Howard Gutman

Howard William Gutman (born July 8, 1956) is a lawyer, actor and former United States Ambassador to Belgium under Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013.

Gutman is the son of Polish immigrant and Holocaust survivor Max Gutman, who worked in New York's garment district.

He attended public elementary schools and then the Bronx High School of Science in New York.

Gutman is a summa cum laude graduate of Columbia University (1977) and a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School (1980).

Gutman clerked for Judge Irving Loeb Goldberg on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (1980–1981).

After that, he joined the law firm of Cravath, Swaine & Moore.

He left the firm to clerk for Justice Potter Stewart on the United States Supreme Court.

Gutman also once represented Susan Rosenberg, a former member of the Weather Underground accused, but never indicted or convicted, in the 1981 Brinks robbery in post-conviction, constitutional litigation.

Gutman also provided representation to Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada, a former Bolivian president, and José Carlos Sánchez Berzain, a defense minister, who were sued in American courts by Bolivians following an attempted coup in Bolivia.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit recently dismissed the case against Sánchez de Lozada and Sánchez Berzain.

Gutman has long been active in Democratic politics, working on policy issues, speech writing, constituency work, legal representation, and media.

After clerking, in 1982, Gutman joined the Washington, D.C., law firm of Williams & Connolly LLP.

He left the firm in 1985 to become Special Assistant to F.B.I. Director William H. Webster, focusing on counter-intelligence and counter-terrorism.

Gutman rejoined Williams & Connolly in 1986, and in 1988, Gutman became a partner at the firm, where he focused on commercial litigation, including securities, contracts, antitrust, labor, banking, real estate, intellectual property, insurance coverage, international law, and partnership disputes.

Gutman represented a wide variety of clients during his 25-year career, including acting Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger and many states' attorneys general in suits against Microsoft Corporation.

Gutman and his wife, Michelle Loewinger, have contributed at least $86,150 to Democratic candidates, parties and committees since 1989.

Gutman contributed the legal maximum of $2300 to Bill Clinton's presidential bid.

Both he and his wife contributed the legal maximum of $4600 a piece to Obama's presidential run.

Gutman bundled at least half a million for Obama's campaign committee and another $275,000 for his inauguration.

Gutman has been dubbed by one Belgian newspaper as "the most popular ambassador ever in Belgium" and is the second longest serving U.S. Ambassador to Belgium in the last 35 years.

The Flemish municipality of Buggenhout erected a monument marking the ambassador's visit to the municipality.

U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt) placed Gutman's poem, given on Memorial Day at Flanders Field, into the Congressional Record.

Among his 100+ television appearances in Belgium,

Gutman was chosen to present the final award at the Belgian Music Industry Awards.

He also has helped raise money for Democratic presidential, gubernatorial, and congressional candidates, including Al Gore's presidential campaign in 2000.

Gutman served on the legal team representing Gore in the Supreme Court case Bush v. Gore.

According to OpenSecrets.org, in 2008, Gutman was part of the Obama National Finance Committee and later a trustee on the Presidential Inauguration Committee.

On September 7, 2011, Le Soir, a leading Belgian newspaper, ran a major profile entitled: "The Ambassador Who Makes Us Love America Again."

Noting the change in Belgian-American relations, one Belgian newspaper stated that "there is no doubt that [Ambassador Gutman] would be elected if he were to run at a [Belgian] election."

He also had the goal of visiting each of the 589 municipalities in Belgium.

His intention was not only to visit managers and politicians, but also ordinary citizens and employees.

Speaking at a legal conference on antisemitism organized by the European Jewish Union on November 30, 2011, Gutman talked about historic antisemitism, as well as a trend he described as "a tension and perhaps hatred largely born of and reflecting the tension ... in the Middle East over the continuing Israeli-Palestinian problem".

He added that "an Israeli-Palestinian peace treaty will significantly diminish Muslim anti-Semitism."

The comments were then misquoted in what Salon, The Economist and Mother Jones then demonstrated was a "woefully inaccurate account of his remarks."

Reliance on the misquotes led to high-profile criticism from a number of rival politicians, including Republican presidential candidates Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney and Rick Perry as well as Abraham Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League.

Gutman issued a statement saying, "I deeply regret if my comments were taken the wrong way", highlighting his history of condemning and combating anti-semitism, and making reference to his background as the son of a Holocaust survivor.

The subsequent press demonstrated both that Ambassador Gutman had been misquoted and the accuracy of his speech.

Lubavitch Chabad leader Rabbi Levi Shemtov also came to the defense of Ambassador Gutman, citing his service to the Jewish community and noting that calling Ambassador Gutman an "anti-Semite" was like calling Rabbi Shemtov an "astronaut."

On May 5, 2013, he completed his tour when he visited the last municipality on his list, Voeren.

Gutman left his post as ambassador on July 23, 2013.