Marie Yovanovitch, 2019
American diplomat and member of the senior ranks of the United States Foreign Service.
48 x 60 inches
Oil on canvas
“My parents fled Communist and Nazi regimes. Having seen, firsthand, the war and poverty and displacement common to totalitarian regimes, they valued the freedom and democracy the U.S. offers and that the United States represents. And they raised me to cherish those values.”
—Marie Yovanovitch
Marie Yovanovitch has served in a variety of State Department posts, the latest being Ambassador to Ukraine 2016-2019. She endured a conspiracy-driven smear campaign by President Trump and his allies which culminated in her removal from office. Yovanovitch, an expert in anti-corruption practices, had undermined and obstructed the ability of Trump to pressure the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, into investigating Trump’s political rival Joe Biden. Her abrupt removal from office shocked State Department officials and her ouster became one of the issues examined in the House of Representatives impeachment inquiry against Trump. Though the State Department attempted to stop her, she proceeded to give testimony.