Ambassador John Warlick McDonald

Ambassador John Warlick McDonald

Ambassador John Warlick McDonald, from Washington D.C., is the second recipient of the My World Peace With Justice Award, which he received in 2017.

Ambassador McDonald was lawyer, an American diplomat, and an international development and peacebuilding expert, concerned about world social, economic and ethnic problems.    He was appointed twice by Presidents Carter and Reagan to represent the United States at United Nations World Conferences.

John Warlick McDonald was born on February 18th, 1922 in Koblenz, Germany of American parents, and passed away on May 17th, 2019 in Arlington, Virginia, USA.  He earned his Bachelour of Arts in 1943 and Doctor of Jurisprudence  in 1946 degrees from the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana, and graduated from the National War College in 1967.   After receiving his law degree, McDonald entered the U.S. Foreign Service. Ambassador McDonald also received honorary degrees from Salisbury University, St. John’s University, Teikyo University and Mount Mercy University.

He spent twenty years of his diplomatic career in Western Europe and the Middle East and worked for sixteen years on United Nations economic and social affairs. He served from 1974 to 1978 as Deputy Director-General of the International Labour Organisation (Geneva), in charge of managing ILO’s Secretariat of around 3,200 staff.

The last four years before his retirement in 1987 Ambassador McDonald joined the U.S. State Department’s newly created Center for the Study of Foreign Affairs as Coordinator for Multilateral Diplomacy. Thus ended an exciting and rewarding diplomatic career in multilateral diplomacy (Track 1 Diplomacy).

After Ambassador McDonald’s 40 year diplomatic career, he and his wife Christel moved to Grinnel, Iowa, where Ambassador McDonald became the first President of the Iowa Peace Institute and Professor of Political Science at Grinnell College., from the end of 1988 to early 1992.

McDonald founded the NGO Global Water in 1982 and in 1992 he co-founded with Dr. Louise Diamond the Institute for Multi-Track Diplomacy (IMTD), a systems-based approach to peacebuilding and to facilitate the transformation of deep-rooted social conflict (Track II or Citizen Diplomacy). Track I Diplomacy is Government to Government Diplomacy. Track II Diplomacy is the practice of non-governmental, informal and unofficial contacts and activities between private citizens or groups of individuals, sometimes called “non-state actors”. Track II in general supports directly or indirectly Track I efforts.

Ambassador John W. McDonald developed a long list of awards and achievements and several awards throughout his lifetime. Here is a list of said awards and achievements:

  • Recipient of the Superior Honor Award from the U.S. Department of State in 1972.
  • Recipient of the Presidential Meritorious Service Award from the U.S. Department of State in 1984.
  • Honoree for Patriot of the Year in 1987.
  • Honoree and Distinguished Visiting Professor at George Mason University from 1992 to 1993.
  • Nominee for the the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994
  • Recipient of the Alumni Achievement Award from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Illinois in 2004.
  • Recipient of the Peace Builders Award from “Search for Common Ground” in 2005.
  • Recipient of the Alumni of the Year Award at the University of Illinois in 2006.
  • Recipient of the Peace Maker Award from the Association for Conflict Resolution in 2009.
  • Recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from “People to People International” in 2010.
  • Recipient of the John W. McDonald Award for Leadership and Innovation in Global Governance and Conflict Resolution from the University of Massachusetts in Boston in 2011.
  • Recipient of the 2017 My World Peace with Justice Award.
  • Recipient of the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award in (Who is Who) 2018.

Ambassador John Warlick McDonald is an inspiration to all people involved in conflict resolution. His contributions to the development and employment of conflict resolution techniques have helped many people both in the USA and internationally.

Ambassador McDonald’s mantra is:

“The only way to solve a conflict at any level of society is to sit down face to face and talk about it.”

Ambassador John W. McDonald
Global Strategist and Peacebuilder

We are happy to have Ambassador John Warlick McDonald as the recipient of the 2017 My World Peace With Justice Award.