarding arms sales to Iran and India, dealing with civil war in El Salvador and human rights violations, and directly assisting Secretary Kissinger during the Yom Kippur War (Ramadan War) in 1973.
After his government service, Ambassador Pickering was the senior vice president of international relations of The Boeing Company from 2001 to 2006. In this role, Pickering was responsible for Boeing’s relations with foreign governments and the company’s transition to a global organization. He was briefly the president of the Eurasia Foundation, a Washington-based organization that makes small grants and loans in the states of the former Soviet Union.
Since 2006, Ambassador Thomas R. Pickering has been Vice Chairman of Hills and Company. The firm provides consultancy services on a wide variety of international activities. Pickering is also chair of the Board of Directors for the Diplomacy Center Foundation, the private-sector partner in creating the National Museum of American Diplomacy.