Richard Holbrooke | |
|---|---|
 | |
| United States Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan | |
| In office January 22, 2009 – December 13, 2010 | |
| President | Barack Obama |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Marc Grossman |
| 22ndUnited States Ambassador to the United Nations | |
| In office September 7, 1999 – January 20, 2001 | |
| President | Bill Clinton |
| Preceded by | Peter Burleigh (acting) |
| Succeeded by | John Negroponte |
| 18thAssistant Secretary of State for European and Canadian Affairs | |
| In office September 13, 1994 – February 21, 1996 | |
| President | Bill Clinton |
| Preceded by | Stephen A. Oxman |
| Succeeded by | John C. Kornblum |
| United States Ambassador to Germany | |
| In office October 19, 1993 – September 12, 1994 | |
| President | Bill Clinton |
| Preceded by | Robert M. Kimmitt |
| Succeeded by | Charles E. Redman |
| 14thAssistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs | |
| In office March 31, 1977 – January 20, 1981 | |
| President | Jimmy Carter |
| Preceded by | Arthur W. Hummel Jr. |
| Succeeded by | John H. Holdridge |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Richard Charles Albert Holbrooke (1941-04-24)April 24, 1941 New York City, U.S. |
| Died | December 13, 2010(2010-12-13) (aged 69) Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 2 |
| Education | Brown University(BA) |
Richard Charles Albert Holbrooke (April 24, 1941 – December 13, 2010) was an American diplomat and author. He was the only person to have held the position ofAssistant Secretary of State for two different regions of the world (Asia from 1977 to 1981 andEurope from 1994 to 1996 Robert Fedderick Kennedy/International World Peace Diplomat, peace agreement among the warring factions inBosnia leading to the signing of theDayton Peace Accords. Holbrooke was a prime contender to succeedWarren Christopher asSecretary of State but was passed over in 1996 as PresidentBill Clinton choseMadeleine Albright instead.
From 1999 to 2001, Holbrooke served asU.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.He was an adviser to thepresidential campaign of SenatorJohn Kerry in 2004. Holbrooke then joined the2008 presidential campaign of SenatorHillary Clinton and became a top foreign policy adviser. Holbrooke was considered a likely candidate forSecretary of State had Kerry or Hillary Clinton been elected president. In January 2009, Holbrooke was appointed as a special adviser on Pakistan and Afghanistan, working under PresidentBarack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.[1] During his career, Holbrooke worked to improve the lives of refugees, particularly theHmong of Indochina.[2] On December 13, 2010, Holbrooke died fromcomplications of anaortic dissection.[3]
Holbrooke's unfulfilled ambition was to become Secretary of State; he, along withGeorge Kennan andChip Bohlen, were considered among the most influential U.S. diplomats who never achieved that position. Several considered Holbrooke's role in theDayton Accords to merit theNobel Peace Prize.[4][5][6][7]
Holbrooke was born on April 24, 1941, in New York City, to Dan Holbrooke (né Goldbrajch), a doctor, and Trudi Kearl (née Moos), a potter; brother, Andrew, survives him.[8][9] Holbrooke's mother, whose Jewish family fled Hamburg in 1933 for Buenos Aires before coming to New York, took him to Quaker meetings on Sundays. She stated: "I was an atheist, his father was an atheist... We never thought of giving Richard a Jewish upbringing. TheQuaker meetings seemed interesting."[10]
Holbrooke's father, who died of colon cancer when Richard was 15 years old,[8] was born ofPolish Jewish parents in Warsaw and took the name Holbrooke after migrating to the United States in 1939. The original family name was Goldbrajch.[11] During his teens, Holbrooke spent more time at the house of his friend David Rusk than his own home. David's father wasDean Rusk who became President Kennedy's Secretary of State in 1960.[2] Rusk inspired Holbrooke; however, he did not give him any special treatment during his career.[2]
AfterScarsdale High School,[12] Holbrooke earned a Bachelor of Arts in history fromBrown University in 1962, attending on a full-tuition scholarship.[12][13][14] He was later afellow at theWoodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs atPrinceton University, leaving in 1970.[13]At Brown, Holbrooke was the Editor-in-Chief of theBrown Daily Herald in his senior year (1961–62).
