Frederick Vreeland
Frederick Vreeland | |
|---|---|
| United States Ambassador to Morocco | |
| In office May 7, 1992 – March 1, 1993 | |
| President | George H. W. Bush Bill Clinton |
| Preceded by | Michael Ussery |
| Succeeded by | Marc Ginsberg |
| Vice President of John Cabot University | |
| In office 1989–1991 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | June 24, 1927 Danbury, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Died | January 25, 2026 (aged 98) |
| Party | Democrat[1] |
| Children | Nicholas Vreeland |
| Parent(s) | Thomas Reed Vreeland Diana Vreeland |
| Alma mater | Yale University (BA) |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Branch/service |  United States Navy (Reserve) |
| Years of service | 1945–1947 |
Frederick "Freck"[2] Dalziel Vreeland (June 24, 1927 – January 25, 2026) was an American career diplomat and writer whose final appointment was as United States Ambassador to Morocco.
Life
The son of fashion editor Diana Vreeland (1903–1989) and the banker Thomas Reed Vreeland (1899–1966),[2] Vreeland served in the United States Navy Reserve from 1945 to 1947, then was educated at Yale.[3]
Vreeland died on January 25, 2026, at the age of 98.[4]
Career
In 1951 Vreeland became an Operations Officer with the Central Intelligence Agency and served until 1985. During that time, his foreign service diplomatic assignments were: Economic Officer, U.S. Mission to the UN European Office (1952–1957); Economic Officer, U.S. Mission to West Berlin (1957–1960); Political Officer, U.S. Embassy Bonn, West Germany (1960–1963); Member, National Security Council, at the White House (1963); Economic Officer, U.S. Embassy Rabat, Morocco (1963–1967); Political Officer, United States Mission to the United Nations (1967–1971); Political Officer, Embassy of the United States, Paris (1971–1978); and Political Officer, Embassy of the United States, Rome (1978–1985). He also served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near East/South Asia affairs between February 1991 and February 1992.[5] In the Summer of 1963 he served temporarily as a member of the National Security Agency in Washington, DC., in order to brief U.S. President John F. Kennedy in preparation for the latter's visit to Berlin in June 1963. At Kennedy's request, during one of the last of these briefings, he invented the phrase "Ich bin ein Berliner" and carefully taught the president how to pronounce it in German. This is confirmed by the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library.
Vreeland was Vice President of John Cabot University from 1989 to 1991. In 1990, he was nominated by President George H. W. Bush as United States Ambassador to Burma,[6] but his nomination was not acted upon by the United States Senate and he instead served as ambassador to Morocco, taking up the appointment in 1991.[5][7]
While stationed in Rome, Vreeland had the peculiar experience of being asked to be part of a team of acting and public-speaking coaches assembled to prepare the very inexperienced Sofia Coppola for a difficult scene in her father Francis's The Godfather Part III.[8] In 2005, while living in retirement in Rome, Vreeland urged senators not to confirm John Bolton as U.S ambassador to the United Nations, saying he had no diplomatic bone in his body and was unworthy of their trust.[1]
References
- ^ a b Efron, Sonni (April 26, 2005) Ex-Diplomat Calls U.N. Nominee ‘Unworthy’, Los Angeles Times, accessed June 14, 2021
- ^ a b Blume, Lesley M. M. (June 9, 2017). "Frederick Vreeland's Surprisingly Affordable Marrakech Mansion". Vanity Fair. Retrieved February 1, 2026.
His fashion editor mother, Diana Vreeland, presided over Vogue during the "youthquake" of the 1960s and early '70s. A passionate hostess, she and her husband, Reed, raised Frederick (who goes by "Freck") and his brother among the celebrated, the notorious, and the merely famous.
- ^ "Biographic Register". 1974.
- ^ "JCU Mourns Loss of Trustee Emeritus Frederick Vreeland | JCU News". www.johncabot.edu. Retrieved January 27, 2026.
- ^ a b "Council of American Ambassadors Membership Frederick Vreeland" retrieved April 17, 2012 Archived 2010-09-17 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Nomination of Frederick Vreeland To Be United States Ambassador to Burma (Myanmar)". The American Presidency Project. University of California, Santa Barbara. June 6, 1990.
- ^ "Burma". www.state.gov. web.archive.org. Archived from the original on November 17, 2002. Retrieved February 1, 2026.
- ^ Syme, Rachel (January 22, 2024). "Sofia Coppola's Path to Filming Gilded Adolescence". TheNewYorker.com. Conde Nast. Retrieved January 31, 2024.