Moffat was born on May 12, 1901, on the
Upper East Side of
Manhattan. He graduated from
Harvard University in 1923, and from
Columbia Law School in 1926. He then traveled around Asia and Australia for some time, and became interested in history and geography. He was admitted to the bar in 1927 and practiced law in
New York City. He also entered politics as a
Republican. He was a member of the
New York State Assembly (New York Co., 15th D.) from
1929 to
1943. He was Chairman of the Committee on the Affairs of New York City in 1934, and Chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means from 1936 to 1943. He was a delegate to the
New York State Constitutional Convention of 1938. He proposed, and then sponsored legislation, to build the
New York State Thruway. Moffat resigned his seat on August 16, 1943, to accept a post at the
U.S. Department of State. He headed the department's South-East Asia Division from 1944 to 1947, then served in a variety of diplomatic posts: from 1947 to 1948 in
Greece, from 1948 to 1950 in
Great Britain, from 1950 to 1952 in
Burma, and from 1957 to 1960 in
Ghana. From 1954 to 1956, he worked for the
International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. In 1961, Moffat retired from the diplomatic service and moved to
Princeton, New Jersey. That same year, he published a biography of
King Mongkut of Siam. He died on April 17, 1996, at a retirement home in
Hightstown, New Jersey, of
cancer. Ambassador
Jay Pierrepont Moffat (1896–1943) was his brother, and Ambassador
Jay Pierrepont Moffat Jr. (born 1932) is his nephew. ==References==