George Shultz, American statesman, dies at 100

After the Nixon years, Shultz moved into the corporate world, became a CEO at the Bechtel Group, and returned to academia at Stanford University. When Reagan was elected, he installed Alexander Haig as Secretary of State, but after a difficult first year, the overwhelming Haig left office in July 1982 and Reagan immediately chose Shultz to replace him.

According to HW Brands’ ‘Reagan: The Life’, the president was unwilling to announce Haig’s departure before drafting his replacement. Brands wrote that when Reagan reached out to him, Shultz realized he needed to respond immediately. “Mr. President, I’m on board,” he said.

“He has the potential to be one of the greatest Secretary of State of all time,” Illinois Senator Charles Percy said when Shultz was confirmed 97-0. From the outset, Shultz’s professionalism put the State Department in a different way, and he gave Reagan loyal support.

“Shultz, unlike Haig, was courteous and patient,” Diggins wrote in his 2007 book, “the right qualities for a diplomat who prefers to negotiate over escalation.”

Shultz needed these qualities when dealing with a fellow member of Reagan’s cabinet, Caspar Weinberger, secretary of defense, a confrontational fellow veteran of the Nixon government and Bechtel. The Beltway was full of talk of disagreement. In December 1984, The New York Times reported that the two ‘were at odds with virtually all foreign policy issues, often to the frustration and concern of the White House’. It did not help matters that Shultz was the more hawkish on some issues and on others, Weinberger. Sometimes the issues they fought over seemed trivial, such as the question of selling computers to Romania.

Shultz, wrote The Times, ‘is by nature a professor, mediator and private man. He prefers reconciliation over confrontation. Often impassive – a colleague described him as ‘sphinx-like’ – Shultz is a man with enormous self-assurance. “In the same article it is remarked:” It seems that he is satisfied to stay out of the news. “

His six-and-a-half years above the state department left him to handle situations from the Caribbean to China, but two events stood out. The low point was the Iran-Contra scandal in 1986, which funded the sale of weapons to Iran to guerrillas in Nicaragua, which was not approved by Congress. Reagan’s efforts to deal with the situation only exacerbated the matter, and Shultz was one of the few voices in government who insisted on getting the government back on track. “Reagan thought Shultz was blowing things out of proportion,” according to “Reagan: The Life.”

There was an appeal to Shultz to resign, but later he would write: “I could not function as a successor in this job unless the terrible situation was rectified.” So, Shultz stayed, and some of the rogue policy equipment would end up in his hands. The scandal would make Oliver North famous and drop a number of prominent Washington figures, including Weinberger.

Eventually, Shultz’s biggest influence on Reagan would come on the subject of gun control. In a March 1983 memo, Shultz mentioned several areas in which he thought talks could lead to better relations between the US and the Soviet Union, including arms control. This impetus gained steam when Gorbachev came to power in the Soviet Union, which Reagan once called the “evil empire.”

“It always seemed to me that Gorbachev was a real realist,” Shultz wrote in his 2016 book, “Learning from Experience,” pointing out that Gorbachev had come through the ranks, unlike previous Soviet leaders.

When Shultz met Gorbachev for the first time, Reagan gave Shultz a chance to give Gorbachev the opportunity to shake up the status quo of the Cold War. According to Brands ‘book, Shultz said: “President Reagan told me to look you squarely in the eye and say to you,’ Ronald Reagan believes this is a very special moment in the history of mankind. ‘

What followed was several consultations with Gorbachev, which eventually led to a sharp reduction in nuclear weapons and the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan; it took place at the same time, while Gorbachev followed an unrelated process of liberalization within the Soviet Union, and also indicated that the Warsaw Pact was on their own. In 1989, less than a year after Reagan left office, the Berlin Wall came down. It was an ominous time that was the end of a Cold War that lasted decades and that many people had.

In the last moments of Reagan’s presidency, Shultz received the presidential medal of freedom: “His countrymen have honored him for many years and his important role in ushering in a new era of hope for foreign policy.”

Over the next few decades, Shultz would speak behind the scenes on many international issues and serve as an informal adviser, especially to George W. Bush. He would be asked as a speaker and writer, someone who can be counted on to present a good analysis of world crises. When he stopped talking for more than a few minutes, it seemed as if someone was handing him an award or honorary degree.

Shultz, who also returned to Bechtel and Stanford, was candid about his fears for the world. “For centuries we have somehow managed to separate war from religion, and now it’s back,” he told the Times of Israel in February 2016. ‘War with a religious base is much more dangerous because it has the ability to spread what it is doing. ”

Shultz also spoke out on domestic issues, including the legalization of recreational drugs and the benefits of driving a Prius. He insisted that climate change be addressed.

“I’ve always tried to live in the future,” he told the San Jose Mercury News in 2011, “and think about things and how to make things better. If you have great-grandchildren in the area, and look at their photos to you, then this is the future. ‘

And Shultz – who published an opinion piece in The Washington Post during his 100th birthday – never loses his ability to impress others with his ideas.

“I was in a meeting with him a week or so ago,” Perry said Sunday, “where he was the sharpest and most challenging person in the room.”

Bryan Bender contributed to this report.