Hirsch graduated from
Columbia University with a BA in
American studies in 1957 and his PhD in
European history from the
University of Wisconsin in 1965. He was a
Fulbright scholar from 1962 to 1963 and studied in
Turin, Italy. He served as
chargé d'affaires to
Somalia in 1986, and
Consul General in
Johannesburg, South Africa from 1990 to 1993. He also worked as Political Adviser to the Commander of
UNITAF, General
Robert Johnston, and as Deputy to President
George H. W. Bush's Special Envoy, Ambassador
Robert Oakley from 1992 to 1993. He is the author, with Oakley, of the book
Somalia and Operation Restore Hope, published by the
United States Institute of Peace. The book has been lauded by
Los Angeles Times as one of the two most important postmortems written since the
United Nations dismantled its mission to
Somalia. Hirsch was appointed ambassador to
Sierra Leone on August 14, 1995, and served in the post from September 13, 1995, to June 17, 1998. Between 2000 and 2001, he was the Director of the International Fellows Program at
Columbia University's
School of International and Public Affairs. In 2005, he joined Senator
James Sasser and Ambassador
Patricia M. Byrne to oppose the nomination of
John Bolton to be the
United States Ambassador to the United Nations. == References ==