Richard C. Holbrooke

Why He Matters

President George H. W. Bush once described Richard Holbrooke as “the most persistent advocate I’ve ever run into.”Cohen, Roger, "The Mother of Friendships Lost," New York Times, July 10, 2008

Holbrooke is a gifted diplomat and a ruthless negotiator with a knack for getting his way. He brokered the 1995 Dayton Peace Accords in Bosnia, an accomplishment that some said deserved a Nobel Peace Prize.Cohen, Roger, "The Mother of Friendships Lost," New York Times, July 10, 2008 A New York Times reporter wrote “if you want somebody to pull the trigger, or close a deal, think Holbrooke.” 

His 45 years of experience have made him a fixture of the Democratic Party’s foreign policy establishment. When Russia invaded Georgia in August 2008, Holbrooke was one of the first Americans to meet with Georgian leader Mikhail Saakashvili, an old friend.Cooper, Helene, "Richard C. Holbrooke," New York Times, Nov. 19, 2008

But his intensity and big ego have alienated colleagues, who say Holbrooke can be difficult to work with.Cooper, Helene, "Richard C. Holbrooke," New York Times, Nov. 19, 2008 He was appointed as a special envoy position to Afghanistan and Pakistan in January 2009.Kessler, Glenn, "Mitchell and Holbrooke to be Named Envoys," Washington Post, Jan. 21, 2009

Path to Power

Holbrooke was born on April 24, 1941, in New York City. He received his undergraduate degree from Brown University in 1962. Initially, Holbrooke dreamed of being a journalist, but when he couldn't get a job at the New York Times out of college, he joined the Foreign Service instead.Packer, George, "The Last Mission," The New Yorker, Sept. 28, 2009

He joined the Foreign Service that year and served in Vietnam with Anthony Lake from 1963 through 1966. He was then transferred to the White House, where he worked with President Lyndon B. Johnson on Vietnam policy. In 1967, Holbrooke drafted a memo arguing that Hanoi was winning on the battlefield and in America.Packer, George, "The Last Mission," The New Yorker, Sept. 28, 2009

He wrote a volume of the Pentagon Papers and attended the Vietnam peace talks in Paris.Shenon, Philip, "Senate Confirms U.N. Appointment After 14 Months," New York Times, Aug. 6, 1999

Holbrooke moved to Morocco to serve as Peace Corps country director in 1970. From 1972 through 1976, he was the editor of Foreign Policy magazine.

President Jimmy Carter appointed Holbrooke assistant secretary of state for East Asia and the Pacific in 1977. In that job, he helped normalize relations with China in December 1978.

After Carter lost re-election, Holbrooke entered the financial sector. He was a managing director of Lehman Brothers from 1985 through 1993. In 1993, Clinton appointed Holbrooke as U.S. ambassador to Germany.

Holbrooke was chief negotiator of the Dayton Peace Accords, a notoriously difficult agreement that ended the war in Bosnia. He was able to broker an agreement by earning the trust of Slobodan Milosevic, who said Holbrooke was his favorite American.Erlanger, Steven, "Conflict in the Balkans: Holbrooke: Last Chip?" New York Times, March 22, 1999 The achievement earned Holbrooke a Nobel Peace Prize nomination.Perseus LLC

Holbrooke has described those negotiations as “nail-biting … what really drove me more than anything else was a desire not to fail.”Traub, James, "The Way We Live Now: Questions for Richard C. Holbrooke," New York Times magazine, March 24, 2002 Clinton passed over Holbrooke for secretary of State in 1996, instead selecting Madeleine Albright. Insulted, Holbrooke returned to the private sector as vice chairman of Credit Suisse First in Boston. He also sat on the board of Refugees International.

In 1998, Clinton nominated Holbrooke to the position of United Nations ambassador, but his confirmation was held up for 14 months by Republican lawmakers who questioned whether Holbrooke had done favors for Credit Suisse while he was still a government employee. The Justice Department launched an official investigation and Holbrooke eventually paid a $5,000 settlement, though he denied any wrongdoing.Shenon, Philip, "Senate Confirms U.N. Appointment After 14 Months," New York Times, Aug. 6, 1999

In 1999, Holbrooke was confirmed as U.N. ambassador. He was an active and effective advocate, convincing the U.N. to cut U.S. administrative costs while persuading Congress to pay their back dues to the international body.  He also arranged for Israel to join the U.N.'s Western European grouping after the Middle East grouping refused to accept the country.

In 2001, after Democrats lost power in the nation’s capital, Holbrooke joined Perseus LLC, a private equity firm as vice chairman.

Holbrooke supported Secretary of State Clinton for president in the 2008 Democratic primaries, though he took great pains not to attack her rival, then-Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.). When Obama won the nomination, Holbrooke agreed to advise him.

But it was impossible to bring Holbrooke into Obama’s inner circle, mainly  because of his longtime rivalry with Obama’s top foreign policy aid Anthony Lake. Holbrooke was not invited to sit on Obama’s 13-person senior working group on national security in a slight that some attributed to his contentious relationship with Lake.Cohen, Roger, "The Mother of Friendships Lost," New York Times, July 10, 2008 

But Obama called to meet with Holbrooke soon after he was elected to ask if he would work on Afghanistan and Pakistan. He told the President-elect he wanted to create a "rump regional bureau" within the State Department.Packer, George, "The Last Mission," The New Yorker, Sept. 28, 2009

Clinton appointed Holbrooke to the position of special representative in January 2009, her second day in office.Kessler, Glenn, "Mitchell and Holbrooke to be Named Envoys," Washington Post, Jan. 21, 2009 She called him the civilian counterpart to Gen. David Petraeus.Packer, George, "The Last Mission," The New Yorker, Sept. 28, 2009

Two months into his job, he was one of the first Americans to have contact with Iranian diplomat. Landler, Mark, "Clinton Confirms Envoy’s Contact With Iranian," New York Times, March 31, 2009

The Issues

Holbrooke says diplomacy and jazz are based on the same principle: improvisation on a theme.

He believes in the power of negotiations to bring peace and prosperity to an increasingly fractured world. But he says diplomacy will only succeed if the U.S. pursues robust relationships with allies as well as with enemies, especially in places like the Middle East. He has also opposed unilateral action by U.S. officials.

In his 1999 book To End a War, Holbrooke outlined the U.S. obligation to act as a peacekeeping force throughout the world. “Early outside involvement can be decisive, and American leadership will be required,” he writes. “The world will look to Washington for more than rhetoric the next time we face a challenge to peace.”

He has said “the true test of a military action is the peace that follows it.”

The Network

Holbrooke is close friends with two prominent Obama supporters -- James Johnson, who ran Obama’s vice presidential search team until his ties to Fannie Mae were pilloried; and Samantha Power, the human rights expert who was temporarily exiled from the Obama team after she called Clinton a “monster.” He has also maintained a close relationship with Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton, a relationship that should help him secure a top position in the State Department.

Anthony Lake and Holbrooke were, according to Holbrooke, “best friends” when they served together in the U.S.Foreign Service in Vietnam. Holbrooke even named his son Anthony after his friend. But animosity developed between the ambitious twosome, and tensions were exacerbated during the Clinton years, when Lake earned a top post and Holbrooke was left empty-handed.