Honored by Lincoln District 27
with Most Distinguished Graduate Award
Armin Meyer
Class of 1927
U.S. ambassador and diplomat
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[April 23, 2012]
Armin
Meyer is one of six people chosen for the Most Distinguished
Graduate Award from Lincoln Elementary School District 27. Before
the recognition program on Saturday, Lincoln Daily News received
introductory documents prepared for the occasion. Below is a copy of
the biographical material on Meyer:
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(Copy)
Armin Meyer came to
Lincoln to live with three Aunts when he was 11 years old. His
Mother had died when he was 3. His father and grandfather were
Lutheran pastors and Mr. Meyer's father was the original pastor of
both the Zion Lutheran Church and Immanuel Lutheran Church in
Lincoln. Mr. Meyer was a student at Central School and graduated
from there in 1926.
Upon graduation as
valedictorian from Lincoln Community High School in 1931, he
enrolled at Lincoln College and as a teenager worked at Alvey's Drug
Store. He graduated from Lincoln College in 1933 with an Associate's
degree in Science. In 1969, Lincoln College awarded him an honorary
doctor of Laws degree and later he served for 30 years as an
honorary trustee of the College.
He attended Capital
University, a Lutheran Seminary, and graduated with a Bachelors
degree. He continued his education at Ohio State University and in
1941 earned a Master's Degree in Mathematics.
From 1940 to 1942
Mr. Meyer was a public relations officer and assistant professor and
dean of men for Capital University.
Armin Meyer's
distinguished career in public service spanned more than thirty
tumultuous years of hot and cold war, beginning in World War II with
a secret mission to Eritrea. In postwar Foreign Service, he served
in Afghanistan, and his twenty-year involvement in the quest for
Middle East peace included postings in Baghdad, Beirut, and in
Washington, D.C. in the State Department's Near East Bureau, where
he dealt with Nasserism, Hawk missiles, and Arab refugees.
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Mr. Meyer served as
President Kennedy's ambassador to Beirut, assisting in Lebanon's
first peaceful presidential transition; as President Johnson's
ambassador to the Shah's Iran, dealing with arms, oil, and the Gulf
median line challenges; and as President Nixon's ambassador to Japan
where he presided over negotiations for Okinawa's reversion to
Japanese administration, which ensured the extension of the
U.S.-Japan mutual security treaty. He also worked to mellow the
shock of the Japanese Government following Nixon's landmark trip to
China. He served as the State Departments first coordinator for
combating terrorism, a position created following the killing of 11
Israelis at the Munich Olympic Games.
Ambassador Meyer
wrote a book published in November of 2003, called Quiet
Diplomacy: From Cairo to Tokyo in the Twilight of Imperialism.
Following an
illness, Ambassador Meyer died on August 13, 2006 at the age of 92.
We honor Armin
Henry Meyer, a 1926 graduate, by placing his plaque on our Wall of
Distinction.
[Text copied from file received] |