page_title: William Flynn Martin
section_title: Reagan Administration
hierarchical_section_title: William Flynn Martin / Reagan Administration
caption_attribution_description: English: Martin escorting Soviet Foreign Minister Gromyko to meeting with Ronald Reagan
context_page_description: William Flynn Martin is an American energy economist, educator, and international diplomat. Martin served as Special Assistant to Ronald Reagan for National Security Affairs, Executive Secretary of the United States National Security Council, and United States Deputy Secretary of Energy during the Ronald Reagan Administration. He was President of the Council of the University for Peace, appointed to the Council by Secretary General of the United Nations Kofi Annan. In 1992, he was Executive Director of the Republican Platform committee under George H. W. Bush.
  Martin was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He achieved his Bachelor of Science from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1972 and his Master of Science from MIT in 1974. His master's thesis was the basis of an article he co-authored with George Cabot Lodge in the March, 1975 Harvard Business Review entitled Our Society in 1985: Business May Not Like It.
  William Martin is the recipient of seven letters of merit from Ronald Reagan, received the Order of the Rising Sun in person from Emperor Akihito of Japan, and was commended by Czech President Vaclav Havel for significant contributions to the Czech Republic.
context_section_description: In 1981, Martin joined the United States Department of State as Special Assistant to Under Secretary of State James L. Buckley who recalled Martin's activities in his book Gleanings from an Unplanned Life. The senior Reagan administration inter-agency "Buckley Group" that Martin coordinated sought to reduce European subsidies and credits to the Soviet Union. It also urged Europeans to reduce their dependence on Soviet gas and to find alternatives. Finally, it proposed market oriented energy policies for the United States (deregulation of oil and gas price controls, permitting Alaskan oil exports, allowing eminent domain for coal slurry pipelines) -- all policies of which eventually came to fruition during the Reagan Presidency. (see reference to this again in James Buckley's Gleanings from an Unplanned Life). Martin briefed President Reagan in the Oval Office that unless the US was credible in its energy policies, the Europeans would not take seriously our concerns on their over dependence on Soviet gas imports.
  In 1982, he was transferred to the National Security Council as the Director of International Economic Affairs. In this capacity he prepared recommendations for the President in the areas of energy security, East-West economic relations, the Iran-Iraq War and Central American economic development. A key responsibility of Martin's was to conceptualize and then negotiate with the Europeans on the issue of reducing their reliance on Soviet natural gas imports, a project that was directed personally by President Reagan. Martin made a key presentation to President Reagan on alternative gas scenarios for Europe, concluding that the Troll field was vital for European security. Martin's role was to negotiate the development of the giant Norwegian Troll gas field to be an alternative to Soviet gas imports and this was documented in the book Troll: Gas for Generations, an excerpt of which can be seen online. This was part of a larger program to undermine the Soviet economy as reported by Peter Schweizer in his book, Victory: The Reagan Administration's Secret Strategy that Hastened the Collapse of the Soviet Union and the excerpt where he credited Martin for this effort can be seen online.
  Martin is also credited in a Presidential citation as the principal draftsman of the Williamsburg Declaration, at the 9th G7 Summit which is a three-page communique agreed to by the G-7 leaders who were Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher of the UK, Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone of Japan, Chancellor Helmut Kohl of West Germany, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau of Canada, Prime Minister Amintore Fanfani of Italy and Prime Minister François Mitterrand of France. The President read the three-page declaration before the world press (President Reagan's opening remarks can be seen on online) and credited Martin as the principal draftsman in the following online letter. Many conclude that this jointly agreed document, which argued for free markets and free trade policies, set in place the foundations for a worldwide economic recovery beginning in 1983. Based on these achievements, Martin was appointed Special Assistant to President Reagan, responsible for the coordination of the President's international and head of state meetings.
  Martin helped arrange President Reagan's international meetings coordinating with the White House Advance Office, NSC staff and the Department of State. He participated in the President's visits to Japan (1983), South Korea (1983), China (1984), Ireland (1984), United Kingdom (1984), the D-Day fortieth anniversary commemoration on Normandy beaches in France (1984), Canada (1985), Spain (1985), Germany (1985), EU Parliament (1985), the Reagan-Gorbachev Geneva Summit (1985) and several G-7 economic summit meetings (Williamsburg, London and Bonn). Working closely with the State Department and NSC staff, he also coordinated the preparation of President Reagan's Oval Office head of state meetings. As NSC Senior Director for Coordination, he coordinated and participated in the President's major bilateral meetings with, among 
caption: Martin escorting Soviet Foreign Minister Gromyko to meeting with Ronald Reagan
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