Warren Minor Christopher (October 27, 1925 – March 18, 2011) was an American attorney, diplomat and statesman who served as the 63rd United States secretary of state from 1993 to 1997.
Warren Minor Christopher was born in Scranton, North Dakota, the son of Catherine Anne (née Lemen) and Ernest William Christopher, a bank manager.[1] He was of part Norwegian descent.[2]
Christopher's professional activities included service as president of the Los Angeles County Bar Association, 1974–1975; chairman of the Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary of the American Bar Association, 1975–1976; member of the board of governors of the State Bar of California 1975–1976; and special counsel to California governor Edmund G. Brown in 1959.
In 1981, Christopher received the U.S. Senator John Heinz Award for Greatest Public Service by an Elected or Appointed Official, an award given out annually by Jefferson Awards.[10]
Partnership for Peace NATO expansion, January 1994
In order to initiate further enlargement of NATO with minimal backlash from Russia, Secretary Christopher promoted the Partnership for Peace program as a stepping-stone into full NATO membership. This was against protests from the Pentagon.
Rwandan Genocide, 1994
In what has been considered a terrible failure of the international community, the US and UN failed to intervene to stop the Rwandan genocide in 1994. Over the course of a hundred days, some 800,000 Tutsis were massacred by Hutu militia.[16][17]
China: Delinking human rights and trade status, May 1994
During the 1992 presidential campaign, then-candidate Clinton blasted President George H. W. Bush for giving China low-tariff trading privileges despite its human rights abuses. Secretary Christopher agreed with this view and believed that the US should use economic pressure to force China to improve its human rights record. However, on May 26, 1994, President Clinton renewed China's low-tariff trading privileges, effectively delinking the human rights issue from China's trade relations with the US. U.S.-Sino relations improved as a result, with President Jiang Zemin visiting the U.S. in November 1997 and President Clinton visiting China in June 1998.[18]
Operation Uphold Democracy in Haiti, September 1994
In the wake of the 1993 Oslo Accords, Secretary Christopher encouraged Jordan's King Hussein to make a peace treaty with Israel. Christopher eventually offered Hussein $200 million in military equipment and $700 million in debt forgiveness to sweeten the deal. On October 27, 1994, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin and Jordanian Prime Minister Abdelsalam al-Majali signed the Israel–Jordan peace treaty. The signing was witnessed by President Clinton and Secretary Christopher. Christopher sought to obtain a similar treaty between Rabin and Syrian President Hafez al-Assad, but to no avail.[20]
Vietnam: Normalizing relations, July 1995
Working with Senator John McCain, in 1994, Secretary Christopher began actively promoting the normalization of United States–Vietnam relations. At the time, the U.S. had not had an embassy in Vietnam since 1975. The main obstacle to normalization came from Vietnam veterans and POW/MIA support groups who were convinced that Hanoi was not fully cooperating in the search for the remains of US soldiers in Vietnam. However, after Secretary Christopher convinced President Clinton that the Vietnamese government was fully cooperating in these searches, the President announced the formal normalization of diplomatic relations with Vietnam on July 11, 1995.[21]
In the wake of the Khobar Towers bombing, Secretary Christopher traveled to Saudi Arabia to witness the site of the attack. In Dhahran (the home of the Khobar Towers), Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal allegedly promised Christopher that the FBI would have the full cooperation of the Saudi government. Eventually, however, the Saudi government and the FBI repeatedly conflicted during the course of the investigation resulting in many arguments and fights, especially over the role of female FBI agents.[23]
In addition to several honorary degrees, Christopher received the following awards: the Jefferson Award from the American Institute for Public Service for the Greatest Public Service Performed by an Elected or Appointed Official; the UCLA Medal; the Harold Weill Medal from New York University; the James A. Garfield Baller Award; the Thomas Jefferson Award in Law from the University of Virginia Law School; and the Louis Stein Award from Fordham Law School.
At the 1999 unveiling of his portrait at the Department of State, attended by President Clinton, Christopher remarked: "To anyone who has served in Washington, 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."[citation needed]
He was an Advisory Board member for the Partnership for a Secure America, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to recreating the bipartisan center in American national security and foreign policy.[citation needed]
Warren Christopher presenting the scholarship named for him in 2004
Former Secretaries of State James Baker and Christopher served as Co-Chairs of the Miller Center's National War Powers Commission. Baker and Christopher testified on March 5 before the House Foreign Affairs Committee about the War Powers Consultation Act of 2009 – the statute that the Commission unanimously recommended in its July 2008 report. The statute is designed to replace the War Powers Resolution of 1973 and provide for more meaningful consultation between the President and Congress on matters of war.[citation needed]
From 2003 until his death, Christopher taught a small seminar course on international affairs as part of the Honors Program at UCLA.[25]
Family
Warren Christopher married twice. He married Joan Southgate Workman
on June 14, 1949, in San Diego, California; the couple had a daughter, Lynn (born May 30, 1952). They divorced in 1955.[26][27]
He was married to Marie Wyllis from 1956 until his death; the couple had two sons: Scott (born December 27, 1957[28]) and Thomas (born July 24, 1959[29]), and a daughter, Kristen (born March 26, 1963[30]).
Christopher had five grandchildren: Andrew, Lauren, Warren, and Chloe Christopher, and Christopher Henderson.[4]
He wrote In the Stream of History: Shaping Foreign Policy for a New Era (1998) and Chances of a Lifetime (2001).[4]
Christopher served as an Honorary Co-Chair for the World Justice Project.[32] The World Justice Project works to lead a global, multidisciplinary effort to strengthen the Rule of Law for the development of communities of opportunity and equity.[33]
Death
Christopher died at his home in Los Angeles on March 18, 2011, from kidney and bladder cancer. He was 85 years old.[5][34][35] He was survived by his wife and four children from two marriages.[5][35][36] He is interred at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in the Hollywood Hills.
President Obama described Christopher as a "resolute pursuer of peace" for his work in the Middle East and the Balkans.[37] Hillary Clinton described Christopher as a "diplomat's diplomat – talented, dedicated and exceptionally wise".[38] He was described as "the best public servant I ever knew" by President Jimmy Carter in his memoirs.[35] On March 19, 2011, Carter stated that "[America] has lost a great and revered leader".[39]
Cameron, Fraser. US foreign policy after the cold war: global hegemon or reluctant sheriff? (Routledge, 2006).
Chollet, Derek. The Road to the Dayton Accords (Palgrave Macmillan, New York, 2005). excerpt
Dumbrell, John. "President Clinton's Secretaries of State: Warren Christopher and Madeleine Albright". Journal of transatlantic studies 6.3 (2008): 217–227.
Girard, Philippe. Clinton in Haiti: the 1994 US invasion of Haiti. (Springer, 2004).
Hamilton, Nigel. Bill Clinton: Mastering the Presidency (Public Affairs, 2007), with numerous chapters on foreign-policy; excerpt
Christopher, Warren. Chances of a Lifetime: A Memoir (2001) online
Christopher, Warren. In the Stream of History: Shaping Foreign Policy for a New Era (1998) 37 episodes as Secretary of State, with commentary and speeches online
Nelson, Michael, et al. eds. 42: Inside the Presidency of Bill Clinton (Miller Center of Public Affairs Books, 2016) excerpt pp 193–233, analysis of interviews with insiders on Bosnia, Kosovo, Northern Ireland, and the Middle East.
