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Catching Up With...Warren Christopher Our interview with the former Secretary of State By Bill Coburn Back to Catching Up With...main page
Recently, I was presented with the opportunity to interview Warren Christopher. Since it’s not everyday that one has an opportunity to talk with someone of Mr. Christopher’s stature, I jumped at the chance. Unlike many of my Catching up With…interviews, this interview was not conducted by e-mail, I was fortunate enough to interview him directly by telephone for about 20 minutes. The following very impressive biographical information was found on the O’Melveny and Myers website.
Warren Christopher was born in Scranton, North Dakota, on October 27, 1925. He received an undergraduate degree magna cum laude from the University of Southern California in February 1945. From July 1943 to September 1946, he served in the Navy, including active duty as an ensign in the Pacific Theater in 1945. He attended Stanford Law School from 1946-49, where he was President of the Law Review.
From October 1949 to September 1950, Mr. Christopher served as law clerk to Justice William O. Douglas of the U.S. Supreme Court. He practiced law with O'Melveny & Myers from October 1950 to June 1967, becoming a partner in 1958. Mr. Christopher served as the Deputy Attorney General of the United States from June 1967 until January 20, 1969, after which he rejoined O'Melveny & Myers.
From 1977-81, Mr. Christopher served as the Deputy Secretary of State of the United States. President Carter awarded him the Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian award, on January 16, 1981, for his role in negotiating the release of 52 American hostages in Iran. Mr. Christopher again rejoined O'Melveny & Myers in 1981, serving as Chairman of the firm from 1982 to 1992.
In 1991, Mr. Christopher was Chairman of the Independent Commission on the Los Angeles Police Department. In the aftermath of the Rodney King incident, the Commission proposed significant reforms of the Los Angeles Police Department that were approved overwhelmingly by a public referendum. In 1992, Mr. Christopher headed the search for Governor Clinton's running mate (Senator Al Gore), and later served as Director of the Presidential Transition process.
On January 20, 1993, Mr. Christopher was sworn in as the 63rd Secretary of State, and served until January 20, 1997. He rejoined O'Melveny & Myers as the firm's Senior Partner on February 1, 1997. His professional activities since his return to the firm have involved consultations on a wide variety of international matters, as well as negotiation and advice to clients relating to sensitive disputes.
Mr. Christopher's civic activities have included service as President of the Board of Trustees of Stanford University; Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Carnegie Corporation of New York; Director and Vice Chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations; Director of the Los Angeles World Affairs Council; and Vice Chairman of the Governor's Commission on the Los Angeles riots of 1965-66. He is a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, a former chairman of the Federal Judiciary Committee of the American Bar Association, and former President of the Los Angeles County Bar Association. In the 2000 presidential election, Mr. Christopher was asked by Vice President Gore to head the search for his running mate (Senator Joseph Lieberman).
He has also authored four books: In the Stream of History: Shaping Foreign Policy for a New Era (published in 1998 by Stanford University Press); Chances of a Lifetime (published in 2001 by Scribner, on the Los Angeles Times best-seller list for seven weeks, and in the number one spot for two of those weeks); Diplomacy, the Neglected Imperative (published privately in 1981); and Random Harvest (published privately in 2005).
Mr. Christopher is married to the former Marie Wyllis. He has four children: Lynn, Scott, Thomas and Kristen, and five grandchildren: Andrew Christopher, Lauren Christopher, Christopher Henderson, Warren Erdal Christopher and Chloe Christopher.
Parameters of Interview When his assistant called, she asked if I was the man that wanted to interview Mr. Christopher about the honorary degree he was going to receive from Cal State L.A (it was through a CSLA press release that I received the offer of an interview). I told her that I hoped to talk with him about more than that, what with the Iran situation being what it is, and his experience with Iran, and with the recent May day police incident, and him having chaired the Police Commission, etc. She responded that Mr. Christopher is regularly called by CNN and the TV networks, whenever anything happens related to foreign affairs that might warrant discussion with a man with his expertise, and he declines their requests to discuss these subjects, so she doubted he would discuss them with me, but I was welcome to try. As you will see when the interview progresses, I did manage to get him to discuss foreign affairs briefly.
