James Eugene Goodby (born December 20, 1929) is an author and former American diplomat.

Goodby served with the United States Army Corps of Engineers in Boston in 1951.

[1] He was foreign affairs specialist with the United States Atomic Energy Commission in 1954–59, foreign affairs officer in the Office of Special Assistant to the Secretary of State for Atomic Energy in 1960, Officer in Charge of Nuclear Test Ban Negotiations at the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency in 1961–63; member of the Policy Planning Council at the Department of State in 1963–67; political officer at the United States Mission to the European Communities in Brussels in 1967–69; Officer in Charge of Defense Policy Affairs at the Bureau of European Affairs of the Department of State, in 1969–71; Counselor for Political Affairs at the United States Mission to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in Brussels in 1971–74; Deputy Director of the Bureau of Politico-Military Affairs in 1974–77 (negotiating with NATO alliance partners as part of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe to create the Helsinki Accords); and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs in 1977–80.

Goodby served as United States Ambassador to Finland (April 11, 1980 – August 18, 1981), and was vice chairman of the U.S. delegation to the Strategic Arms Reduction Talks (START).

[2] Goodby is currently Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Center for Northeast Asian Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution,[3] a member of the Bipartisan Security Group,[4] and Annenberg Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution.