WASHINGTON (AP) Former Secretary of State George P. Shultz, a titan of American academia, business and diplomacy who spent most of the 1980s trying to improve Cold War relations with the Soviet Union and forging a course for peace in the Middle East, has died. Former Secretary of State George P. Shultz, a titan of American academia, business and diplomacy who spent most of the 1980s trying to improve Cold War relations with the Soviet Union and forging . After that spell in government, in 1974 he moved to the west coast as president of the engineering giant Bechtel, where he remained until Reagan invited him to become secretary of state, even though he had no experience of foreign affairs. This memorial website was created in memory of Harold Shultz, 69, born on January 12, 1908 and passed away on June 0, 1977. In 1957, Shultz left MIT and joined the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business as a professor of industrial relations, and he served as the Graduate School of Business Dean from 1962 to 1968. Throughout the rest of his life, he combined academia MIT was followed in 1957 by the University of Chicago, and in 1968 by Stanford University with long spells in business and in government. Shultz was awarded the nation's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, in 1989. He and Australias prime minister, Bob Hawke, would party together. At Shultz's 90th birthday party, his successor as secretary of state, James Baker, joked that he would do anything for Shultz "except kiss the tiger." in Andrew L. Johns, ed., Williams, Walter. SHULTZ--George. [71] Shultz was a member of the advisory board of Spirit of America, a 501(c)(3) organization. He applied the theory he had developed in academia: he let the parties work it out, which they did quickly. [18], Shultz was President Richard Nixon's Secretary of Labor from 1969 to 1970. He was also a prominent proponent of efforts to fight the effects of climate change, warning that ignoring the risks was suicidal. Relations with Europe and the Soviet Union, Oded, Eran (2002). When negotiations on these intermediate nuclear forces (INF) stalled, 1983 became a year of protest. A pragmatist, Shultz, along with former GOP Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, made headlines during the 2016 presidential campaign when he declined to endorse Republican nominee Donald Trump after being quoted as saying "God help us" when asked about the possibility of Trump in the White House. Shultz was president of the construction and engineering company Bechtel Group from 1975-1982 and taught part-time at Stanford University before joining the Reagan administration in 1982, replacing Alexander Haig, who resigned after frequent clashes with other members of the administration. Born in New York City, he graduated from Princeton University before serving in the United States Marine Corps during World War II. After attending the funeral of General Secretary Konstantin Chernenko in 1985, Shultz met with Gorbachev and concluded that he was a man whom President Reagan could work with to bring a peaceful end to the Cold War. He was a member of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP) board of advisors, the New Atlantic Initiative, the Mandalay Camp at the Bohemian Grove, and the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq. After Reagan left office, Shultz returned to Bechtel, having been the longest serving secretary of state since Cordell Hull under President Franklin D. Roosevelt. One of his first steps at the state department was symbolic, removing a prominent 20ft abstract painting with a red line falling from one end to the other. His affinity for Princeton prompted him to have the school's mascot, a tiger, tattooed on his posterior, a fact confirmed to reporters decades later by his wife aboard a plane taking them to China. Reagan Sec. Pope John Paul II named Sheltz a prelate of honor with the title of Monsignor in 2000. He retired from Bechtel's board in 2006 and returned to Stanford and the Hoover Institution. [24][25][clarification needed], In 1974, he left government service to become executive vice president of Bechtel Group, a large engineering and services company. [35], A more controversial issue was the NATO Ministers' 1979 "dual track" decision: if the Soviets refused to remove their SS-20 medium range ballistic missiles within four years, then the Allies would deploy a countervailing force of cruise and Pershing II missiles in Western Europe. You may kick me around as secretary of state, but Im a taxpayer.. He is survived by his wife, Charlotte Shultz, his five children . "A Foreign Policy Divided Against Itself: George