John Shattuck

Shattuck's career spans nearly three decades in government service and the nonprofit sector.

In 1993, he was nominated by President Clinton and confirmed by the US Senate as Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. While serving in this position, Shattuck worked to end the war in Bosnia and negotiate the Dayton Peace Agreement, establish the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, restore a democratically-elected government to Haiti, administer US assistance to new and emerging democracies and raise the profile of human rights in US foreign policy after the end of the Cold War. For this work, he received an International Human Rights Award from the United Nations Association of Boston in 1998. Shattuck is also the author of Freedom on Fire: Human Rights Wars and the Roots of Terrorism.

In 1998, Shattuck was nominated by President Clinton and confirmed by the Senate to serve as US Ambassador to the Czech Republic, a pivotal Central European country that is undergoing a challenging transition from communism to democracy. Ambassador Shattuck's work included helping the Czechs become new members of NATO and participants in Balkan peacekeeping, supporting Czech teachers and innovative civic-education programs in the country's public schools, and developing programs to assist in overhauling the legal system and building the rule of law in the Czech Republic. In 2000, he received the Ambassador's Award from the American Bar Association Central and East European Law Initiative.

Before entering government service, Shattuck was at Harvard University, where he held the position of vice president for government, community, and public affairs from 1984 to 1993 under Presidents Derek Bok and Neil Rudenstine. He also lectured on civil liberties at the Harvard Law School and the Kennedy School of Government. A founder of the Cambridge Partnership for Public Education, Shattuck worked to expand Harvard's role in assisting the Cambridge and Boston public schools, including the creation of a new program of fellowships for Cambridge and Boston teachers at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He was also active in expanding Harvard's public and community service programs involving students and faculty members. Shattuck received a Distinguished Service to Public Education Award in 1990 from the Massachusetts Board of Education, and a Yale Law School Public Service Award in 1988.

Shattuck's public service career began at the American Civil Liberties Union, where he was executive director of the ACLU Washington office and national staff counsel from 1971 to 1984. He was involved in all major civil rights and civil liberties issues during the Nixon, Ford, Carter, and Reagan administrations, including the defense of federal civil rights legislation, protection of the federal courts against congressional efforts to limit their jurisdiction, and legislative expansion of the rights of women. During and after the Watergate crisis, he handled a number of prominent court cases on behalf of people who had been the targets of illegal political surveillance and wiretapping by the Nixon White House. He received a Roger Baldwin Award in 1984 for his national contribution to civil liberties.

Shattuck is a 1970 graduate of Yale Law School, and has received honorary degrees from the University of Rhode Island, Kenyon College, and the John Jay College of Criminal Justice at the City University of New York. He received his BA magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Yale University in 1965 and an MA with First Class Honors in law from Cambridge University in 1967.