Abbot Low Moffat

Abbot Low Moffat (May 12, 1901 – April 17, 1996) was an American lawyer, politician and diplomat from New York.

Abbot Low Moffat
Member of the New York State Assembly
for New York County, 15th District
In office
1929–1943
Preceded bySamuel H. Hofstadter
Succeeded byJohn R. Brook
Personal details
Born(1901-05-12)May 12, 1901
Upper East Side, Manhattan, New York, U.S.
DiedApril 17, 1996(1996-04-17) (aged 94)
Hightstown, New Jersey, U.S.
Cause of deathCancer
Political partyRepublican
Relatives
Alma materHarvard University
Columbia Law School
Signature

Life and career

Moffat was born on May 12, 1901, on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. He graduated from Harvard University in 1923, and from Columbia Law School in 1926. He then traveled around Asia and Australia for some time, and became interested in history and geography. He was admitted to the bar in 1927 and practiced law in New York City. He also entered politics as a Republican.

He was a member of the New York State Assembly (New York Co., 15th D.) from 1929 to 1943. He was Chairman of the Committee on the Affairs of New York City in 1934, and Chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means from 1936[1] to 1943. He was a delegate to the New York State Constitutional Convention of 1938. He proposed, and then sponsored legislation, to build the New York State Thruway.

Moffat resigned his seat on August 16, 1943, to accept a post at the U.S. Department of State.[2] He headed the department's South-East Asia Division from 1944 to 1947, then served in a variety of diplomatic posts: from 1947 to 1948 in Greece, from 1948 to 1950 in Great Britain, from 1950 to 1952 in Burma, and from 1957 to 1960 in Ghana. From 1954 to 1956, he worked for the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

In 1961, Moffat retired from the diplomatic service and moved to Princeton, New Jersey. That same year, he published a biography of King Mongkut of Siam.[3]

He died on April 17, 1996, at a retirement home in Hightstown, New Jersey, of cancer.[4] Ambassador Jay Pierrepont Moffat (1896–1943) was his brother, and Ambassador Jay Pierrepont Moffat Jr. (born 1932) is his nephew.

References
  1. MOFFAT NEW HEAD OF WAYS AND MEANS in The New York Times on January 7, 1936 (subscription required)
  2. Abbot Low Moffat Quits Assembly To Accept State Department Post in The New York Times on August 17, 1943 (subscription required)
  3. Outsmarting Crocodile and Whale: MONGKUT, THE KING OF SIAM. By Abbot Low Moffat (254 pages; Ithaca, NY, Cornell University Press) in The New York Times on December 31, 1961 (subscription required)
  4. Abbot Moffat, 94, Lawmaker And Then a Diplomat in Asia in The New York Times on April 23, 1996
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