Leonard Carpenter Meeker (April 4, 1916 – November 29, 2014) was an American politician, lawyer and diplomat who served as the
U.S. Ambassador to Romania
A United States diplomatic representative to Romania has existed since 1880. The United States formally recognized Romania in 1878, following the Treaty of Berlin; diplomatic relations were opened in 1880, and American diplomats were sent to the ...
. He was the father of
Sarah Meeker Jensen FAIA and
Charles Meeker
Charles Carpenter Meeker (born July 27, 1950) is an American politician and member of the Democratic Party who served as the 34th Mayor of Raleigh, North Carolina. He was first elected in 2001 over Republican Paul Coble, and reelected for a fif ...
, 34th Mayor of
Raleigh, North Carolina.
Early life and education
Meeker graduated from
Deerfield Academy and
Amherst College
Amherst College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zephaniah Swift Moore, Amherst is the third oldest institution of higher educatio ...
, and went on to graduate from
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States.
Each class ...
, where he was on the board of editors of the
Harvard Law Review
The ''Harvard Law Review'' is a law review published by an independent student group at Harvard Law School. According to the ''Journal Citation Reports'', the ''Harvard Law Review''s 2015 impact factor of 4.979 placed the journal first out of 143 ...
.
Government service
During
World War II, Meeker worked behind
Communist
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
lines in
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
in the Office of Strategic Services. He was honorably discharged from the
United States Army in 1946 with the rank of
First lieutenant. After the war ended, he began work as a lawyer at the
United States Department of the Treasury and later in the office of the
Solicitor General of the United States.
During the
Kennedy Administration, Meeker worked as an advisor to
U.S. Secretary of State Dean Rusk and helped
President Kennedy defuse the
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis (of 1962) ( es, Crisis de Octubre) in Cuba, the Caribbean Crisis () in Russia, or the Missile Scare, was a 35-day (16 October – 20 November 1962) confrontation between the United S ...
. Meeker went on to serve as a legal advisor to
President Lyndon B Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...
. During his time as an advisor, he worked on treaties with
Austria, a peace treaty with
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
, and on a variety of
United Nations affairs.
While working as a State Department legal adviser, he became convinced the Israelis knew they were attacking an American naval vessel during the 1967
USS ''Liberty'' incident: “The Israeli and U.S. Navy accounts of what happened on 8 June 1967 plainly do not jibe. The attacks on the ''Liberty'' cannot be written off as accidental. Nor can they really be seen as the result of mis-identification of the ship. In view of the repeated reconnaissance runs by Israeli aircraft over several hours between 0515 and 1245, the air and torpedo boat attacks must be judged as deliberate.”
In 1969, Meeker was nominated by
President Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he previously served as a United States House ...
to serve as ambassador to
Romania. He left the role after
Nixon's 1972 re-election.
Later life
After retirement from government service, Meeker worked as an attorney for the
Center for Law and Social Policy
The Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) is an American organization, based in Washington, D.C., that advocates for policies aimed at improving the lives of low-income people.
History
The Center for Law and Social Policy was founded ...
in
Washington, D.C., where he practiced law in the federal courts on matters related to the environment, consumer protection, and human rights.
Meeker also served as chairman of the board of the Contemporary Music Forum and as a member of the boards of the
Union of Concerned Scientists and
National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...
. In 1986, Meeker attended a conference in
Moscow on a comprehensive ban of
Nuclear weapons testing.
In 2007, Meeker published a three-volume set of his views on life, titled ''Philosophy and Politics,'' ''Experiences'' and ''Stories.''
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meeker, Leonard C.
1916 births
2014 deaths
20th-century American politicians
Nixon administration personnel
Kennedy administration personnel
Lyndon B. Johnson administration personnel
Ambassadors of the United States to Romania
Politicians from Montclair, New Jersey
North Carolina Democrats
Cuban Missile Crisis
Harvard Law School alumni
Deerfield Academy alumni
Amherst College alumni