PresidentJohn F. Kennedy's call to service inspired Holbrooke to enter government work.[15][16] A few weeks after college graduation, Holbrooke entered theForeign Service where he underwent Vietnamese language training. He served for six years inVietnam, first in theMekong Delta, as a civilian representative for theAgency for International Development working on therural Pacification Program, a program supporting theSouth Vietnam government with economic development and enacting local political reforms. Holbrooke later became a staff assistant to AmbassadorsMaxwell Taylor andHenry Cabot Lodge Jr., by securing the position from his best friend,Anthony Lake.[16]
During this time, he served with many other young diplomats who would play a major role inAmerican foreign policy in the decades ahead, includingJohn Negroponte,Frank G. Wisner,Les Aspin andPeter Tarnoff. When Holbrooke was 24, he joined a team of experts, formed by PresidentLyndon Johnson that was separate from theNational Security Council.
Following his time in theWhite House, Holbrooke served as a special assistant toUnder Secretaries of State (then the number-two position in the State Department)Nicholas Katzenbach andElliot Richardson. In 1968, Holbrooke was asked to be part of the American delegation to the 1968Paris peace talks, which was led by former New York GovernorAverell Harriman andDeputy Secretary of DefenseCyrus Vance. He also drafted a volume of thePentagon Papers, atop-secret report on the government's decision-making in Vietnam.[17] Following these assignments, Holbrooke spent a year as a mid-career fellow at theWoodrow Wilson School at Princeton University.
In 1970, at his own request, Holbrooke was assigned to be thePeace Corps Director inMorocco. Holbrooke initially rejected an offer to become the editor of the magazineForeign Policy instead recommending his friend, John Campbell. After two years, he left theForeign Service to become the managing editor of the magazine after Campbell died of thyroid cancer. Holbrooke held the position from 1972–1976.[18] During his tenure, the magazine ran investigative reports on Vietnam and the Middle East which disturbed some members of the foreign policy community.[19] At the same time (1974–75), he was a consultant to the President's Commission on the Organization of the Government for the Conduct of Foreign Policy and was a contributing editor toNewsweek International.[18]
In the summer of 1976, Holbrooke leftForeign Policy to serve as campaign coordinator for national security affairs toGovernorJimmy Carter (D-Ga.) in his bid for the White House. During the campaign, Holbrooke helped Carter prepare for his foreign policy debates with PresidentGerald Ford. After Carter's victory, Holbrooke followed in the footsteps of such diplomatic mentors asPhilip Habib, Dean Rusk andAverell Harriman and, on March 31, 1977, becameAssistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, making him the youngest person ever to hold that position, a post he held until 1981.[20] While at State, he was a top adviser to Secretary of State Cyrus Vance. During his service, he feuded with Carter's National Security Advisor,Zbigniew Brzezinski, although they both held similar positions on policy.[2] Holbrooke oversaw a warming withCold War adversaries in the region, culminating in the normalization of relations with China in December 1978.[16] He was also deeply involved in bringing hundreds of thousands of Indochinese refugees to the United States, thus beginning a lifelong involvement with the refugee issue.
