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Martin Joseph Hillenbrand (August 1, 1915 – February 2, 2005) was an American diplomat who served as the U.S. Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Germany from 1972 to 1976.

Career

Born in Youngstown, Ohio, to a family of German descent, Hillenbrand attained a Ph.D. in 1948 from Columbia University. He became a U.S. foreign service officer almost a decade earlier, entering the U.S. Foreign Service in 1939, and served in multiple positions before being named Assistant Secretary of State for European and Canadian Affairs during the Nixon Administration.

During his 37-year career in the U.S. Foreign Service, he held assignments in Switzerland, Washington, D.C., Burma, India, Portuguese East Africa (now: Mozambique), Germany, France, and Hungary. He served as U.S. Ambassador to Hungary from 1967–1969 and later as the U.S. Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Germany from June 27, 1972, to October 18, 1976.

During his career, Ambassador Hillenbrand developed expertise on European affairs, and he devoted a significant portion of his career to topics related to Germany where he played an instrumental role as a diplomat during the Berlin Crisis from 1958 to 1962.

Later years

After retiring from the U.S. Foreign Service, the former Ambassador Hillenbrand served as the Director-General of the Atlantic Institute for International Affairs in Paris, France, from 1977-1982. In 1982, Dr. Hillenbrand was named Dean Rusk Professor of International Relations at the University of Georgia and held this position until his retirement from this university in 1997. In his retirement, the former Ambassador Hillenbrand published his memoirs: "Fragments of Our Time: Memoirs of a Diplomat" (University of Georgia Press: 1998).

In 2004 Ambassador Hillenbrand participated in an oral history project that focused on his role and understanding of significant world events during his career in the U.S. Foreign Service and also considered his outlook on the future. Audio and video recordings from this project are housed in the Richard B. Russell Library at the University of Georgia.

Hillenbrand died in Athens, Georgia, on February 2, 2005, at the age of 89.

References

1. Saxon, Wolfgang (2005-02-18). "Martin J. Hillenbrand, 89, Expert on European Affairs, Is Dead". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-03-14.

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Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary	Wheaton Donelson Hannegan Barnard Vroom Wright Judd Wright Bancroft Davis Taylor White Sargent Kasson Pendleton Phelps Runyon
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary	Runyon Uhl White Tower Hill Leishman Gerard Dresel Houghton Schurman Sackett Dodd Wilson Kirk Morris Conant Bruce Dowling McGhee Lodge Rush Hillenbrand Stoessel Burns Burt Walters Kimmitt Holbrooke Redman Bindenagel Kornblum Coats Timken Koenig Murphy Emerson Logsdon Grenell Quinville Price Gutmann Price

• 1915 births
• 2005 deaths
• American people of German descent
• People from Youngstown, Ohio
• Ambassadors of the United States to Hungary
• Ambassadors of the United States to Germany
• United States Foreign Service personnel
• 20th-century American diplomats
• Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni