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{{short description|American Career Foreign Service Officer (1928–2021)}}
'''J. Bruce Amstutz''' (born 1928) is an American Career Foreign Service Officer who served as [[Chargé d'affaires|Chargé d’Affaires]] ad interim to [[Afghanistan]] from February 1979 until February 1980.<ref name="OotH">{{cite web |title=J. Bruce Amstutz |url=https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/people/amstutz-j-bruce |website=Office of the Historian, Foreign Service Institute|publisher=United States Department of State |accessdate=19 January 2020}}</ref>
'''James Bruce Amstutz''' (July 11, 1928 – March 16, 2021)<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.pressherald.com/2021/03/26/obituaryjames-bruce-amstutz/|title=Obituary: James Bruce Amstutz|work=Portland Press Herald|date=March 26, 1921|access-date=September 3, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/name/james-amstutz-obituary?id=36401009|title=James Bruce Amstutz|work=Legacy|date=September 2, 2022|access-date=September 3, 2022}}</ref> was an American Career Foreign Service Officer who served as [[Chargé d'affaires|Chargé d’Affaires]] ad interim to [[Afghanistan]] from February 1979 until February 1980.<ref name="OotH">{{cite web |title=J. Bruce Amstutz |url=https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/people/amstutz-j-bruce |website=Office of the Historian, Foreign Service Institute|publisher=United States Department of State |accessdate=19 January 2020}}</ref>


Amstutz was Deputy Chief of Mission when Ambassador [[Adolph Dubs|Adolph "Spike" Dubs]] was kidnapped and murdered.<ref name="Dubs">{{cite news |last1=Grunewild |first1=Will |title=The Mysterious Kidnapping of an American Ambassador Still Haunts the State Department |url=https://www.washingtonian.com/2017/06/04/mysterious-kidnapping-american-ambassador-still-haunts-state-department/ |accessdate=19 January 2020 |work=Washingtonian |date=June 4, 2017}}</ref><ref name="Mohr">{{cite news |last1=Mohr |first1=Charles |title=U.S. to Slash Aid to Afghanistan, Partly Because of Death of Envoy |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/02/23/archives/us-to-slash-aid-to-afghanistan-partly-because-of-death-of-envoy.html |accessdate=19 January 2020 |work=The New York Times |date=February 22, 1979}}</ref> Amstutz became Chargé and sought out by the head of the Afghan Communist regime, [[Hafizullah Amin]]. They had met four times for a total of under 20 minutes, mostly for ceremonial events. In October 1979, Amstutz was going on a six weeks leave and had various concerns including telling Washington that “the Afghan Communists as ‘a bunch of scorpions biting each other to death’” and that Amin had “a semi-psychopathic desire to humiliate and revenge himself against the United States.” So Amstutz recommended a delay by himself and the new Deputy Chief of Mission [[Archer Blood]].<ref name="Savranskaya">{{cite web |last1=Blanton |first1=Tom |last2=Savranskaya |first2=Svetlana |title=The Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan, 1979: Not Trump’s Terrorists, Nor Zbig’s Warm Water Ports |url=https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/afghanistan-russia-programs/2019-01-29/soviet-invasion-afghanistan-1979-not-trumps-terrorists-nor-zbigs-warm-water-ports |website=National Security Archive |publisher=George Washington University |accessdate=19 January 2020}}</ref> Amstutz was married to Nan Louise Grindle, whom he met while they both attended the [[Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy]]. They became the first couple to simultaneously receive Ph.D. degrees from the institution.<ref name="Nan">{{cite news|url=https://www.pressherald.com/2019/06/03/nan-louise-grindle-amstutz/|title=Nan Louise Grindle Amstutz|date=June 3, 2019|accessdate=19 January 2020|work=Portland Press Herald}}</ref><!-- I can use help improving this part -->
Amstutz was born on July 11, 1928.{{Cn|date=August 2024}} He was Deputy Chief of Mission when Ambassador [[Adolph Dubs|Adolph "Spike" Dubs]] was kidnapped and murdered.<ref name="Dubs">{{cite news |last1=Grunewild |first1=Will |title=The Mysterious Kidnapping of an American Ambassador Still Haunts the State Department |url=https://www.washingtonian.com/2017/06/04/mysterious-kidnapping-american-ambassador-still-haunts-state-department/ |accessdate=19 January 2020 |work=Washingtonian |date=June 4, 2017}}</ref><ref name="Mohr">{{cite news |last1=Mohr |first1=Charles |title=U.S. to Slash Aid to Afghanistan, Partly Because of Death of Envoy |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/02/23/archives/us-to-slash-aid-to-afghanistan-partly-because-of-death-of-envoy.html |accessdate=19 January 2020 |work=The New York Times |date=February 22, 1979}}</ref> Amstutz became Chargé and sought out by the head of the Afghan Communist regime, [[Hafizullah Amin]]. They had met four times for a total of under 20 minutes, mostly for ceremonial events. In October 1979, Amstutz was going on a six weeks leave and had various concerns including telling Washington that “the Afghan Communists as ‘a bunch of scorpions biting each other to death’” and that Amin had “a semi-psychopathic desire to humiliate and revenge himself against the United States.” So Amstutz recommended a delay by himself and the new Deputy Chief of Mission [[Archer Blood]].<ref name="Savranskaya">{{cite web |last1=Blanton |first1=Tom |last2=Savranskaya |first2=Svetlana |title=The Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan, 1979: Not Trump’s Terrorists, Nor Zbig’s Warm Water Ports |url=https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/afghanistan-russia-programs/2019-01-29/soviet-invasion-afghanistan-1979-not-trumps-terrorists-nor-zbigs-warm-water-ports |website=National Security Archive |publisher=George Washington University |accessdate=19 January 2020}}</ref> Amstutz was married to Nan Louise Grindle, whom he met while they both attended the [[Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy]]. They became the first couple to simultaneously receive Ph.D. degrees from the institution.<ref name="Nan">{{cite news|url=https://www.pressherald.com/2019/06/03/nan-louise-grindle-amstutz/|title=Nan Louise Grindle Amstutz|date=June 3, 2019|accessdate=19 January 2020|work=Portland Press Herald}}</ref><!-- I can use help improving this part --> Amstutz died in [[Alna, Maine]] on March 16, 2021, at the age of 92.<ref name="obit">{{cite web |title=James Bruce Amstutz |url=https://www.echovita.com/us/obituaries/me/alna/james-bruce-amstutz-12503446 |website=Echovita |access-date=23 September 2022}}</ref>


