I thought had Condoleezza Rice had a rough 4 years as Secretary of State.
But Hilary Clinton seems to have dealt with even more crises in her 4 years. It’s been non stop meltdowns all over the middle east, plus the Haiti earthquake, Japan’s earthquake/ tsunami. I totally understand why (she’s said) doesn’t want another 4 years in this job. 4 years as Secretary of State must be exhausting.
I know technically Secretary of State is only a representative for the president. These are really the president’s crises and his responsibility. But the reality is the Secretary of State is the point man in the eye of the storm. They have to work somewhat independently and then answer to the president afterward.
Are any stats kept on how many crises are dealt with by a Secretary of State?
Did Alexander Haig and James Baker have a less frenzied tenure in office?
I know Secretary of States like Kissinger dealt with long term wars like Viet Nam and Cyrus Vance had the Iranian hostage situation.
Modern times seems more difficult because it’s such an explosion of issues all around the world. Clinton barely gets off one plane and then she’s off somewhere else.
I don’t know of any such stats. I suppose you could compile them yourself, just by looking through standard sources on the diplomatic history of the U.S.
Al Haig had to deal with an attempted Presidential assassination, which didn’t go too well for him after his impromptu White House press conference, as you may recall. His tenure in office was far briefer than he probably wished.
On the other hand, Jim Baker had to deal with the first Gulf War and the downfall of Communism, both of which worked out pretty well for him, all in all.
Got my Answer. I knew it seemed like Hillary was globe trotting more than other Secretary of States. Her term has just been beyond hectic. Madeleine Albright had the record before. American Women get the job done.
Not to be a naysayer, but no. of countries visited seems like a much different metric than no. of crises dealt with. My impression is that the proliferation of international organizations, summits, etc., and the decline of relative American power makes SecState (and Presidential) visits in non-crisis situations increasingly more common.
I think that it would be difficult to come up with numbers for this because of the subjectivity of what exactly constitutes a “crisis”. Off the top of my head I want to suggest Acheson or Dulles, but that’s just a guess.
Dean Rusk, for his work during the Cuban Missile Crisis, should get extra points. That was probably the closest humanity has come to the end of the world.
