Wyche Fowler
Wyche Fowler, Jr. (1940) is an attorney, U.S. politician, and chairman of the Board of Governors of the Middle East Institute. He was U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia (1996-2001). Previously, he was a member of the U.S. Senate (D-Georgia), filling a vacancy from a seat in the House of Representatives.
Saudi Arabia
Prior to his appointment, he had no significant work with the Middle East. While there, he connected on a personal level
[The Saudis] are intelligent and quick," Fowler said in a recent interview, "and I enjoyed spending many hours drinking tea in the desert with them late into the night. They want to tell you about their family, and want to hear about yours. They would tell me a story about their father raising camels, and I would tell them one about my father raising cows.[1]
He arrived shortly after the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing, where the U.S. had considerable difficulty getting Saudi help in the investigation.
Senate
In the Senate, he was a member of the Appropriations, Budget, Energy and Agriculture Committees
House
Member, US House of Representatives (1977-1987); member of the Ways and Means and Foreign Affairs Committees, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and the Congressional Arts Caucus.
State and local
He was a Member, and later president, of the Atlanta City Council in the state of Georgia, and was in the private practice of law for eight years before his election.
Education
- JD, Emory University, 1969
- BA, Davidson College, 1962