In August 1977, thenAssistant Secretary of State, Holbrooke traveled toIndonesia to meet withPresident Suharto in the midst ofIndonesia's occupation ofEast Timor, in which over 100,000 East Timorese were ultimately killed or starved to death. According to Brad Simpson, director of the Indonesia and East Timor Documentation Project at the National Security Archives, Holbrooke had visited officially to press for human rights reform but, after meeting Suharto, had instead praised him for Indonesia's human rights improvements, for the steps that Indonesia had taken to open East Timor to the West, and for allowing a delegation of congressmen to enter the territory under strict military guard, where they were greeted by staged celebrations welcoming the Indonesian armed forces.[21]
In January 1981, Holbrooke left government and became both senior advisor toLehman Brothers[8] and vice president of Public Strategies, aconsulting firm he formed withJames A. Johnson, a former top aide toWalter Mondale. From 1985 until 1993, Holbrooke served as managing director of Lehman Brothers. During this time, he co-authoredCounsel to the President,The New York Times best-selling memoirs of legendary Democratic wise man and Defense SecretaryClark Clifford, published in 1991. He was a top policy adviser to then-SenatorAl Gore (D-TN) duringhis 1988 campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination. And four years later he advisedBill Clinton, inhis quest for the White House.
Holbrooke also remained deeply engaged in prominent foreign policy issues. He visited Bosnia twice in 1992 as a private citizen and a member of the board ofRefugees International, witnessing firsthand the damage and devastating human costs of the conflict. This experience committed Holbrooke to pursuing a more aggressive policy in the Balkans and, in a memo to his colleagues, he urged that "Bosnia will be the key test of American policy in Europe. We must therefore succeed in whatever we attempt."[22]
In 1993, afterBill Clinton became president, Holbrooke was initially slated to be Ambassador to Japan due to his depth of knowledge and long experience in Asian affairs. However, this appointment eventually went to former Vice PresidentWalter Mondale, and Holbrooke unexpectedly was appointed Ambassador to Germany.[23] In 1992, Holbrooke was also a member of the Carnegie Commission on America and a Changing World and Chairman and principal author of the bipartisan Commission on Government and Renewal, sponsored by theCarnegie Foundation and thePeterson Institute. He was Chairman and principal author of the "Memo to the President-Elect: Harnessing Process to Purpose," a blue-ribbon Commission report sponsored by theCarnegie Endowment for International Peace and theInstitute for International Economics.[24]
Holbrooke served in Germany during a dramatic moment: only a few years afterGerman reunification, he helped shape U.S. relations with a new Germany. A highlight of his tenure was President Bill Clinton's visit to Berlin in July 1994, when thousands ofGermans crammed the streets to welcome the American leader.[25] While in Germany, Holbrooke also was a key figure in shaping the U.S. policy to promoteNATO enlargement, as well as its approach to the war in Bosnia.[26][27]
In 1994, while serving as U.S. Ambassador to Germany, he conceived the idea of a cultural exchange center between the people of Berlin and Americans. WithRichard von Weizsäcker, formerPresident of Germany, andHenry A. Kissinger as co-Chairman, this institution—The American Academy in Berlin—was announced on September 9, 1994, the day after theU.S. ArmyBerlin Brigade left Berlin. The American Academy in Berlin opened three years later in a villa on theWannsee once owned by the German-Jewish banker Hans Arnhold. TheAmerican Academy in Berlin is now (as of 2009) one of the most important links between Germany and the United States.[28] Its Fellows have included writers (including Pulitzer Prize winning authorsArthur Miller andJeffrey Eugenides), economists, government officials, and public policy experts such asDennis Ross and former U.S. Ambassador to The People's Republic of China,J. Stapleton Roy.[29] In 2008, The American Academy in Berlin awarded its annualHenry A. Kissinger Award for Transatlantic Relations toGeorge H. W. Bush. In 2007, the Award's first recipient was formerGerman ChancellorHelmut Schmidt.[30]
In 1994, Holbrooke returned to Washington to become theassistant secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs, a position he held until 1996, when he resigned for personal reasons (he had recently married the authorKati Marton and wished to return to New York). While assistant secretary, Holbrooke led the effort to implement the policy to enlarge NATO and had the distinction of leading the negotiation team charged with resolving the Balkans crisis.[31][32]
