George Shultz’s Character Study of Robert Gates
George Shultz, one of our finest public servants, died last week at the age of 100. He held multiple high-level positions in Washington and, unlike most public servants, left a huge footprint wherever he served. As chief of the Office of Management and Budget, he made sure that the Nixon administration respected the importance of diversity and racial fairness; as Secretary of Labor, he established one of the government’s first affirmative action plans for minority employment at federally subsidized construction programs; as Secretary of the Treasury, he led the efforts of the Nixon administration to stabilize the international economy; and as Secretary of State in the Reagan administration, he contributed to ending the Cold War between Moscow and Washington and enhancing arms control and disarmament.
Recent News and Latest Book
The Washington Post Gratuitously and Wrongly Trashes Jimmy Carter
Last week, the Post published a bizarre and outrageous editorial on Kissinger’s legacy that weakly concluded that his legacy “was still up for debate.” But planted in the middle of the mealy editorial was an unusual criticism of the foreign policy of President Carter, which was gratuitous and wrong-headed.
Kissinger: “The World’s Most Dangerous Man”
After the New York Times begn publishing “The Pentagon Papers” on June 13, 1971, National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger told President Richard M. Nixon that Daniel Ellsberg was “the most dangerous man in America and that he must be stopped at all costs.” Nixon was not inclined to seek legal action against Ellsberg and the Times, but Kissinger convinced the president to do so. Kissinger was never tarred with the crimes of Watergate, but his obsession with Ellsberg contributed to the worst aspects of Watergate.
