Jeffrey Davidow was sworn in by then Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright as U.S. Ambassador to Mexico on July 21, 1998. He was nominated for this appointment by then President Clinton on April 28, 1998, and confirmed by the U.S. Senate on June 26. Davidow served as Ambassador to Mexico until September 2002.
Ambassador Davidow was a Presidential appointee on three prior occasions: as U.S. Ambassador to Zambia (1988-1990) and Venezuela (1993-1996), and as Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs (1996-1998). A Foreign Service Officer of the U.S. Department of State since 1969, Davidow has spent much of his career focusing on Latin America. In addition to his ambassadorial positions, he has served in American Embassies in Guatemala, Chile, and Venezuela. He was also posted to South Africa and Zimbabwe. Davidow served as Deputy Chief of Mission of the U.S. Embassy in Caracas, Venezuela from 1986 to 1988.
Originally from Brookline, Massachusetts, Ambassador Davidow studied at the University of Massachusetts (BA, 1965), the University of Minnesota (MA, 1967), and at Osmania University in Hyderabad, India (1968-69). While in the Foreign Service, he spent one year as a Fellow of the American Political Science Association working as a congressional staff aide (1979) and another year as a Fellow of the Center for International Affairs at Harvard University (1982).
From the guide to the Jeffrey Davidow Papers, 1993-2003, (Amherst College Archives and Special Collections)
