Charles W. Maynes
Charles William Maynes (December 9, 1938 – June 2, 2007) was an American diplomat and long-time editor of Foreign Policy magazine. He served as the 12th Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs from April 14, 1977, to April 9, 1980, under President Jimmy Carter.
Born in Huron, South Dakota, Maynes studied at Harvard College, where he earned a BA in history in 1960. He then was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, earning a master’s degree in politics, philosophy, and economics in 1962. He spoke French and Russian.
Maynes joined the U.S. Foreign Service in 1962 and worked as a diplomat in Laos and the Soviet Union. In 1972, he left the Foreign Service to work on Sargent Shriver’s staff during the McGovern–Shriver campaign. He also worked for Senator Fred R. Harris and Representative Frank B. Morse, and from 1972 to 1977 he was secretary of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
As Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs, Maynes helped draft agreements that led to Namibia’s independence from South Africa and oversaw U.S. involvement with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon.
He left government service in 1980 to become editor of Foreign Policy, a role he held until 1997. From 1997 to 2007, he was president of the Eurasia Foundation. Maynes died of cancer in Chevy Chase, Maryland, on June 2, 2007.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 19:04 (CET).