George Shultz, Secretary of State under former U.S. President Reagan, died on Feb. 6 at the age of 100. The six pledges he made to Taiwan during the Reagan administration remain the basic guidelines of U.S. policy toward Taiwan.
The Central News Agency reported that Shultz was a distinguished fellow at the Hoover Institution, a Stanford University think tank, and a professor emeritus at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business.
Schultz served three U.S. presidents. He is best known as former President Reagan’s secretary of state from 1982 to 1989, the longest-serving secretary of state since World War II.
A telegram sent by Schultz to then-AIT Director Lee Kit-ming on August 17, 1982, revealing six assurances to Taiwan, including no change in position on Taiwan’s sovereignty, no pressure on Taiwan, and a request that Taiwan negotiate with the People’s Republic of China, remains the basic direction of U.S. policy toward Taiwan and China.
During his lifetime, Schultz served in four different cabinet positions, including Secretary of State, Secretary of the Treasury, Secretary of Labor, and White House Director of Management and Budget.
He taught at three of the nation’s top universities, including MIT, the University of Chicago and Stanford University. He also served as president of a major engineering and construction firm for eight years.
Schulz served at the Hoover Institution for more than 30 years, and on December 17, 2019, he attended the public launch of Chiang Ching-kuo’s private diary to witness an important piece of history firsthand.
Schulz died on Feb. 6 at the age of 100. News of his passing was announced by the Hoover Institution, but no cause of death was mentioned.
Schulz, who celebrated his 100th birthday last Dec. 13, published an article in the Washington Post, “The 10 Most Important Things I’ve Learned About Trust Over My 100 Years. The 10 Most Important Things I’ve Learned About Trust Over My 100 Years,” mentions that he learned the value of trust early in Life and has continued to relearn the value and importance of interpersonal trust throughout his life.
“Trust is the coin of the realm” is his famous quote and the title of one of his books. He wrote, “When there is trust in a room, good things happen, whether it is a living room, a classroom, a locker room, an office, a government studio or a war room. When there is no trust in the room, good things don’t happen. Everything else is just a detail.
Schulz was born in New York on December 13, 1920, and grew up in New Jersey. He majored in economics at Princeton University and joined the U.S. Marine Corps after graduating in 1942, where he served until his discharge in 1945. He received his doctorate in industrial economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1949.
Schultz first joined the Cabinet in 1955 as an economic advisor to President Eisenhower, and was appointed by President Nixon as Secretary of Labor in 1969 and as Secretary of the Treasury from 1972, as well as Chairman of the Economic Policy Committee, where he conducted a series of trade negotiations with the Soviet Union.
Schultz left public service in 1974 to join the Bechtel Group, a private energy company, as president for eight years. During his service in industry, he maintained strong ties to academia and taught at Stanford University.
He rejoined the cabinet during the Reagan administration, where Schultz played two important roles, one as chairman of the Economic Policy Advisory Council and the other as secretary of state. During his tenure as Secretary of State, Schultz succeeded in ending the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union and in developing strong diplomatic relations with countries in the Asia-Pacific and Southeast Asia.
After leaving public service, Schulz again worked in both the corporate and academic worlds, serving as a senior advisor to the Bethel Group, and returning to Stanford University to teach at the School of Business and conduct research at the Hoover Institution.
Schulz is the author of numerous books and awards, and in January 1989 he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the United States; he has also been awarded honorary degrees from several American universities.
Schulz’s memoir, Turmoil and Triumph: My Years as Secretary of State, is a model memoir for public officials.
Schulz died at his Home on the Stanford University campus, leaving behind his wife, five children and 11 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.
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