Bassin, Jules, October 9, 1979

Item — Box: 1 of 6

Transcript of interview with Jules Bassin, October 9, 1979

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Dates

Creation: October 9, 1979

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open to the public and must be used in the Special Collections reading room. Researchers must register and agree to copyright and privacy laws before using this collection.

Language of Materials

From the Collection: English

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Additional Description

Biographical / Historical

Jules Bassin (1914-2009) was an American lawyer, member of the Foreign Service, and State Department representative. Bassin was born in 1914 to two young Russian immigrants in New York City. Bassin attended school in Brooklyn before going to City College, where he received a BA in History and Mathematics in 1936. Two years later, he received a law degree from New York University. In 1942, Bassin joined the Army and served on General Douglas MacArthur's legal staff in 1945, negotiating the Treaty of Peace with Japan. After he left the Army in 1946, he served as the Law Division Chief until the end of the Occupation in 1952. Bassin joined the Foreign Service and worked in Tokyo on legal issues related to the treaty. In 1960, he became a State Department Representative and faculty member at the Joint Forces Staff College in Norfolk, Virginia. From 1969 until his retirement in 1975, Bassin served as a minister and deputy chief of the United States Diplomatic Mission in Geneva. While retired, he consulted for the State Department on affairs regarding refugees and immigration. Jules Bassin died of a heart attack at the age of 95.