Lawrence Eagleburger

Lawrence Sidney Eagleburger (August 1, 1930 – June 4, 2011) was an American statesman and career diplomat, who served briefly as the secretary of state under President George H. W. Bush from December 1992 to January 1993, one of the shortest terms in modern history.

Previously, he had served in lesser capacities under Presidents Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, and Ronald Reagan, and as deputy secretary of state to James Baker under George H. W. Bush.

Eagleburger is the only career Foreign Service Officer to have served as secretary of state.

Eagleburger also served in the United States Army (1952–1954), attaining the rank of first lieutenant.

In 1957, Eagleburger joined the United States Foreign Service, and served in various posts in embassies, consulates, and the Department of State.

From 1961 to 1965 he served as a staffer at the U.S. Embassy in Belgrade, Yugoslavia.

He was known as the person who handled the Skopje 1963 earthquake crisis, and managed the first US-Soviet humanitarian cooperation, after which he was nicknamed Lawrence of Macedonia.

Starting in 1969, he served in the Nixon administration as an assistant to National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger.

He stayed in this appointment until 1971; thereafter he took on several positions, including advisor to the U.S. Mission to NATO in Brussels, and, following Kissinger's appointment as secretary of state, a number of additional posts in the State Department and deputy assistant secretary of defense (1971–73).

Following Nixon's resignation, he briefly left government service.

He was also Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (international security affairs) from January to May 1973.

Eagleburger was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the son of Helen (née Van Ornum), an elementary school teacher, and Leon Sidney Eagleburger, a medical doctor.

He graduated from Jacobs High School in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, then attended Stevens Point State College (now the University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point), before earning his bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Wisconsin.

During his time at Wisconsin, he joined Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity.

He was then named the executive secretary to the secretary of state from 1975 to 1977, and subsequently was appointed as ambassador to Yugoslavia by President Jimmy Carter, a post he held from 1977 to 1980.

While working as Executive Secretary to Kissinger in 1975 he carried out secret talks with the Cubans in New York City.

From May 14, 1981, to January 26, 1982, Eagleburger was assistant secretary of state for European affairs.

In 1982, Reagan appointed him as undersecretary of state for political affairs (the State Department's third-ranking position), a position he held for several years.

He then became president of Kissinger Associates, a consultancy firm which provided firms with advice on international politics.

In 1989, President George H. W. Bush appointed him deputy secretary of state (the department's second-ranking position); he also served as the President's primary advisor for affairs relating to the quickly disintegrating Yugoslavia.

His period as advisor for Yugoslavian affairs from 1989 to 1992 was controversial as he gained a reputation for being a strong Serbian partisan.

This perceived partisanship led the European press to dub him Lawrence of Serbia (a reference to Lawrence of Arabia).

Eagleburger had controversial ties to Yugoslavia both in promoting loans to Yugoslavia as a government official and later serving on the board of a Yugoslav-government-owned LBS Bank (Ljubljanska Banka) as well as with Yugo Motors, USA.

About one-quarter of LBS Bank's business came from Banca Nazionale del Lavoro, whose Atlanta branch was instrumental in diverting U.S. agricultural loans to arms purchases by Saddam Hussein.

In 1991, President Bush awarded him the Presidential Citizens Medal.

He was a member of the board of directors of the International Republican Institute.

On August 23, 1992, James Baker resigned as secretary of state (to manage Bush's unsuccessful re-election campaign), and Eagleburger served as acting secretary of state until Bush gave him a recess appointment for the remainder of the Bush administration.

He was also a member of the Board of Visitors at the College of William and Mary from 1996 to 2000 and from 2002 to 2006.

Eagleburger became chairman of the International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims, or ICHEIC, which was set up in 1998.

The purpose of the commission was to resolve unpaid Nazi-era insurance claims for survivors of the Holocaust.

In August 2002, Eagleburger questioned the timing of possible military action in Iraq, saying, "I am not at all convinced now that this is something we have to do this very moment."

He did indicate he believed that Iraqi regime change could be a legitimate U.S. endeavor at some point, but that at that time he did not believe the administration was fully prepared for such a conflict.

In April 2003, following warnings by the Bush administration to the government of Syria, Eagleburger condemned the possibility of military action in Syria or Iran, saying that public opinion would not support such a move and that "If President Bush were to try it now, even I would feel he should be skinned alive."

In 2005, Eagleburger announced that the ICHEIC was offering approximately 16 million dollars to Holocaust victims and their heirs, noting as he did so the research ability of the ICHEIC staff which allowed them to evaluate claims from companies which no longer existed.

In the years prior to this there had been some controversy about the commission, including reports that it was over-budgeted and too slow, and that insurance companies which had previously agreed to work with the ICHEIC had failed to disclose policyholder lists.

Eagleburger responded to these accusations by saying, among other things, that it was difficult to work quickly when many of the claimants lacked basic information such as the name of the insurance company involved.

After serving in the Foreign Service for 27 years, Eagleburger retained an interest in foreign policy and was a familiar figure on current events talk shows.

He caused some discussion with public comments about President George W. Bush's foreign policy.

On January 5, 2006, he participated in a meeting at the White House of former Secretaries of Defense and State to discuss United States foreign policy with Bush administration officials.

On November 10, 2006 it was announced that he would replace Secretary of Defense designate Robert Gates in the Iraq Study Group.