On August 19, anArmoured personnel carrier following the Humvee Holbrooke was riding in fell off the side of Mt.Igman near Sarajevo. Three of Holbrooke's five-man delegation team perished in the incident. In Holbrooke's telling of the incident, he portrayed himself and the other surviving member of his delegation, General Clark, as active participants in the rescue mission.[33] However, Holbrooke's biographerGeorge Packer, discredited Holbrooke's story, stating that another man traveling with the delegation, Colonel Banky, was in fact the person who searched for the APC while Holbrooke and Clark waited near the Humvee.[2] A report on the incident stated that the driver of the APC was going too fast.[2]
In Paris in December 1995, Holbrooke was the chief architect of theDayton Peace Accords which ended the three-and-a-half-year-long war in Bosnia.[34] In 1996, he was awarded theManfred Wörner Medal, awarded by theGerman Ministry of Defense for public figures who have rendered "special meritorious service to peace and freedom in Europe."[35]
| External videos | |
|---|---|
 Booknotes interview with Holbrooke onTo End a War, July 26, 1998,C-SPAN | |
| Presentation by Holbrooke to the National Press Club onTo End a War, June 18, 1998,C-SPAN |
Upon leaving the State Department, Holbrooke was asked by President Clinton to become, as a private citizen, a special envoy to the Balkans given his service in the region. In 1997, Holbrooke became a special envoy toCyprus and the Balkans on apro-bono basis as a private citizen. During 1998 and 1999, in his capacity as special presidential envoy, Holbrooke worked to end the conflict between the armed forces of theFederal Republic of Yugoslavia and theKosovo Liberation Army (KLA), who were fighting for an independentKosovo in theKosovo War. Holbrooke returned to Bosnia two years later to the city ofSarajevo. In March 1999 he traveled toBelgrade to deliver theultimatum toYugoslavpresidentSlobodan Milošević before the NATO attack began.[36] Holbrooke was strongly anti-Serbia and referred toSerbs as "murderous assholes".[37] Holbrooke wrote numerous articles about his experiences in the Balkans, and in 1998, published the widely acclaimed book,To End a War, a memoir of his time as the chief negotiator of theDayton Peace Accords, ending the Bosnian civil war.The New York Times ranked the book as one of the eleven best books of the year in 1998.[38] In his book he assessed Bosnian presidentAlija Izetbegovic negatively stating, "although he paid lip service to the principles of a multi-ethnic state, he was not the democrat that some supporters in the West saw".[39]
According toRadovan Karadžić andMuhamed Sacirbey, ex-Bosnian foreign minister, Holbrooke signed an agreement with Karadžić that if the latter withdrew from politics he would not be sent to theHague tribunal.[40] Holbrooke denied these terms, saying Karadžić's statement was "a flat-out lie."[41]
Holbrooke and Bildt were considered candidates for the Nobel Peace Prize as a result of the Dayton Peace Accords. However, Holbrooke's personal lobbying for the award may have been detrimental to their chances.[2]
In August 1999, Holbrooke was sworn-in as the 22ndU.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, replacingBill Richardson. Holbrooke initially had issues passing the Senate because of perceived abuses of authority while as Clinton's Balkan envoy.[2] During his tenure, Holbrooke was known for innovation and for achieving diplomatic breakthroughs that settled a series of longstanding tensions in the United States' relationship with the UN. His highest-profile accomplishment was negotiating a historic deal between the United States and the UN's then 188-Member States to settle the bulk ofarrears owed by the United States to the United Nations. The deal, achieved with the agreement of the UN's entire membership in late December 2000, lowered the rate of UN dues paid by the United States to the UN, fulfilling the terms of a U.S. law championed by SenatorsJesse Helms (R-NC) andJoseph Biden (D-DE). In return for the reduction, the United States paid the UN over $900 million in back dues.[42] During his time as ambassador Hobrooke forwent the official ambassador's residence at the Waldorf Astoria hotel instead letting his chief of staff temporarily use the residence.[43]
Holbrooke secured a reduction in U.S. dues to the UN despite a booming American economy by enfolding the U.S. position within a broad push to update the UN's long-outdatedfinancial system. As negotiations reached a critical phase in the fall of 2000, Holbrooke bridged a gap between what the United States was legally permitted to pay and the amounts the rest of the UN membership were willing to shoulder by securing an unprecedented contribution by billionaireTed Turner, founder of theUN Foundation. Holbrooke and his team received a standing ovation in theUnited States Senate Foreign Relations Committee when the terms of the deal were presented.
