‘Great American statesman’ George Shultz dead at 100
- A man of broad experience and talents, George Shultz achieved success in statesmanship, business and academia
- He achieved the rare feat of holding four Cabinet posts, including secretary of State and secretary of Treasury
George Shultz, Ronald Reagan’s genial secretary of State who identified a diplomatic opening that helped end the Cold War but contributed to a new brand of conflict by advocating pre-emptive strikes, has died. He was 100.
An economics professor who saw himself more as a data-driven expert than an ideologue, Shultz had the rare distinction of serving in four different cabinet positions - including Treasury secretary as Richard Nixon dismantled the post-World War II Bretton Woods monetary system.
“One of the most consequential policymakers of all time, having served three American presidents, George P. Shultz died February 6 at age 100,” the Hoover Institution think tank said in a statement on its website.
In the Reagan White House, notorious for infighting, Shultz was one of the least controversial figures, cultivating cordial ties with Congress and the press and, most crucially, rock-solid backing from the president himself, who kept Shultz as his top diplomat for six and a half years.
“Our colleague was a great American statesman and a true patriot in every sense of the word. He will be remembered in history as a man who made the world a better place,” said Condoleeza Rice, secretary of State for President George W. Bush and current director of the Hoover Institution.
Hillary Clinton, America’s top diplomat during the Obama administration, tweeted that “we have lost a giant”.