Shultz versus Caspar Weinberger." End the Travel Ban", "George Shultz, former Secretary of State in the 1980s, has died", "A Nuclear weapon-free world is possible, Nunn says", "Nuclear Tipping Point Documentary | Nuclear Tipping Point on DVD | NTI", "George Shultz calls for Jonathan Pollard's release", "Staying in EU 'best hope' for UK's future say ex-US Treasury secretaries", "The Blood Unicorn Theranos Was Just a Fairy Tale", "George Shultz interviews Elizabeth Holmes at the 12th SIEPR Economic Summit", "Tyler Shultz. George Pratt Shultz was born in Manhattan on Dec. 13, 1920. "[34], By the summer of 1982, relations were strained not only between Washington and Moscow but also between Washington and key capitals in Western Europe. He persevered, opening up a secret channel to the Soviet Union and gradually winning over Reagan, with whom he established a close bond. At home or in the office, at Stanford or the Hoover Institution, he listened more than he spoke. "If the Soviets left Afghanistan, the Brezhnev Doctrine would be breached, and the principle of 'never letting go' would be violated", Shultz reasoned. George McRay Standley was born on January 28, 1928, in Port Arthur, Texas, to George Thomas and Vera Rusha Hugghins Standley. [28][29], On July 16, 1982, Shultz was appointed by President Ronald Reagan as the 60th U.S. Secretary of State, replacing Alexander Haig, who had resigned. Over his lifetime, Shultz succeeded in just about everything he touched, including academics, teaching, government service and the corporate world and was widely respected by his peers from both political parties. He studied economics and public and international affairs at Princeton University, graduating in 1942. This phase was a failure, resulting in high inflation, and price freezes were reestablished five months later. He was an economics adviser to the actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who served as governor of California from 2003 to 2011, and was co-chair of a campaign in 2010 against a move to roll back the states environmental protection laws. "[44], After leaving public office, Shultz "retained an iconoclastic streak" and publicly opposed some positions taken by fellow Republicans. George Shultz Wife Charlotte Mailliard Shultz. Four years after taking office, Shultz was in the room at one of the most extraordinary diplomatic encounters of the 20th century, the 1986 Reykjavik summit at which Reagan and the Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, came briefly and tantalisingly close to agreeing to eliminate all nuclear weapons. Aside from nuclear weapons and terrorism, the other issue that continued to preoccupy him was climate change. Tyler Shultz says he wanted to shield the reputation of former Secretary of State George Shultz, a Theranos director and his grandfather. ", Former Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger, reflecting in his memoirs on the "highly analytic, calm and unselfish Shultz," paid Shultz an exceptional compliment in his diary: "If I could choose one American to whom I would entrust the nation's fate in a crisis, it would be George Shultz.". ___ Longtime AP Diplomatic Writer Barry Schweid, who died in 2015, contributed to this report. Shultz retired from public office in 1989 but remained active in business and politics. 2023 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The administration of US president Ronald Reagan was packed with anti-Soviet hardliners. 2021 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. ", "George and Charlotte have been a respected force for good in our community and country, and he will be greatly missed by many," Pelosi added. She was 88 years old. As an adviser to George W Bush, he helped shape the Bush doctrine of pre-emptive strikes against states and groups viewed as posing a threat to the US. [72], Shultz served on the board of directors of the Bechtel Corporation until 1996. [50] He was co-chairman of the conservative Committee on the Present Danger. While Reagan and Gorbachev argued about the detail, Shevardnadze stared out of the window at the chilly landscape and Shultz, ever pragmatic, spent the meeting drafting and redrafting, trying to find the final elusive compromise. Attacking Mr Shultz on race was anyway unwise. George Pratt Shultz was born Dec. 13, 1920, in New York City and raised in Englewood, New Jersey. California: Do Not Sell My Personal Information, Bernard Ingham and Betty Boothroyd ensured democracy worked as it should, Gradually, the besieged city of Bakhmut is being abandoned by everyone, Maya Widmaier-Picasso helped to revive her fathers creativity. Your browser does not support the