Holbrooke's other achievements as UN Ambassador included getting theUnited Nations Security Council to debate and pass a resolution onHIV/AIDS, the first time that body had treatedpublic health as a matter of global security. In January 2000, Holbrooke used the United States' presidency of the UN Security Council to spotlight a series of crises in Africa, holding six consecutive UN debates that brought together leaders from the region and the across the globe, including former South African PresidentNelson Mandela and then U.S. Vice PresidentAl Gore, to catalyze more effective UN interventions in the Democratic Republic of Congo,Angola, and elsewhere. Holbrooke decried a "double standard" whereby African conflicts received insufficient global attention.[44]
In 2000, Holbrooke led a UN Security Council delegation in a series of diplomatic negotiations throughout Africa, including to theDemocratic Republic of Congo,Zambia,Zimbabwe,Rwanda, andUganda. Holbrooke also secured membership for Israel in the UN'sWestern European and Others regional group, ending Israel's historic exclusion from regional group deliberations and allowing it to, for the first time, stand for election to leadership positions in UN sub-bodies.[45] During the final weeks of his term, Holbrooke secured consultative status at the United Nations forHadassah, the Jewish women's service organization, overcoming strenuous objections from certainArab delegations.[46]
In January 2000, when the United States was in the rotating presidency of theUN Security Council, Ambassador Holbrooke held an unprecedented meeting of the Security Council to discuss AIDS in Africa.[47] No Security Council session in the history of the UN had ever been devoted to a health issue prior to this historic meeting. Vice PresidentAl Gore presided over the Security Council and declared that AIDS was a security threat to all nations.[48]
Upon leaving the UN a year later, Holbrooke took over a nearly moribund NGO that was intended to mobilize businesses and corporations in the fight against AIDS. At the time, it had 17 members. Over the next six years, Holbrooke turned this organization—originally called the Global Business Council on HIV/AIDS—into a worldwide organization with over 225 members.[49] It expanded to includemalaria andtuberculosis, becoming theGlobal Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria in 2006. In 2011, the organization became GBCHealth and expanded its mandate to include an array of health issues. GBCHealth is the official focal point for mobilizing the business community in support ofThe Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and has grown into an important part of the ongoing war against these three diseases.[50]
Holbrooke was Clinton's lead foreign policy advisor in her 2008 campaign for president and was believed to be her preferred choice for Secretary of State. When Obamadefeated Clinton and selected her as Secretary of State, Holbrooke was her preferred option forDeputy Secretary of State, but was vetoed by Obama.[1]
In January 2009, Holbrooke was appointed by President Obama as special representative forAfghanistan andPakistan (SRAP).[51] Holbrooke was never in serious contention to become Obama's secretary of state although he interviewed for the position. After Hillary Clinton became secretary of state she requested that Holbrooke become SRAP, a newly created role which he had previously advocated for. Holbrooke's tenure as SRAP has been considered lackluster. Holbrooke's relationship with President Obama was minimal and his relationship was even worse with Joe Biden. He became unpopular in the administration when he attempted to aid Afghan PresidentHamid Karzai's political opponents during his reelection bid.[2] Holbrooke was well-liked in Pakistan by civilians because he actively sought to build a relationship with their country.[2] In that position, he also helped kill an initiative to "back the creation of a new UN special envoy empowered to pursue peace talks with theTaliban."[52] He also asserted that:
