Warren Christopher, the American former Secretary of State who died on March 18 aged 85, was maligned, often unfairly, as President Clinton's "flak catcher in chief" and blamed for many of the foreign policy mistakes of the early Clinton years.
Photo: DENIS PAQUIN
A transparently honest, decent man, Christopher had earned his diplomatic laurels as Deputy Secretary of State under Jimmy Carter when he negotiated the release in 1980 of 52 Americans held hostage in the embassy in Tehran, a tortuous process that became a model of American diplomacy – but came too late to rescue Carter's presidency.
As Secretary of State from 1993 to 1997, Christopher's evident strengths – in damage control and diplomacy – came to be seen as weaknesses. Loyal and hard-working, he seemed to regard himself more as Clinton's lawyer, taking instructions and making his case to other people, than as an independent policy-maker in his own right. Thus he never established an agenda of his own at a time when Clinton did not know his own mind; as a result he failed to articulate a vision of America's role and left office without leaving a significant mark on US foreign policy.
Hampered by a lugubrious manner and almost suffocating discretion, Christopher had a keen sense of his own limitations and was so modest that on one occasion he felt he had to tell the audience at a Washington conference about the Middle East who he was before he started talking. He was so anonymous that the Belgian Foreign Minister, Willy Claes, once referred to him at a Nato news conference as "Christopher Warren".
Yet the Clinton administration had come into office with a strong hand. The Cold War was over, the Soviet Union in ruins. There was a unique opportunity to build a new structure of American foreign policy. But while there were fine words, there was little "follow-through". Explicitly espousing a foreign policy of "assertive multilateralism," the new President launched an ambitious UN-led "nation building" exercise in Somalia. The experiment collapsed with the deaths of 18 Americans in Mogadishu in late 1993, and the vocabulary of "assertive multilateralism" largely disappeared.
Worse was to come the following year when the US and UN failed to react quickly enough to the unrest in Kigali which eventually led to the Rwandan genocide. In the course of some 100 days, between early April and July, at least 500,000 Tutsis were killed by Hutu militia.
Within the US, Christopher was especially censured for his perceived weak diplomacy in China. In March 1994 he paid a visit to Beijing to negotiate a renewal of China's low-tariff privileges, during which he appeared to be kowtowing to Beijing's leaders without gaining any concessions on human rights, despite the fact that Clinton had given the issue a high profile during the 1992 presidential campaign.
Christopher was sidelined during one of the few early successes of the Clinton era, Operation Uphold Democracy, which returned Haiti's popularly-elected President Jean-Bertrande Aristide to power in 1994 after he had been unseated in a coup. Christopher had opposed the mission led by Jimmy Carter to negotiate a peaceful end to the crisis, and Carter later complained that he had had little co-operation from the State Department. Instead the initiative was taken by Clinton's national security adviser, Anthony Lake, and the former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, General Colin Powell, who accompanied Carter to Haiti.
Of course Christopher could point to some achievements. In Europe, he promoted the Nato Partnership for Peace which led to the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland becoming full members of the alliance in 1999. In 1995, working with John McCain, he persuaded Clinton that the time had come to normalise diplomatic relations with Vietnam.
His supporters also credited Christopher (and his chief negotiator Richard Holbrooke), with brokering the Dayton Agreement of November 1995 which brought an end to the conflict in Bosnia. However the talks came about after two and a half years of uncertain diplomacy which began with Clinton's accusation that the Bush administration was doing too little, then shifted to the view that the conflict was largely Europe's problem. During this time Christopher accused all sides in Bosnia of human rights abuses, apparently ignoring the role of Serbian leaders as inciters of genocide, and sidestepped European demands for American intervention to end a conflict which he had once described as a crucial test of the post-Cold War world's ability to cope with ethnic conflicts.
American weakness in coming to terms with Bosnia was underscored when Christopher made a disastrous trip to Europe in April 1993 at which a US plan to exempt the poorly-armed Bosnian government from a UN arms embargo, with a back-up option of targeted air strikes on the Serbs, was rejected. Unlike the US, the Europeans had thousands of peacekeeping troops on the ground, vulnerable to reprisals.
Christopher's main area of interest was the Middle East, where he was dogged in trying to achieve progress. In the wake of the Oslo Accords, he orchestrated an official signing ceremony in Washington in September 1993, with Mahmoud Abbas representing the PLO and Shimon Peres signing for Israel. He went on to broker a peace treaty between Jordan and Israel, eventually offering Jordan's King Hussein $200 million in military equipment and $700 million in debt relief to sweeten the deal. However his attempts to negotiate peace between Israel and Syria ended in stalemate.