Old Friends, Assessment of Today’s Graduates SGVW: I want to thank you for taking the time to chat with me today, I know you’re a busy man. I’ll try to keep it brief. Before I start though, I was asked to say hello to you by a friend of mine who tells me he went to high school with you, and I was wondering if you could tell me if he’s pulling my leg…or do you actually know a gentleman by the name of Eph Konigsberg? …I mentioned to him that I was hoping to be interviewing you, and he said well isn’t that a small world, I went to high school with the gentleman.” Christopher: Well, that’s interesting, give him my very best…He was part of a very good debate team, one year ahead of us, Cooper and Konigsberg, and Cooper was Leon Cooper…I still see him…quite frequently, tell Ephraim hello, I remember him very, very favorably, he was very smart. SGVW: …Do you think today’s college graduates are as prepared to take over the reins of governmental leadership as were the graduates of previous generations? Christopher: My impression is that today’s college graduates are the equal of earlier generations and in many instances better. I teach a class, a seminar, at UCLA of college seniors in the honors program and they are very outstanding, and I’m sure that’s true of the colleges throughout the country. SGVW: If you were starting college today, would you still study law, or would you possibly find more appeal in the areas of say computer technology, or robotics, or some other field of study that may not have been available to you when you were in school. Christopher: Well, Bill, of course you studied law in the graduate years, though if I started again, I would think about courses preparatory for law school, and I think I would try to emphasize literature and history as a background for studying law. SGVW: …My next question, which was similar, if you were starting out today, and studying law was not an option, what field of study would you gravitate to? Christopher: I think I would probably gravitate toward some kind of teaching responsibility, in a college or university, that’s where I was headed before World War II came along. SGVW: So your college years were interrupted by WWII, and I think I saw that you were in the Navy? Christopher: Yes, most of my college years were as part of Navy programs, starting the second year.
Scholarship Programs SGVW: Can you tell me about the scholarship program that you’ve created, and its intent, and how students qualify…how they go about getting one? Christopher: We have two programs, Bill, in our law firm, I had something to do with both of them, the first one is at a grammar school in the San Fernando Valley, called the O’Melveny school, you can guess why we support that. We, select eight students every year, I say we, “counselors” select eight students in the fifth grade every year, and tell them that if they continue and finish and graduate from high school with a B average, they’ll have a four year scholarship waiting for them. One of the principal reasons for that is to try to encourage students to stay in school and continue their education and prepare themselves for college. The other program, that happens to bear my name, the Warren Christopher Scholarship Program, has a somewhat similar purpose, that is to try to identify the best students and make sure that they stay in high school and graduate from college. We really rely on the counselors in the 50 LAUSD schools to help us on this program. Each school, Bill, nominates one 10th grader for this program, and from among about 50 schools, we get about 50 applications from LAUSD, that is, one from each school, we then select ten, and ten get four year scholarships and the other 40 get a modest payment so there are no losers, they each get about $500 to help them bridge the gap between high school and college. We’ve had remarkable success with that program there, probably about 90 people have come through the program now, and every one of them has gone on to graduate from high school and gone on to college. So that’s really achieved its purpose of encouraging people to stay in school and there’s some remarkable people in that program. You can imagine if we get one nominated by each high school, we’re able to choose from very good – and how are they chosen? They’re chosen based upon a recommendation from a committee of counselors, and then a committee set-up here at the law firm, existing, it’s all part of my family.
Influences and Mentors SGVW: The next question has kind of a long preface, I apologize…Cal State President James M. Rosser said that “Secretary Christopher’s legacy offers our students many valuable lessons to guide them in an increasingly global society; and his presence at Commencement will serve to inspire our graduates to embrace their future fully with their intellect, determination, and a commitment to social responsibility and international goodwill.” President Clinton, in his biography called you “the most disciplined man on the planet and a man of considerable character.” Are the discipline and character credited to you by President Clinton lessons that you feel that you can pass on, and where did you acquire them, was it from your parents, or was it a product of the times in which you were raised, or did you get them over the years of your career, or what do you feel about that? Christopher: Kind of a difficult question to answer, in all modesty. I would say I was greatly influenced by my parents, particularly my mother, since my father had a very debilitating stroke when I was 10 years old, so I would say my parents, and many, many mentors along the way, people who helped me move up the ladder…and gave me lessons, from their lives and the lives of others. You know to just extend that, if you looked at my memoir which is called “Chances of a Lifetime” there’s a chapter there about “Three to Make Ready” which speaks of Justice Douglas, former governor Pat Brown, and former Undersecretary of State George Ball as three people who were among many mentors that I had.
