Secretary of State: What’s at stake?

One of the more intriguing cabinet positions is Secretary of State. Currently, 68 people have served in this position whose chief responsibility is to promote diplomacy and good will abroad.

However, uneven and dangerous political climates make State’s mission difficult, especially for the U.S. diplomats and ambassadors serving in remote and unforgiving areas. U.S. diplomatic missions abroad are under increasing pressure with limited resources to maintain strong communications with host countries. This is often demonstrated through cultural understanding and economic cooperation.

At the helm of this mission is the Secretary of State. It is a powerful position. It is the first cabinet position in the line for presidential succession, coming right after the Speaker of the House and President of the Senate.

The average duration of a Secretary of State’s tenure in office is 1,194 days, or about three years, with terms of service ranging from as little as 11 days with Elihu Washburn under the Grant administration to durations of 2,921 and 4,289 days. These latter two terms were served by Cordell Hull and Dean Rusk. Hull served as FDR’s Secretary of State for 11 years from 1933-1944 and is noted for his collective security efforts. He supported western democracies on the eve of World War II. He condemned Japanese encroachment into Indo-China and warned all branches of the U.S. military well in advance of the attack on Pearl Harbor. His Good Neighbor policy is often credited with stopping Nazi encroachment in Latin America during World War II.

Yet his human rights record is blemished; his isolationist leanings resulted in rejecting the SS St. Louis, a German ocean liner which carried Jewish refugees. Many of the passengers were ultimately murdered by the Nazis.

Dean Rusk’s tenure as Secretary of State was from 1961-1969 under the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. Rusk viewed the world of the 1960s as caught up in “revolutionary changes.” This meant the shredding of colonialism and the establishment of new nations, most notably in sub-Saharan Africa. He believed that U.S. foreign policy should provide emerging nations with technical and humanitarian assistance to speed these nations along the path toward modernity and democracy.

He also advocated a “dignified diplomacy,” emphasizing civility and communication between the United States and the Soviet Union. Rusk’s diplomatic orientation and his ability to evaluate and judge competing points of view defused tensions during the October 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis and the successful negotiation of the Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty of 1963. Yet his tenure included the Vietnam conflict, which resulted in millions of refugees.

Both of these men served during difficult times. Today ISIS, international trade, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, East Asian security, illegal immigration and the Syrian refugee crisis all dot the next Secretary of State’s political landscape.

Leaders help shape policies, but they also create legacies. The opening of U.S.-Chinese relations during the Nixon administration is considered to be one of the best diplomatic breakthroughs. So, too, the ability of the United States to work with the former Soviet Union at the end of the Cold War is dutifully noted.

Hull is known for his role of providing relief to beleaguered western democracies during one of the darkest periods of human history. Rusk emphasized the need for negotiated diplomacy. In the end, both men had marked impacts in bartering and bargaining for a better U.S. position in the international arena. However, more could have been done from a humanitarian standpoint.

The next Secretary of State needs to scan the political horizon carefully and consider security, economic and humanitarian issues; this could be a good start for a diplomatic legacy.

This story was originally published December 11, 2016 at 2:37 PM with the headline "Secretary of State: What’s at stake?."