Former Secretary of State Warren Christopher died Friday in Los Angeles of kidney and bladder cancer. He was 85. Christopher had a long and distinguished career in public service and epitomized the prudence and restraint of his generation of Cold War diplomats. Unfailingly polite and carefully prepared, he was tapped by Cyrus Vance to become Deputy Secretary of State for Jimmy Carter and negotiated the release of the American hostages held in Iran (they were released on Ronald Reagan’s inauguration).
He is best remembered in Washington now for his tenure as Bill Clinton’s first Secretary of State. He had the misfortune of holding the office between the powerful and effective Jim Baker, and the outspoken Madeleine Albright, by contrast to whom his self-effacing style made him appear weak. This perception was exacerbated by Bill Clinton’s decision to abandon a campaign pledge to intervene to stop the genocide in Bosnia. Christopher eventually presided over the NATO bombing of Serbian positions there, though Albright, as U.N. Ambassador, was always the stronger voice for intervention.
In fact, it took a combination of aides to produce the weak foreign policy of Bill Clinton’s first term. Christopher at State played a role. But so did Anthony Lake, Clinton’s National Security Advisor, and Colin Powell, his chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In fact it was Powell who played the greatest role in shifting Clinton away from intervention in Bosnia. Christopher deserved his reputation for caution, but it is a twist of history that the seemingly forceful Powell drove the timid Balkan policy that came to define Christopher’s tenure.