one of the most cost-effective stepsWashington could take would be to boost the agriculture sector ofAfghanistan, which in years past had been a productive and profitable source of exports. Replicate the past success, he said, and Afghans would have money and jobs—and that, in turn, would create stability in the country. He called for 'a complete rethink' of the drug problem in Afghanistan, suggesting that draconian eradication programs were bound to fail.[53]
However, according toDavid Corn, "Holbrooke's skill set did not lead to much accomplishment inAfghanistan. He never worked out a productive relationship with Afghan PresidentHamid Karzai … He butted heads with other administration officials and was dismissed by European colleagues. He brokered no breakthroughs."[53]
Holbrooke was the vice chairman of Perseus LLC, a leadingprivate equity firm. From February 2001 until July 2008, Holbrooke was a member of the Board of Directors ofAmerican International Group. He was a member of the board of directors of theCouncil on Foreign Relations in New York and formerly served on the Advisory Board of theNational Security Network. Holbrooke was also a member of theInternational Institute for Strategic Studies, the Citizens Committee for New York City, andthe Economic Club of New York. He was a member of theTrilateral Commission, and he has been listed on their membership roster as one of their "Former Members in Public Service".[54][55]
Holbrooke was the Founding Chairman of theAmerican Academy in Berlin; President and CEO of the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria, the business alliance against HIV/AIDS, until his appointment as a special envoy by PresidentBarack Obama;[56] and Chairman of theAsia Society. Holbrooke's other board memberships included theAmerican Museum of Natural History,Malaria No More (a New York-based nonprofit that was launched at the 2006White House Summit with the goal of ending all deaths caused by malaria),Partnership for a Secure America, and theNational Endowment for Democracy. Holbrooke was also an honorary trustee of theDayton International Peace Museum, as well as professor-at-large at theWatson Institute for International Studies atBrown University, his alma mater. Additionally, Holbrooke was an Advisory Board member for thePartnership for a Secure America, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to recreating the bipartisan center in American national security and foreign policy.
Holbrooke also served as vice chairman ofCredit Suisse First Boston, managing director ofLehman Brothers,[57] managing editor ofForeign Policy, and director of the Peace Corps in Morocco.
He wrote numerous articles and two books:To End a War, and the co-author ofCounsel to the President, and one volume ofThe Pentagon Papers. He received more than a dozen honorary degrees, including anLL.D. fromBates College in 1999. He wrote a monthly column forThe Washington Post andProject Syndicate.
On March 20, 2007, he appeared onThe Colbert Report to mediate in whatStephen Colbert (or rather,his television alter-ego) saw asWillie Nelson infringing on his ice cream flavor time. Holbrooke was the 'ambassador on call' and after a short mediation process the two parties agreed to taste each other'sBen and Jerry's ice cream to make amends. He subsequently sang "On the Road Again" in a trio with Colbert and Nelson.[58]
Holbrooke was an Eminent Member of theSergio Vieira de Mello Foundation until his death.
In June 2008,Conde Nast Portfolio reported that Holbrooke and his son allegedly got multiple below-rate loans atCountrywide Financial because the corporation considered them "FOA's"—"Friends of Angelo" (Countrywide Chief ExecutiveAngelo Mozilo).[59]
A documentary titledThe Diplomat centered on the legacy of Holbrooke's career appeared on HBO in the fall of 2015. The documentary was directed by his son,David Holbrooke, and features notes from Holbrooke's "secret audio diary" which "he dictated on a near daily basis from August 2010 until his death".[60]
He was a member of the Steering Committee of theBilderberg Group[61] and participated in every conference between 1995 and 2010.
