American Civilization

Here he is

He’s Charles Rivkin, the U.S. ambassador to France.

I heard an interesting report on the radio this morning; the claim was that Obama is continuing in the tradition of naming some ambassadors based on their political contributions.  Charles Rivkin was one of the names mentioned.  That led me to try to find out more about Mr. Rivkin.

He’s had quite a lot of business experience. He was a financial analyst before he joined the Jim Henson Company.  At that entertainment company he held several executive positions, including that of CEO.  Outside of the business world, he’s been on a committee as a homeland security adviser.

But, he does come from a family which has long supported Democratic candidates.  His father William R. Rivkin, a Democratic insider and well-regarded diplomat who died in Dakar in 1967, was awarded several posts as political appointments.   And now,47 year old  Charles Rivkin, the son, has been appointed to a post – the youngest person to be the ambassador to France in 56 years.

It didn’t hurt Rivkin that he raised over $500,000 for Barack Obama in Southern California last year,

But, I think that’s only part of the picture.  It also seems that Rivkin has a background suitable for this position. He was graduated from Yale with a degree in international relations.  In addition, he received his MBA from Harvard – plus he spent years when he was young studying, traveling, and working in France, including at internship at Renault.  Over the past 20 years his business interests have regularly taken him to France.  Plus, he speaks French!

So, yes, it does seem like Obama is continuing the tradition of « non- career appointees » to foreign service posts, but at least in this case, he has appointed someone who seems qualified.