13 Facts About Lionel Rosenblatt

Lionel Alexander Rosenblatt was born on December 10,1943 and is a former American diplomat, Refugee Coordinator at the United States Embassy in Thailand, and President of Refugees International, an advocacy organization for refugees.

Lionel Rosenblatt's father was a nuclear scientist who worked at Brookhaven National Laboratory.

Lionel Rosenblatt graduated from Harvard College and attended Stanford Law School for a year before joining the Foreign Service of the Department of State.

In early 1975, Lionel Rosenblatt was one of a small group of officers at the State Department who pushed for the evacuation of significant numbers of Vietnamese associated with the US war effort in South Vietnam.

From 1976 to 1981, Lionel Rosenblatt spent most of his time in Bangkok, Thailand as the Refugee Coordinator of the US Embassy.

Lionel Rosenblatt retired early from the Foreign Service in 1988.

In 1990, Lionel Rosenblatt became President of Refugees International, a Washington-based advocacy organization, and served in that position until 2001.

In 1995, Lionel Rosenblatt traveled to Chechnya in a fruitless search for the missing humanitarian Fred Cuny.

In 1975, Rosenblatt received the William R Rivkin award from the American Foreign Service Association for his work rescuing Vietnamese refugees.

In 1981, Lionel Rosenblatt received the Commander of the Most Exalted Order of the White Elephant from the Royal Government of Thailand for his refugee work.

The movie dramatized Lionel Rosenblatt's visit to Saigon in April 1975.

In 2010, Lionel Rosenblatt was declared an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters by Concordia University.

Lionel Rosenblatt is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.