Lionel Rosenblatt, a former U.S. Foreign Service officer, died April 11 at 82 from leukemia. In April 1975, the 31‑year‑old diplomat covertly organized the evacuation of roughly 200 South Vietnamese who had worked with the United States, ferrying them out of Saigon days before the city fell to North Vietnamese forces.

Rosenblatt and colleague Larry Craig Johnstone arrived on a Pan Am flight on April 22, only to learn senior officials intended to send them home. Disguised with a shaved mustache and false IDs, they used a borrowed Citroën and a CIA‑linked van to shuttle refugees from rendezvous points—including a pho restaurant and the Hotel Continental—to departing U.S. military aircraft.

After escaping Saigon, Rosenblatt faced a reprimand from Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who nevertheless praised the mission as “honorable.” The duo earned the American Foreign Service Association’s Constructive Dissent Award, cementing Rosenblatt’s reputation as a leading refugee advocate. He later coordinated the resettlement of 130,000 Vietnamese refugees and championed Hmong admissions, shaping U.S. humanitarian policy for decades.

Rosenblatt’s early service in Vietnam (1967‑69) forged his loyalty to local allies, a commitment that guided his later work with Refugees International and in conflict zones such as Rwanda and Bosnia. His death closes a career that blended daring field action with persistent lobbying, leaving a blueprint for how diplomats can intervene when official policy stalls.