Christopher's personal authority was undermined by constant speculation about his future. As early as 1993 The Economist was describing him as "the weakest link in Mr Clinton's trio of foreign policy advisers", and calling for his replacement. In 1994 there were authoritative reports that Anthony Lake had been trying to elbow him aside, complaining that the "paralysis" in the State Department was so severe he had been forced to seize control of foreign policy in a number of areas (including Rwanda and Northern Ireland) himself. Even the president was said to have criticised Christopher at high-level meetings, a humiliating experience for a senior cabinet member.
Christopher became so fed up that at one point he even secretly met Colin Powell to see if he wanted the job. When, in response to the rumours, he stated that news of his imminent departure or resignation were neither new nor accurate, The New York Times reported that State Department officials were interpreting the word "imminent" as "evidence that he might indeed walk out the door".
The usual courtesies were observed when Christopher left his post at the beginning of Clinton's second term in January 1997, but a truer judgment of his time at the State Department came with the ceremonial unveiling of his portrait at the department in 1999. "To anyone who has served in Washington," Christopher remarked, "there is something oddly familiar about [having your portrait painted]. First, you're painted into a corner, then you're hung out to dry and, finally, you're framed."
Warren Minor Christopher was born on October 27 1925 at Scranton, North Dakota, and raised in Los Angeles, where he attended Hollywood High School. In 1942 he entered the University of Redlands, but transferred to the University of Southern California to complete his studies. From 1943 to 1946 he served in the US Naval Reserve as an ensign in the Pacific theatre of operations.
After the war he enrolled in Stanford University's law school, qualifying in 1949. After graduation he was appointed clerk to Justice William Douglas of the US Supreme Court, but after a year returned to California and joined the Los Angeles-based law firm of O'Melveny & Myers, becoming a partner in 1958. From then on he split his career between practising law and public service.
Christopher served as special counsel to the California Governor Edmund Brown and vice-chairman of a commission established in 1965 to investigate the causes of the urban riots in Watts, Los Angeles. At the same time he served as a consultant to the State Department and helped to negotiate several international trade agreements. From 1967 to 1969 he served as Deputy Attorney General of the United States under President Lyndon Johnson and assisted in federal efforts to combat the urban riots in Detroit and Chicago in 1967 and 1968.
President Jimmy Carter called Christopher back to Washington in 1977 as deputy to the Secretary of State, Cyrus Vance. The release of the Tehran embassy staff seized as hostages by Iranian militants in 1979 was the crowning achievement of his career and in 1981, as one of his last acts before leaving office, Carter awarded Christopher the Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian award.
Christopher returned to California where, in 1991, he was appointed to chair a commission to investigate charges of brutality and racism in the Los Angeles Police Department, set up after a videotape showing LAPD officers assaulting an African American man, Rodney King, caused public outrage.
In 1992 when Bill Clinton won enough votes in the primaries to be assured of the Democratic Party's nomination for the presidency he asked Christopher to head the team to select a vice-presidential running mate (Al Gore). After Clinton's election victory in November 1992 he headed the new President's transition staff and advised him on his first round of cabinet appointments. In 1993 Christopher was sworn in as 63rd US Secretary of State.
Christopher retired to his home in California and continued to serve on foreign policy advisory boards. In 2000 he emerged briefly to supervise the contested Florida recount for Al Gore in the presidential election.
Christopher was the author of In the Stream of History: Shaping Foreign Policy for a New Era (1998), and Chances of a Lifetime (2001).
Warren Christopher's first marriage was dissolved, and in 1956 he married Marie Wyllis, with whom he had two sons and two daughters.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/politics-obituaries/8393890/Warren-Christopher.html
Christopher was sidelined during one of the few early successes of the Clinton era, Operation Uphold Democracy, which returned Haiti's popularly-elected President Jean-Bertrande Aristide to power in 1994 after he had been unseated in a coup. Christopher had opposed the mission led by Jimmy Carter to negotiate a peaceful end to the crisis, and Carter later complained that he had had little co-operation from the State Department. Instead the initiative was taken by Clinton's national security adviser, Anthony Lake, and the former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, General Colin Powell, who accompanied Carter to Haiti.
Of course Christopher could point to some achievements. In Europe, he promoted the Nato Partnership for Peace which led to the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland becoming full members of the alliance in 1999. In 1995, working with John McCain, he persuaded Clinton that the time had come to normalise diplomatic relations with Vietnam.
His supporters also credited Christopher (and his chief negotiator Richard Holbrooke), with brokering the Dayton Agreement of November 1995 which brought an end to the conflict in Bosnia. However the talks came about after two and a half years of uncertain diplomacy which began with Clinton's accusation that the Bush administration was doing too little, then shifted to the view that the conflict was largely Europe's problem. During this time Christopher accused all sides in Bosnia of human rights abuses, apparently ignoring the role of Serbian leaders as inciters of genocide, and sidestepped European demands for American intervention to end a conflict which he had once described as a crucial test of the post-Cold War world's ability to cope with ethnic conflicts.
