Around the world with Shultz: a visit to the former secretary of state.(PEOPLE)(George Shultz)(Interview)

Palo Alto, Calif.

IN the second volume of his memoirs--published in 1982--Henry Kissinger said something extraordinary about George Shultz: "I met no one in public life for whom I developed greater respect and affection." Kissinger continued,

 
   Highly analytical, calm and unselfish, Shultz made up in integrity 
   and judgment for his lack of the flamboyance by which some of his 
   more insecure colleagues attempted to make their mark. He never 
   sought personal advancement. By not threatening anyone's 
   prerogatives, and, above all, by his outstanding performance, he 
   became the dominant member of every committee he joined.... If I 
   could choose one American to whom I would entrust the nation's fate 
   in a crisis, it would be George Shultz. 

In the praise department, you really can't beat that. But Shultz is used to such praise, being the object of almost universal respect. Remind yourself of the basic biographical facts about him. He was born in 1920, and went to Princeton. (You may remember a story about a particular tiger tattoo.) He went to MIT for a Ph.D. in industrial economics. In time, he became dean of the University of Chicago Business School. Under Nixon, he was secretary of labor, director of the Office of Management and Budget, and treasury secretary. Under Reagan, he was secretary of state--from 1982 to 1989. The year he left office, he joined the Hoover Institution, on the campus of Stanford University.

And that is where I meet him for a wide-ranging discussion.

As I turn on my tape recorder--uncertain about whether it will work--I say, "Well, I guess we just have to trust it." Shultz responds, "We always said, 'Trust but verify'"--or Doveryai, no proveryai, in Russian. We both chuckle in remembering how it used to drive Gorbachev crazy when Reagan said this. At Shultz's side is an illuminated globe, and this prompts me to ask him about a test he would give to new U.S. ambassadors. "They'd been through all kinds of exams and so on--confirmation--and I'd say to them, 'Well, there's just one more test you have to pass.'" They'd usually groan. "'You have to walk over to that globe and demonstrate to me that you can identify your country.' And, inevitably, they would point out the country to which they had been assigned."

The correct answer, of course, was the United States--that was their country. And Shultz's moral was, "Never forget what country you're representing."