The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“Remembering George Shultz (Executive Session)” mentioning the U.S. Dept of State was published in the Senate section on pages S563-S564 on Feb. 8.
The State Department is responsibly for international relations with a budget of more than $50 billion. Tenure at the State Dept. is increasingly tenuous and it's seen as an extension of the President's will, ambitions and flaws.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
Remembering George Shultz
Madam President, on a completely different matter, on Saturday, we lost a great statesman and scholar who gave more than 80 of his 100 years to his country.
George Shultz's service began in the U.S. Marine Corps. From the beaches of Palau, he was among the Americans who helped retake the Pacific from Japan. Back home, he earned a Ph.D. in economics. He taught at MIT and would later helm the University of Chicago's Graduate Business School. But public service beckoned, and George Shultz began a decades-long run of ping-ponging prolifically between academia and top government posts.
The first of three Presidents who would benefit from his expert counsel, Dwight Eisenhower, hired him as a senior staff economist back in 1955. A decade and a half later, he was back, this time as President Nixon's Secretary of Labor, where he worked on desegregation and, later, as OMB Director. Then, at a pivotal moment for the U.S. and world economies, George Shultz was tapped to lead the Treasury Department. He fought inflation and worked to modernize our monetary policy so American leaders could control America's destiny.
After an interlude in the private sector, Secretary Shultz's country came calling again. He spent 6\1/2\ of President Reagan's 8 years as Secretary of State. He helped steer the smart and strong foreign policy that clinched the free world's victory over the Soviet Union, but even as the Reagan administration nudged communism into a box canyon, this top diplomat's master touch was vital in making sure that tensions did not rise too high.
As amazing as it sounds, this impressive resume doesn't fully explain George Shultz's incredible reputation. It wasn't just all he did. It was how he did it. He led with thoughtfulness, fairness, and, above all, integrity. He lived by the maxim he shared in his centennial reflection just a few weeks ago.
Here is what he said:
Trust is the coin of the realm.
His honesty and thoughtfulness won wide admiration that transcended politics. He won the trust of career diplomats and State Department staff, including those who did not naturally lean to the Reagan right.
Famously, when new Ambassadors met with him on their way abroad, the Secretary would spin a globe and ask them to point out ``their country.'' The unlucky ones who fell for the trap and pointed to their foreign destinations were swiftly corrected. ``No,'' he said. ``Your country is always America.''
At the McConnell Center at the University of Louisville, we host a distinguished speaker series. George Shultz honored us as our very first ever distinguished speaker back in 1993, and he kept right on writing and speaking and mentoring young people up until just a few weeks ago.
America was his country, all right. He loved it deeply and served it always. The Senate's prayers are with the Shultz family and all the friends and colleagues he leaves behind, a truly remarkable life.