More Discussion About Today’s Generation vs. Earlier Generations SGVW: The next question…almost seems moot after your response to the earlier question about do you feel that today’s graduates are the equal of earlier generations, my question had been what do you see in America’s future if today’s generation doesn’t recognize the importance of discipline and character that’s required for international relations and take steps to re-instill these values, because my opinion was that earlier generations seemed to be much more educated if not much more prepared, and I feel that our generation and younger generations don’t really have an appreciation for what we have here and I’m not sure they know how to keep it. Christopher: Bill, my sample may be skewed, but based upon the sample I have, I have a lot of confidence in the younger generation I see, I think they are equally mature, and equally well-educated as I remember our generation being, now I may see an unusually able group, I see basically people in the honors program at UCLA, that may skew me, but I see twenty of them a year in very close quarters, in a seminar, I get to know them pretty well, and I’m very impressed with the younger generation. I know you can find lots of ways to be cynical about it, lots of examples of people who do not have those qualities you mention, but I myself, I’m optimistic about this younger generation based on the people that I see. One of the distinguishing differences, Bill, I would say, is the computer literacy has greatly improved their research tools, their ability to find things that they want to know. My generation, if you wanted to understand a medical condition, you maybe found a medical book, but these young people now dial it up and find out more in ten minutes than most doctors know about any given condition, so computer literacy, I think, has given the students tools that they never had before. SGVW: That’s an interesting point, and as you were speaking, there, I had a thought, maybe my perspective of things is skewed a little bit too, because when I’m looking at the earlier generations, I’m seeing them after they have already accomplished these things, after they have grown into themselves, and that sort of thing, and I don’t know them when they were graduating college, when they were kids, and I don’t think of them as, you know, the kid that went out to the movies on Saturday night, I think of them as, you know, the businessmen who went out and did and accomplished these things. Christopher: Right. SGVW: So perhaps I’m a little off base or skewed there myself. Christopher: That’s interesting, that certainly could be, you’re comparing the students today against the people who have matured and ripened in their own way.
Accomplishments, Regrets SGVW: I read through the list in the press release of some of the major foreign relations achievements during your tenure, Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START II), the Middle East Peace/Oslo Accords, NAFTA, the U.S.-brokered peace agreement to end the Bosnian War, and negotiating the release of the hostages in Iran, and I’m wondering if among all those numerous achievements and any in your life that I haven’t mentioned, is there any one particular achievement that you can point to and say that’s something that I’m proudest of having done, or maybe narrow it down to two or three? Christopher: Uh huh, Bill I can’t tell you that, what I’m proudest of, everything that I’ve done has been the result of teamwork, and I actually don’t like the concept of pride very well, so traditionally I just decline to answer that question…because it would be so unfair to indicate which one of them I was proudest of, because they were all team achievements, and I really don’t like the concept of pride. You have a chance to do things if you’re in public life the way I was, and you try to make the best of it. SGVW: Well then this probably makes this question moot, is there any one thing that you’d be willing to discuss that you think you might have done differently? Christopher: (laughs) There are a lot of those, there are a lot of those, we all have had post mortems about our own career. One thing I would say Bill, I regret that I was unable to persuade Congress to be more supportive of the Foreign Service in the State Department. When you have such a huge budget on the Defense Department and the State Department is in many instances our first line of defense, and I think we’ve traditionally been a little stingy with that budget and have given the Defense Department more than they asked for, so I’m sorry that I was unable to persuade Congress to more fully support the Foreign Service in the State Dept.
LAPD, Cal State LA SGVW: You were on the governor’s commission looking into the Watts riots, and the independent commission investigating the LAPD in the wake of the Rodney King beating, and now we have the Cinco de Mayo melee and in between there have been many other incidents – can LAPD get it right and what has to be done to prevent future problems between LAPD and the city’s residents? Christopher: That’s a, as they say that’s another lunch. SGVW: Uh huh… Christopher: That’s a very large question, in which I retain an interest but for the purposes of this interview, I’d like to focus on other things, and how pleased I am to be getting this degree from Cal State, which I have such respect for and its president Jim Rosser whom I’ve known for a long time, and I guess rather than diverge into local or national issues, I’d rather just leave it out. SGVW: What is your relationship with Cal State LA how did this whole doctorate come about, have you been involved with them for a long period of time? Christopher: Well…I worked…I was on Pat Brown’s staff for a year, and we worked on the master plan for higher education, and one aspect of that of course is the state college system, and I’ve always been highly impressed about the state college system and what they contribute, and I’ve been really impressed with the qualities of Cal State, its diversity, its excellence is very impressive to me, and I’ve known Jim Rosser, the president, he’s been president there for a long time, I’ve known him for many, many years, I can’t say how many, but for more than a score of years, and one thing that caused me to say yes to this is that more of the graduates of our two scholarship programs go to California State universities than to any other college or university…I have to say that carefully… taking the California State universities together, more of our graduates coming out of these two programs go to California State Universities than any other university or college, so I’m enormously grateful that they provide that opportunity to the people who come through our scholarship programs. SGVW: I appreciate you taking the time to talk with me this morning…. Christopher: I’m glad to do it…Be sure if you think of it to say hello to Eph Konigsberg and tell him that I still see his old partner Leon Cooper, and next time when I see him I’ll be sure to tell him that I’ve had this message back from Ephraim. SGVW: Okay, thank you. Christopher: Thank you, bye bye. |
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