Thomas Graham Jr. | |
|---|---|
| Arms Control and Disarmament Agency | |
| In office 1970–1997 | |
| Bill Clinton's Special Representative for Arms Control, Non-Proliferation, and Disarmament | |
| In office 1994–1997 | |
| Acting Director and Acting Deputy Director of the U.S Arms Control and Disarmament Agency | |
| In office January 1993 – July 1994 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1933-10-09)October 9, 1933 (age 92) Louisville, Kentucky |
| Political party | Democratic 2012–present |
| Other political affiliations | Democratic1951–1968Republican1968–2010 Independent 2010–2012 |
| Spouse | Christine Coffey Ryan |
| Children | Elizabeth Graham Brookfield Thomas L. Graham Clover Graham Hackett Thomas C. Ryan(stepson) Missy C. Ryan(stepdaughter) |
| Residence(s) | Maryland, USA |
| Alma mater | Princeton University Harvard Law School |
| Profession | Lawyer Politician Author Businessman |
| Military service | |
| Branch/service | United States Army |
| Years of service | 1956–1958 |
Thomas Graham Jr. is a former senior U.S. diplomat. Graham was involved in the negotiation of every single international arms control and non-proliferation agreement from 1970 to 1997.[1] This includes theStrategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT Treaties), theStrategic Arms Reduction Treaties (START Treaties), theAnti-ballistic missile (ABM) Treaty,Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) Treaty,Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons Treaty (NPT),Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty andComprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT).[2] In 1993, Ambassador Graham served as acting director of theArms Control and Disarmament Agency (ACDA) from January to November, 1993 and acting deputy director from November, 1993 to July, 1994. From 1994 through 1997, he was presidentBill Clinton's special representative for Arms Control, Non-Proliferation, and Disarmament. Graham successfully led the U.S. government efforts to achieve the permanent extension of the NPT in 1995. Graham also served for 15 years as the general counsel of ACDA. Throughout his career, Thomas Graham has worked with six U.S. Presidents including PresidentsRichard Nixon,Gerald Ford,Jimmy Carter,Ronald Reagan,George H. W. Bush, and Bill Clinton.[Book 1] Ambassador Graham worked on the negotiation of theChemical Weapons Convention and theBiological Weapons Convention and managed the Senate approval of the ratification of the Geneva Protocol banning the use of chemical and biological weapons in war, as well as the Biological Weapons Convention.[Web 1][Book 2]
Graham is also the director and board chairman of CanAlaska Uranium, a mining exploration company.[3] Thomas Graham is a member of theNew York, theDistrict of Columbia andKentucky Bar Associations and a member of theCouncil on Foreign Relations.[2] From 1986 to 1994 he chaired the committee onArms Control and Disarmament of theAmerican Bar Association. Graham is also the executive chairman of the Lightbridge Corporation[Web 2] and a National Advisory Board[4] member of theCenter for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, the research arm ofCouncil for a Livable World.
Thomas Graham Jr. grew up inLouisville, Kentucky.[5] He attended theLouisville Male High School. Several of Graham's family members were involved in politics. His great-uncle, William D. Connor, was lieutenant governor of Wisconsin under governorJames O. Davidson 1907-1909 and chairman of the Republican Party in Wisconsin for many years. His grandmother's sister was the grandmother ofMelvin Laird, President Nixon's secretary of defense. And his grandfather, Thomas Jackson Graham was a Presbyterian minister who moved to Louisville, Kentucky, in 1920 to take over the Warren Memorial Presbyterian Church, the largest Presbyterian church in the city at that time. Graham's father, Thomas Graham was the chairman of thesinking fund in Louisville. He was an activeDemocrat, served for many years as treasurer of the Democratic Party in Louisville,[Book 3] and remained politically active throughout his life.[Book 4]
While in Louisville Male High School, Graham was elected president of the Athenaeum Literary Association (An old and prestigious Louisville high school fraternity). He later attendedPrinceton University where he graduated with a B.A fromWoodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs in 1955. He wrote his senior thesis on theAmerican attitudes towards Soviet power. When Graham was a senior in Princeton, he applied and was accepted toHarvard Law School but decided to go toL'Institut des Sciences Politiques in Paris for a year between college and law school.Before attending Harvard, Graham joined theUnited States Army from 1956 to 1958. At the time, he was interested in becoming a lawyer for the Middle East oil company and in the summer of 1958 took an intensive Arabic language course at Harvard University. While at Harvard Law School he took then professorHenry Kissinger's seminar on defense policy and administration. He graduated from Harvard with a J.D in 1961.[Book 4]
Graham graduated from Harvard Law School in 1961.[2] Following graduation, he was offered a clerkship with Chief Judge Wilbur Miller of the Circuit Court of appeals for the District of Columbia. In early 1962, congressmanBrent Spence offered Graham the position of the United States House Committee on Banking and Currency (now known as theUnited States House Committee on Financial Services) for the balance of that year. In 1963, he was hired by Jim Saxon the comptroller of the currency at the U.S. Dept of the Treasury as his legislative assistant. In 1968, Graham worked for the Nixon campaign with United Citizens for Nixon-Agnew (an organization designed to appeal to all citizens, not just Republicans). It was during this time that he ultimately decided to change his registration fromDemocrat toRepublican. In 1969 Graham left New york where he worked for a large law firm ofShearman and Sterling, and returned to Washington to re-enter government service. In September 1970, Graham began his career at the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (ACDA) and worked for that agency for 27 years.[Book 4]
In 2010, Thomas Graham was appointed to the United Arab Emirates' international advisory board, guiding that country's nuclear energy program and holding it to the highest standards of safety, security, and nonproliferation.
He has taught as an adjunct professor at theUniversity of Washington,Oregon State University,Stanford University,Georgetown University,University of Virginia Law School, and theUniversity of California at Berkeley.[News 1]
Ambassador Graham received many prestigious honors and awards, including: