John Shattuck
Professor John Shattuck is a distinguished international legal scholar, diplomat, and human rights leader with a career spanning over four decades. His professional journey began in the early 1970s as a law clerk in New York, before transitioning into academia as a visiting lecturer at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Politics. He later served as National Staff Counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), where he worked on key federal court cases, including the successful challenge to Nixon's warrantless wiretapping program, Halperin v. Kissinger. In the late 1970s, Shattuck was appointed the director of the ACLU’s Washington office, where he led lobbying efforts on civil rights and liberties during the Carter and Reagan administrations.
Shattuck’s academic and diplomatic careers are equally distinguished. In 1986, he returned to academia at Harvard University as Vice President for Government, Community, and Public Affairs, while also teaching law courses at Harvard Law School. His involvement with the Kennedy School of Government further strengthened his role in public policy. He was later appointed by President Bill Clinton as Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, where he played a pivotal role in the establishment of the International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia, and negotiated the Dayton Peace Agreement that ended the war in Bosnia. Shattuck also served as U.S. Ambassador to the Czech Republic, where he helped modernize the country’s legal system and supported civic education programs.
In 2001, Shattuck became the CEO of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation, where he oversaw the digitization of historical records and significantly increased the foundation’s endowment. From 2009 to 2016, he served as the President and Rector of Central European University (CEU), transforming the institution into a globally recognized center for graduate education. Under his leadership, CEU expanded its interdisciplinary programs, launched the School of Public Policy, and created the Roma Access Programs, which are unique graduate preparation initiatives for Roma students. Shattuck also led the university through significant growth in research funding and faculty recruitment.
Shattuck’s legacy at CEU continues through the Shattuck Center on Conflict, Negotiation, and Recovery, named in his honor after his retirement. In addition to his work at CEU, Shattuck is currently a Professor of Practice at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and a Senior Fellow at Harvard University’s Kennedy School Center for Human Rights Policy. He is a frequent author of articles on international relations, human rights, civil liberties, and public service, and has written three books, including Freedom on Fire, a study of the international response to genocide in the 1990s.
A graduate of Yale Law School, Shattuck has received multiple honorary degrees and prestigious awards, including the Yale Law School Public Service Award, the Ambassador’s Award from the American Bar Association, and the Jean Mayer Global Citizenship Award from Tufts University. He has also been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Shattuck’s extensive career in government service, academia, and diplomacy, along with his lifelong commitment to advancing human rights and civil liberties, has left an indelible mark on international relations and higher education. He continues to contribute to the field through his academic roles and advocacy for democracy, human rights, and the protection of privacy.
John has been a wonderful friend for decades. As an educator and teacher I can say with humility that he far surpasses me. I know this because my son, Nathaniel, as a Tufts undergraduate, took a seminar on US foreign policy at the John F. Kennedy Center in Boston, which John directed. One of the sessions was a simulation about the Cuban Missile Crisis. Nathaniel was given the role playing position of Kennedy’s advisor Theodore Sorenson, which he found to be one of the best days of his academic career. He prepared rigorously for the idea that he would be in a replica room of the President, with others that were making the decision whether or not to bomb Cuba. (Nathaniel and I agreed that he would not take any of my classes, it could have been too stressful for both of us :)) John participated in many of my forums, always provocatively and thoughtfully. He could create tremendous excitement in a very soft-spoken but erudite manner. I had the privilege and honor of working with John and our close friend Richard Balzer, on the memorial Petra Foundation, in honor of John’s first wife, an extraordinary effort to acknowledge remarkable heroes of marginalized communities, ranging from anti-death penalty activists to indigenous rights activists.
John was one of my first interviewees when I worked for the Council of European Studies and its publication EuropeNow. I interviewed him on the future of democracy and threats to democracy. Then, as always, he is a prescient thinker and knew firsthand of the threat when the Hungarian authoritarian prime minister Orbán sadly succeeded in forcing the relocation of the George Soros founded Central European University. John last spoke for me when I secured him as the keynote speaker for “Democracy on the Precipice”, an EPIIC “revival” after 10 years of my absence in 2025. Attending his keynote was a sort of homecoming for me. He began by acknowledging my impact.
John Shattuck and I served together as Senior fellows at the Carr centre for human rights at Harvard.