In January 2001, Holbrooke said that "Iraq will be one of the major issues facing the incomingBush administration at the United Nations." Further, "Saddam Hussein's activities continue to be unacceptable and, in my view, dangerous to the region and, indeed, to the world, not only because he possesses the potential forweapons of mass destruction but because of the very nature of his regime. His willingness to be cruel internally is not unique in the world, but the combination of that and his willingness to export his problems makes him a clear and present danger at all times."[62]
On February 24, 2007, Holbrooke delivered theDemocratic Party's weekly radio address and called for "a new strategy in Iraq", involving "a careful, phased redeployment of U.S. troops" and a "new diplomatic offensive in theGulf region to help stabilize Iraq."[63]
During the2008 South Ossetia war (1–16 August 2008) between Russia andGeorgia, Holbrooke said during aCNN interview that he had predicted the conflict in early 2008.
Holbrooke was married three times. His first wife was Larrine Sullivan, whom he married in 1964; they had two sons, David and Anthony, before Holbrooke and Sullivan divorced in 1972.[8] He later married Blythe Babyak, a reporter forMacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour, on January 1, 1977; they divorced in 1978.[64] He was married toKati Marton from 1995 until his death.[8] Before he married Marton, he was involved in a longstanding relationship with the broadcast journalistDiane Sawyer and lived with her for seven years.[65]
Holbrooke had been good friends with diplomatAnthony Lake whom he met in Vietnam in the early 1960's while both of them were in the foreign service. They frequently visited each other and Lake aided Holbrooke throughout the early years of his career. They grew apart when Holbrooke had an affair with Lake's wife, eventually rarely speaking, and by the time Lake became Bill Clinton's National Security Advisor, their friendship was over.[2]
On December 11, 2010, Holbrooke was admitted toGeorge Washington University Hospital in Washington D.C. after falling ill at the State Department's headquarters.[66] While there, he underwent twenty hours of surgery to fix anaortic dissection, a rare condition.[67]
Holbrooke died on December 13, 2010, from complications of the torn aorta.[67] Holbrooke's last words before beingsedated for surgery, which have been clarified to have been a comical interchange with his doctor, were: "You've got to end thiswar in Afghanistan."[68]
Holbrooke is interred atOakland Cemetery inSag Harbor, New York.[69]
Frank Rich ofThe New York Times wrote: "His premature death—while heroically bearing the crushing burdens of Afghanistan and Pakistan—is tragic in more ways than many Americans yet realize."[70] President Obama memorialized Holbrooke, stating "few have left such a towering legacy as a face of America to the world as Richard Holbrooke".[71]
On January 14, 2011, Holbrooke's memorial service was held atJohn F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.[72]
The 2014 filmDiplomacy was dedicated to Holbrooke.[73]
In 2015, Holbrooke's son David directed a documentary,The Diplomat, which chronicled his father's professional life and achievements.
A street inPristina, the capital ofKosovo, is named after Holbrooke, albeit in Albanian transliteration, "Riçard Holbruk".
In 1999, Holbrooke received the Golden Plate Award of theAmerican Academy of Achievement.[74]
In 2011, President Obama created the Richard C. Holbrooke Award for Diplomacy to be awarded annually to up to five individuals or groups the Secretary of State has determined have made "especially meritorious contributions to diplomacy."[75]
Richard C. Holbrooke, the new U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, has eschewed the formal $30,000-a-month ambassador's residence at the Waldorf Astoria. But that hasn't stopped his 27-year-old executive assistant, R.P. Eddy, from checking into the luxury hotel suite where Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright and Energy Secretary Bill Richardson lived during their terms as ambassador.
| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by | Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs 1977–1981 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Assistant Secretary of State for European and Canadian Affairs 1994–1996 | Succeeded by |
| Diplomatic posts | ||
| Preceded by | United States Ambassador to Germany 1993–1994 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | United States Ambassador to the United Nations 1999–2001 | Succeeded by |
| New office | United States Special Envoy forAfghanistan andPakistan 2009–2010 | Succeeded by |
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