John Tefft (right) in 2008, when he was U.S. ambassador to Georgia, and former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried (left), visit a checkpoint near the ethnic Georgian village of Akhmaji. Credit: Associated Press

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America's new man in Moscow was born and raised in Madison.

John Tefft, a 1971 Marquette University graduate, will be nominated by President Barack Obama to become U.S. ambassador to Russia, the White House said in a statement Thursday.

Pending confirmation by the U.S. Senate, Tefft will parachute into a diplomatic post as U.S.-Russian relations continue to bottom out after Russia's brazen annexation of Crimea, which was part of Ukraine.

But if any envoy can make sense of the disorder, it's likely to be Tefft, a 64-year-old career diplomat who is coming out of a brief retirement after ambassadorships to Lithuania, Georgia and Ukraine.

Tefft is described as folksy and shrewd, a first-rate representative of American interests and attitudes. His collection of hats and caps from his travels around the world has been known to charm those who cross his path.

"He is a superb diplomat," said Steven Pifer, a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine. "I can't think of a better choice for the embassy in Moscow. He has huge experience. The quality that will servehim very well in Moscow: He knows how to deliver a tough message in a way the recipient may not like the message but doesn't want to shoot the messenger."

Pifer, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution's Center on the United States and Europe, said Tefft has the ability to keep open lines of communication.

"Ambassador Tefft will be going to Moscow at a time where it's going to be a difficult period," Pifer said. "But that's the kind of time where you want somebody with his skill set there."

Tefft's nomination has been discussed for months, with one Newsweek headline summing up the stakes: "Ambassador Tefft Would Upset Russia, and That's The Point."

The New York Times reported that in the spring, administration officials were initially "leery" of dispatching Tefft because of concerns "his experience in former Soviet republics that have flouted Moscow's influence would irritate Russia."

That concern faded, though, after Russia claimed Crimea.

The Kremlin approved Tefft's candidacy and downplayed suggestions that the choice was provocative.

"Unlike many others, I know him well. I would say this is a high-level diplomat in terms of his professionalism," Yury Ushakov, a Russian presidential aide, told reporters in Moscow Wednesday.

Tefft will fill the position that has been vacant since the previous ambassador, Michael McFaul, left Moscow in February.

Even though he has traveled the world representing the United States, Tefft is bound to Wisconsin and is said to avidly follow the fortunes of the Milwaukee Brewers, Green Bay Packers, Marquette basketball and Wisconsin football.

He was raised with two brothers and two sisters by his mother, Mary Jane, and his father Floyd, an attorney.

After graduating in 1967 from Edgewood High School in Madison, Tefft headed to Marquette University to study history. His mentor in college was Father Francis Paul Prucha, a Jesuit and a prominent historian of the American West.

At Marquette, Tefft met his future wife, Mariella Cellitti, a biology major who was a year before him. The couple married in January 1971. They have two grown daughters and a grandchild.

Tom Cellitti, a retired Chicago-area businessman and cousin of Tefft's wife, said Tefft is "one of the most down-to-earth people" he has known.

"He was always the smartest person in the room but never came off like that," said Cellitti, who first met Tefft while they were at Marquette.

Cellitti said even as a student, Tefft had an ability to tie together disparate events in such a way as to see historical patterns. After receiving his undergraduate degree in history, Tefft earned a master's in history at Georgetown University.

As a diplomat, Cellitti said, Tefft has crafted a reputation for "being a straight shooter."

Cellitti said Tefft's appointment to the top post in Russia "is a good thing for the country because he is someone who understands the situation and who works in the country's and the world's best interest."

Tefft joined the Foreign Service in 1972. His wife, who is a biostatistician and nurse, has been with him during each posting.

Tefft learned six languages: Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Lithuanian, Russian and French.

"My wife likes to jokingly point out that I am starting to forget English," Tefft said in a 2013 interview with The Politic, The Yale Undergraduate Journal of Politics.

In the interview, he explained the lure of diplomatic life.

"Well, coming out of college, the possibility of traveling overseas was really appealing," he said. "I was also drawn, of course, to the opportunity to practice foreign policy. It just seemed like a great opportunity."

Tefft said in the interview that he became a specialist in Eastern European affairs and political and military issues and worked extensively on arms control from 1983 to 1986.

For three years in the late 1990s, Tefft represented the U.S. in Moscow, where he was a deputy chief of mission.

Tefft was the top U.S. envoy in Lithuania from 2000 to 2003, in Georgia from 2005 to 2009 and in Ukraine from late 2009 to the summer of 2013.

After leaving Ukraine, he retired from the Foreign Service and served as executive director of the RAND Business Leaders Forum. The group brings together political and economic experts for biennial off-the-record conferences dealing with issues facing the United States, Russia and Europe.

Why would Tefft want to cut short his retirement from diplomacy and step back into the fray? His longtime friend, Pifer, said that Tefft is driven by a sense of duty.