Michael McFaul | |
---|---|
United States Ambassador to Russia | |
In office January 10, 2012 – February, 2014 |
|
President | Barack Obama |
Preceded by | John Beyrle |
Succeeded by | John F. Tefft |
Personal details | |
Born |
Michael Anthony McFaul October 1, 1963 Glasgow, Montana, U.S. |
Nationality | American |
Political party | Democratic Party |
Residence | United States |
Alma mater |
Stanford University (B.A., M.A.) Oxford University (D.Phil) |
Michael Anthony McFaul (born October 1, 1963) is an American academic and former United States Ambassador to Russia.
McFaul is the former United States Ambassador to Russia; he resigned in February 2014 for family reasons. Prior to his nomination to the ambassadorial position, McFaul worked for the U.S. National Security Council as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director of Russian and Eurasian Affairs. After his tenure as ambassador in Moscow, McFaul returned to Stanford University as a Professor of Political Science.
Born in Glasgow, Montana, McFaul was raised in Butte and Bozeman, where his father worked as a musician and music teacher.
He earned a B.A. in international relations and Slavic languages and an M.A. in Slavic and East European Studies from Stanford University in 1986, and spent time in the Soviet Union as a student, first the summer of 1983 studying Russian at the Leningrad State University, now Saint Petersburg State University, and then a semester in 1985 at Moscow State University. As a Rhodes Scholar, he earned a DPhil in international relations from Oxford University in 1991. He wrote his thesis on U.S. and Soviet intervention in revolutionary movements in southern Africa.