Richard N. Gardner

Richard Newton Gardner (July 9, 1927 – February 16, 2019) was an American diplomat, international law scholar, and professor whose career spanned academia, government service, and diplomacy. Renowned for shaping U.S. foreign policy and mentoring generations of policymakers, Gardner served as U.S. Ambassador to Italy (1977–1981) under President Jimmy Carter and to Spain (1993–1997) under President Bill Clinton.

His academic tenure at Columbia Law School, where he taught for nearly six decades, established him as a leading authority on international trade, U.S.-European relations, and nuclear arms issues. A prolific writer and advocate for international institutions (golbalism), Gardner’s work reflected a commitment to multilateralism, though critics labeled him a globalist for his vision of a “new world order.”

Early Life and Education

Born in New York City on July 9, 1927, Gardner was the son of Ethel Alias and Samuel Gardner (originally Goldberg), a lawyer, and a homemaker. His family was of Jewish heritage, a background shared with his future wife, Danielle Luzzatto, whose family fled Italy’s 1938 anti-Semitic laws. Gardner served in the U.S. Army during World War II, stationed stateside, before pursuing higher education.

He earned a B.A. in Economics from Harvard University in 1948, followed by a J.D. from Yale Law School in 1951, where he edited the Yale Law Journal. As a Rhodes Scholar, he completed a D.Phil. in Economics at Oxford University in 1954, with his thesis, Sterling-Dollar Diplomacy, becoming a seminal study of Anglo-American economic collaboration in creating the Bretton Woods institutions and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). This work laid the foundation for his lifelong focus on international economic policy.

During a 1951 winter break in Paris, Gardner met Eleanor Roosevelt, whose views on human rights and global poverty profoundly influenced him. He later wrote a 1988 New York Times op-ed on her role in crafting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, reflecting his admiration for her legacy.

Early Career

After Oxford, Gardner practiced law at Coudert Brothers in New York from 1954 to 1957. In 1957, he joined Columbia Law School as a faculty member, beginning a six-decade tenure interrupted only by government service. He taught international law and launched his influential seminar, “Legal Aspects of U.S. Foreign Economic Policy,” which shaped a global network of lawyers, diplomats, and policymakers.

Government Service

Gardner’s government career began under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, serving as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs (1961–1965). This office oversaw the operations internationally of the CIA. He advocated for strengthening institutions like the World Bank and was senior adviser to the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations (1965–1966). In 1970–1971, he served on the President’s Commission on International Trade and Investment Policy.

As U.S. Ambassador to Italy (1977–1981), Gardner navigated a turbulent period marked by Operation Gladio, the Aldo Moro assassination, and Italy’s internal strife with the Red Brigades, which were used by Operation Gladio elements of the Italian government to orchestrate deadly Gladio events in Italy. He was the first U.S. ambassador to grant a visa to Giorgio Napolitano, later Italy’s president, despite Napolitano’s communist affiliations, a decision reflecting Gardner’s pragmatic diplomacy. His wife, Danielle, played a significant role, gathering intelligence through social networks, once learning of a minister’s resignation from her hairdresser’s gossip, which the CIA initially dismissed but later confirmed.

Appointed Ambassador to Spain (1993–1997) by President Clinton, Gardner focused on intellectual property rights and support for U.S. citizens abroad, earning the Thomas Jefferson Award. He also served as a U.S. delegate to the 1999 World Trade Organization ministerial meeting and the 2000 U.N. General Assembly, and advised the U.N. on environmental issues, including the 1992 Rio Conference.

Academic and Intellectual Contributions

At Columbia, Gardner was the Henry L. Moses Professor of Law and International Organization, co-directing the Center on Global Governance with Michael Doyle from 2003. His seminar attracted top students, many of whom—such as Antony Blinken, Reynold Levy, and Gardner’s children, Nina and Anthony—entered prominent roles in government and law. He maintained notecards on students’ career goals, recommending them for influential posts, building what the Chronicle of Higher Education called a “global network of lawyers, diplomats, business leaders, and policymakers.”

Gardner authored numerous works, including

Sterling-Dollar Diplomacy (1956)

In Pursuit of World Order (1964)

Blueprint for Peace (1966)

The Global Partnership (1968)

Mission Italy: On the Front Lines of the Cold War (2005, memoir)

His writings championed international institutions like the U.N., IMF, and World Bank, arguing for incremental steps toward global cooperation over national sovereignty. A 1974 Foreign Affairs article outlined a “case-by-case approach” to erode sovereignty, strengthening bodies like the WTO and U.N. peacekeeping, which drew praise from internationalists but criticism from sovereigntists like John F. McManus, who labeled him a “Deep State” globalist.

Affiliations and Recognition

Gardner was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1974), the American Philosophical Society (1998), and the Council on Foreign Relations. He served on the Trilateral Commission (1974–2005), the State Department’s Advisory Committee on International Economic Policy, and the American Ditchley Foundation. His awards included the Arthur S. Flemming Award (1963) and recognition from the American Academy of Diplomacy.