American weakness in coming to terms with Bosnia was underscored when Christopher made a disastrous trip to Europe in April 1993 at which a US plan to exempt the poorly-armed Bosnian government from a UN arms embargo, with a back-up option of targeted air strikes on the Serbs, was rejected. Unlike the US, the Europeans had thousands of peacekeeping troops on the ground, vulnerable to reprisals.
Christopher's main area of interest was the Middle East, where he was dogged in trying to achieve progress. In the wake of the Oslo Accords, he orchestrated an official signing ceremony in Washington in September 1993, with Mahmoud Abbas representing the PLO and Shimon Peres signing for Israel. He went on to broker a peace treaty between Jordan and Israel, eventually offering Jordan's King Hussein $200 million in military equipment and $700 million in debt relief to sweeten the deal. However his attempts to negotiate peace between Israel and Syria ended in stalemate.
Christopher's personal authority was undermined by constant speculation about his future. As early as 1993 The Economist was describing him as "the weakest link in Mr Clinton's trio of foreign policy advisers", and calling for his replacement. In 1994 there were authoritative reports that Anthony Lake had been trying to elbow him aside, complaining that the "paralysis" in the State Department was so severe he had been forced to seize control of foreign policy in a number of areas (including Rwanda and Northern Ireland) himself. Even the president was said to have criticised Christopher at high-level meetings, a humiliating experience for a senior cabinet member.
Christopher became so fed up that at one point he even secretly met Colin Powell to see if he wanted the job. When, in response to the rumours, he stated that news of his imminent departure or resignation were neither new nor accurate, The New York Times reported that State Department officials were interpreting the word "imminent" as "evidence that he might indeed walk out the door".
The usual courtesies were observed when Christopher left his post at the beginning of Clinton's second term in January 1997, but a truer judgment of his time at the State Department came with the ceremonial unveiling of his portrait at the department in 1999. "To anyone who has served in Washington," Christopher remarked, "there is something oddly familiar about [having your portrait painted]. First, you're painted into a corner, then you're hung out to dry and, finally, you're framed."
Warren Minor Christopher was born on October 27 1925 at Scranton, North Dakota, and raised in Los Angeles, where he attended Hollywood High School. In 1942 he entered the University of Redlands, but transferred to the University of Southern California to complete his studies. From 1943 to 1946 he served in the US Naval Reserve as an ensign in the Pacific theatre of operations.
After the war he enrolled in Stanford University's law school, qualifying in 1949. After graduation he was appointed clerk to Justice William Douglas of the US Supreme Court, but after a year returned to California and joined the Los Angeles-based law firm of O'Melveny & Myers, becoming a partner in 1958. From then on he split his career between practising law and public service.
Christopher served as special counsel to the California Governor Edmund Brown and vice-chairman of a commission established in 1965 to investigate the causes of the urban riots in Watts, Los Angeles. At the same time he served as a consultant to the State Department and helped to negotiate several international trade agreements. From 1967 to 1969 he served as Deputy Attorney General of the United States under President Lyndon Johnson and assisted in federal efforts to combat the urban riots in Detroit and Chicago in 1967 and 1968.
President Jimmy Carter called Christopher back to Washington in 1977 as deputy to the Secretary of State, Cyrus Vance. The release of the Tehran embassy staff seized as hostages by Iranian militants in 1979 was the crowning achievement of his career and in 1981, as one of his last acts before leaving office, Carter awarded Christopher the Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian award.
Christopher returned to California where, in 1991, he was appointed to chair a commission to investigate charges of brutality and racism in the Los Angeles Police Department, set up after a videotape showing LAPD officers assaulting an African American man, Rodney King, caused public outrage.
In 1992 when Bill Clinton won enough votes in the primaries to be assured of the Democratic Party's nomination for the presidency he asked Christopher to head the team to select a vice-presidential running mate (Al Gore). After Clinton's election victory in November 1992 he headed the new President's transition staff and advised him on his first round of cabinet appointments. In 1993 Christopher was sworn in as 63rd US Secretary of State.
Christopher retired to his home in California and continued to serve on foreign policy advisory boards. In 2000 he emerged briefly to supervise the contested Florida recount for Al Gore in the presidential election.
Christopher was the author of In the Stream of History: Shaping Foreign Policy for a New Era (1998), and Chances of a Lifetime (2001).
Warren Christopher's first marriage was dissolved, and in 1956 he married Marie Wyllis, with whom he had two sons and two daughters.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/politics-obituaries/8393890/Warren-Christopher.html
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