25 Facts About Joseph Duffey

Joseph Daniel Duffey was an American academic, educator, anti-war activist and political appointee.

Joseph Duffey was the Democratic Party's candidate in the 1970 US Senate election in Connecticut, losing to Republican Lowell Weicker.

Joseph Duffey later served as the Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs; the chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities; the director of the US Information Agency; and the president or chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, the University of Massachusetts system and American University.

Joseph Duffey was the first person in his family to study past grade four.

Joseph Duffey obtained a bachelor's degree from Marshall University in 1954.

From 1960 to 1970, Joseph Duffey was an assistant professor and then acting dean and associate professor at Hartford Seminary.

Joseph Duffey was founder and director of the Center for Urban Studies there.

Joseph Duffey ran for the US Senate in 1970 as a prominent anti-Vietnam War candidate; he had just turned 35 years old.

Donahue won the Democratic convention, but Joseph Duffey went on to win the primary.

Joseph Duffey finished second in a three-way general election race to Lowell Weicker, with Senator Dodd running as an independent.

Joseph Duffey went on to serve as an adjunct professor at Yale University and a fellow at Calhoun College from 1971 to 1973.

Joseph Duffey was unsatisfied in the latter role, and was reportedly unenthusiastic about being nominated to the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Joseph Duffey was appointed chairman of the NEH in August 1977, after an impasse that lasted for half a year.

Joseph Duffey served as chairman of NEH until 1982, when he became chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Joseph Duffey was named as president of American University in 1991 and served for two years.

Joseph Duffey became the final director of the United States Information Agency in 1993.

Joseph Duffey held the position until June 30,1999, shortly before USIA was incorporated into the State Department on October 1 of that year.

Joseph Duffey subsequently joined Laureate Education as senior vice president in 1999.

Joseph Duffey was conferred 14 honorary degrees from American colleges and universities.

Joseph Duffey was named Commander of the Order of the Crown by the King of Belgium in 1980.

Joseph Duffey was a member of the Council on Foreign Relations from 1979 until his death.

Joseph Duffey married his first wife, Patricia Fortney, in 1952, when he was 19 years old.

Joseph Duffey's second wife, Anne Wexler, was a political advisor and lobbyist.

Joseph Duffey died of cancer on August 7,2009 at age 79.

Joseph Duffey died on February 25,2021, at a retirement community in Washington, DC He was 88, and was ill in the time leading up to his death.