Background
After Boyatt was born in Ohio and graduated from Wyoming High School in 1951, he graduated from Princeton University with his Bachelor of Arts in 1955.
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Thomas David Boyatt
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He graduated from Wyoming High School in 1951.
Career
He was held captive for six days in a Palestinian hijacking in the 1960s. He continues to return to his former high school to speak to students during the Wyoming School Foundation Day. He later received his Master of Arts from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.
He served in the United States. Air Force from 1956 to 1959.
Boyatt joined the United States. Foreign Service in 1959. He served in various diplomatic posts around the globe, including Vice Consul in Chile from 1960 to 1962, Assistant to the Under Secretary of the Treasury (1962–1964), Economic Officer in Luxembourg (1964–1966), and Political Counselor in Cyprus (1967–1970).
He later became Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of State for the Near East in Washington District of Columbia In 1975 Boyatt became Minister-Counselor at the American Embassy in Chile. Boyatt was nominated to be the United States Ambassador to Upper Volta in 1978 by President Jimmy Carter, and in 1980 he was again nominated to serve diplomatically as the United States Ambassador to Colombia.
In 1983 Boyatt was promoted to the rank of Career Minister in the Foreign Service.
In 1969, Boyatt was taken hostage on board a Trans World Airlines plane by Palestinian guerillas during the 1969 Trans World Airlines Flight 840 hijacking. Although Boyatt retired from the Foreign service in 1985, he became Vice President of Sears World Trade and President of United States. Defense Systems (USDS) in 1990.
He is President of the Foreign Affairs Council, an umbrella group comprising eleven organizations which support the Foreign Service, and Treasurer of AFSA-Public Affairs Committee. Lifetime Contributions to American Diplomacy Award.
Achievements
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Meritorious Honor Award from the United States. State Department – 1969 William R. Rivkin Award – 1970 Christian A. Herter Award - 1979 Foreign Service Cup – 1999 Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Foreign Service Association (AFSA) – 2001 Lifetime Contributions to American Diplomacy Award. – 2008 Boyatt has also been decorated by several other governments and organizations.
Membership
He is a member of the American Academy of Diplomacy. He was Director of Cyprus Affairs from 1971 to 1974), and was named a member of the Senior Seminar in Foreign Policy the following year. Boyatt later became a member of the Advisory Boards of the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University and trustee from 1984 to 1988.
He has also been a member of the Advisory Boards of the Patterson School at the University of Kentucky and is currently a Director of the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown University, where he teaches.
He is a member of the American Academy of Diplomacy and several other corporate and non-profit boards.
Connections
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Born
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Nationality
American