Laurence Hirsch Silberman, an American lawyer, diplomat, jurist, and government official who served as a United States Circuit Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit from 1985 until his death in 2022 had an estimated net worth of $2 million.
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Born to a Jewish family in York, Pennsylvania, Silberman graduated from Dartmouth College with a Bachelor of Arts in history in 1957.
He attended the Harvard Law School, graduating in 1961 with a Bachelor of Laws degree.
Silberman led the development of legislation to implement “final offer selection” as a means of resolving labor disputes and as Undersecretary, he repeatedly clashed with Charles “Chuck” Colson and tendered his resignation in order to compel the hiring of a black regional director in New York in 1972.
Silberman was nominated by President Richard Nixon to be Deputy Attorney General of the United States in January 1974 and he was tasked with reviewing J. Edgar Hoover’s secret files, which he [Silberman] has described as “the single worst experience of my long governmental service”.
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Ford nominated Silberman as Ambassador to Yugoslavia in April 1975.
Silberman served in the role until he resigned during the presidential transition of Jimmy Carter.
During that time, Silberman also served as the Presidential Special Envoy for International Labor Organization Affairs and as ambassador, he succeeded in freeing an American, Laszlo Toth, who had been falsely imprisoned by the regime as a CIA agent, by putting pressure on both the Yugoslav regime and the State Department.
During the campaign for the 1980 presidential election, Silberman was co-chairman of Ronald Reagan’s foreign policy advisors.
Then, from 1981 to 1985, he served as a member of the General Advisory Committee on Arms Control and Disarmament and the Defense Policy Board.
In total, Silberman held six Senate-confirmed positions and never received a dissenting vote.
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