==Publications==
==Publications==
*''Afghanistan: The First Five Years of Soviet Occupation'' Washington, DC: NDU Press, 1986<ref name="Heth">{{cite web |title=Catalog Record: Afghanistan : the first five years of Soviet |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000855991 |website=HathiTrust Digital Library |accessdate=19 January 2020}}</ref>
*''Afghanistan: The First Five Years of Soviet Occupation'' Washington, DC: NDU Press, 1986<ref name="Heth">{{cite web |title=Catalog Record: Afghanistan : the first five years of Soviet |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000855991 |website=HathiTrust Digital Library |accessdate=19 January 2020}}</ref>

== See also ==
[[Hobart Baumann Amstutz]]


==References==
==References==
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Amstutz, J. Bruce}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Amstutz, J. Bruce}}
[[Category:1928 births]]
[[Category:1928 births]]
[[Category:The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy alumni]]
[[Category:2021 deaths]]
[[Category:The Fletcher School at Tufts University alumni]]
[[Category:Ambassadors of the United States to Afghanistan]]
[[Category:Ambassadors of the United States to Afghanistan]]
[[Category:United States Foreign Service personnel]]
[[Category:United States Foreign Service personnel]]
[[Category:American non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:American male non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:20th-century American diplomats]]


{{US-diplomat-stub}}
{{US-diplomat-stub}}

Latest revision as of 17:32, 4 August 2024

James Bruce Amstutz (July 11, 1928 – March 16, 2021)[1][2] was an American Career Foreign Service Officer who served as Chargé d’Affaires ad interim to Afghanistan from February 1979 until February 1980.[3]

Amstutz was born on July 11, 1928.[citation needed] He was Deputy Chief of Mission when Ambassador Adolph "Spike" Dubs was kidnapped and murdered.[4][5] Amstutz became Chargé and sought out by the head of the Afghan Communist regime, Hafizullah Amin. They had met four times for a total of under 20 minutes, mostly for ceremonial events. In October 1979, Amstutz was going on a six weeks leave and had various concerns including telling Washington that “the Afghan Communists as ‘a bunch of scorpions biting each other to death’” and that Amin had “a semi-psychopathic desire to humiliate and revenge himself against the United States.” So Amstutz recommended a delay by himself and the new Deputy Chief of Mission Archer Blood.[6] Amstutz was married to Nan Louise Grindle, whom he met while they both attended the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. They became the first couple to simultaneously receive Ph.D. degrees from the institution.[7] Amstutz died in Alna, Maine on March 16, 2021, at the age of 92.[8]

Publications

[edit]
  • Afghanistan: The First Five Years of Soviet Occupation Washington, DC: NDU Press, 1986[9]

See also

[edit]

Hobart Baumann Amstutz

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Obituary: James Bruce Amstutz". Portland Press Herald. March 26, 1921. Retrieved September 3, 2022.
  2. ^ "James Bruce Amstutz". Legacy. September 2, 2022. Retrieved September 3, 2022.
  3. ^ "J. Bruce Amstutz". Office of the Historian, Foreign Service Institute. United States Department of State. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
  4. ^ Grunewild, Will (June 4, 2017). "The Mysterious Kidnapping of an American Ambassador Still Haunts the State Department". Washingtonian. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
  5. ^ Mohr, Charles (February 22, 1979). "U.S. to Slash Aid to Afghanistan, Partly Because of Death of Envoy". The New York Times. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
  6. ^ Blanton, Tom; Savranskaya, Svetlana. "The Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan, 1979: Not Trump's Terrorists, Nor Zbig's Warm Water Ports". National Security Archive. George Washington University. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
  7. ^ "Nan Louise Grindle Amstutz". Portland Press Herald. June 3, 2019. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
  8. ^ "James Bruce Amstutz". Echovita. Retrieved 23 September 2022.
  9. ^ "Catalog Record: Afghanistan : the first five years of Soviet". HathiTrust Digital Library. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
[edit]
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