{{Short description|United States Ambassador to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe}} {{Infobox officeholder |name = Julie Finley |image = Julie Finley.jpg |caption = Julie Finley in 2005 |office = United States Ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe |president = George W. Bush |term_start = August 18, 2005 |term_end = January 20, 2009 |predecessor = Stephan Minikes |successor = Ian Kelly |birth_name = Julie Hamm |birth_date = c. {{birth year and age|1937}} |birth_place = |death_date = |death_place = |party = Republican |education = Vassar College {{small|(AB)}} }} '''Julie Finley''' (born c. 1937) was the United States Ambassador to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). She was nominated by President George W. Bush.
==Education== Finley is a 1952 graduate of the Potomac School<ref>{{cite news |url=https://resources.finalsite.net/images/v1557852815/potomac/lza2payg6sfsntjo8ocq/2013_Spring_Term.pdf |title=Class Notes |date=Spring 2013 |page=48 |magazine=The Potomac Term |publisher=The Potomac School |location=McLean, Virginia |accessdate=2021-01-11}}</ref> and a 1955 graduate of Miss Porter's School.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.porters.org/wp-content/uploads/Porters_AFR10-11.pdf |title=The Farmington Founder Society |page=6 |magazine=Annual Report July 1, 2010 - June 30, 2011 |publisher=Miss Porter's School |location=Farmington, Connecticut |accessdate=2021-01-11}}</ref> She then attended Vassar College,<ref name="State" /> graduating with an A.B. degree.
==Career== After graduation, Finley worked for several media organizations, including NBC's Office of Corporate Affairs, ABC News and the ''Washington Post''. She also worked for syndicated columnist Joseph Kraft.<ref name="Prog">{{cite web|url=http://www.progressivegovernment.org/appointee_nom.php?lastname=Finley&firstname=Julie |title=Julie Finley |access-date=2008-03-16 |publisher=The Progressive Government }}</ref>
Finley has been active in Republican politics for many years and served the party in a number of capacities. She was the Washington, D.C., Republican Party Chairman from 1992 through 2000 and the D.C. Republican National Committeewoman from 2000 to 2004. Finley also served as National Finance Co-Chairman for the Bush-Cheney 2004 campaign for Washington, D.C., and as Co-Chairman of Team 100, the major fundraising arm for the Republican National Committee, from 1997 through 2004.<ref name="Prog" /><ref name="State">{{cite web|url=https://2001-2009.state.gov/r/pa/ei/biog/57067.htm |title=Julie Finley - Biography |access-date=2008-03-16 |date=2005-11-17 |publisher=United States Department of State }}</ref>
Finley assumed her duties in Vienna, Austria, on August 18, 2005.<ref name="State" />
In November 2005, in response to a report that press freedoms in Kazakhstan were being violated by President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Finley made a statement that, according to reporter C.J. Chivers of the ''New York Times,'' seemed to dismiss the significance of the crackdown on the press. Addressing a Kazakh official in a speech during an OSCE session in Vienna, Finley stated, "When I was in Kazakhstan a couple of weeks ago I had the interesting pleasure of reading some of this [sic] newspapers that have been seized. Maybe you saved some readers some waste of time, anyway."<ref name="NYT">{{cite news | first=C.J. | last=Chivers | title=Seeking a Path in Democracy's Dead End | date=2008-02-03 | url =https://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/03/weekinreview/03chivers.html?fta=y&pagewanted=print | work =The New York Times | access-date = 2008-03-16 }}</ref>
The U.S. State Department had been pushing Nazarbayev to respect press freedoms, but that message "became mixed" when Finley made her comment, Chivers wrote. The ''Times'' reported that the transcript of the speech was removed from the American mission's website but had already been circulated independently by Western diplomats. Finley declined to comment to the ''Times'' about her statement, though a colleague said that the quote had been ad libbed and did not reflect the Ambassador's "true feelings."<ref name="NYT" />
In 2020, Finley, along with over 130 other former Republican national security officials, signed a statement that asserted that President Trump was unfit to serve another term, and "To that end, we are firmly convinced that it is in the best interest of our nation that Vice President Joe Biden be elected as the next President of the United States, and we will vote for him."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.defendingdemocracytogether.org/national-security/ |title=Former Republican National Security Officials for Biden |date=20 August 2020 |website=Defending Democracy Together |access-date=26 August 2021}}</ref>
==Personal== Finley is the daughter of Edward Frederick Hamm Jr. (March 27, 1908 – March 19, 1985) and Joy Elizabeth (Fairman) Hamm (April 13, 1910 – April 15, 1990).<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/93806632/joy-hamm |title=Joy ''Fairman'' Hamm |website=Find A Grave |accessdate=2021-01-11}}</ref> Her father was the first managing director of the Interstate Commerce Commission.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/03/21/us/edward-f-hamm-jr.html |title=Edward F. Hamm Jr |date=1985-03-21 |page=B8 |newspaper=The New York Times |accessdate=2021-01-11}}</ref> She was married to William Thompson Finley Jr. (May 2, 1936 – May 21, 1992)<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/93806663/william-thompson-finley |title=William Thompson Finley Jr |website=Find A Grave |accessdate=2021-01-11}}</ref> and they had two sons.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CRECB-2005-pt9/pdf/CRECB-2005-pt9-Pg12755.pdf |title=Congressional Record—Senate |date=2005-06-15 |page=12757 |publisher=Government Printing Office |accessdate=2021-01-11}}</ref> Her husband was a lawyer who clerked for Associate Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan Jr. in 1964 and became a partner in the law firm of Steptoe & Johnson in January 1991.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1992/05/22/lawyer-mac-asbill-jr-dies-at-70/25592e0b-f104-4af9-b0e6-0a2760bbe098/ |title=William T. Finley Jr |date=1992-05-22 |newspaper=The Washington Post |accessdate=2021-01-11}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * [http://www.rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/Finley_Julie Profile, Institute for Policy Studies]
{{s-start}} {{s-ppo}} {{s-bef|before=Joan Gillison}} {{s-ttl|title={{nowrap|Republican nominee for U.S. Shadow Senator from the District of Columbia}}<br>(Class 1)|years=1994}} {{s-aft|after=Janet Helms}} |- {{s-dip}} {{s-bef|before=Stephan Minikes}} {{s-ttl|title=United States Ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe|years=2005–2009}} {{s-aft|after=Ian Kelly}} {{s-end}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Finley, Julie}} Category:Atlantic Council Category:1930s births Category:Living people Category:Miss Porter's School alumni Category:Vassar College alumni Category:Washington, D.C., Republicans Category:Women in Washington, D.C., politics Category:Women ambassadors of the United States Category:Permanent representatives of the United States to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Category:Recipients of the Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana, 2nd Class Category:21st-century American women Category:Year of birth missing (living people)