Philip Habib

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Philip Habib with a great-nephew in his State Department office (1976)

Philip Charles Habib (born February 25, 1920 in Brooklyn , New York City , † May 24, 1992 in Puligny-Montrachet , Département Côte-d'Or , France ) was an American diplomat of Lebanese descent who served as United States Under Secretary of State held the third highest post in the United States Department of State for political affairs and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1982 for outstanding diplomatic services .

Life

Promotion to Ambassador and Assistant Secretary of State

Habib, who came from a Christian Maronite family from Lebanon, studied forestry at the University of Idaho after attending school and graduated in 1942 with a Bachelor of Science (BS Forestry). During his school days and before he started his studies, he worked from 1936 to 1938, and during the holidays he worked for the Boise-Payette Lumber Company, now Boise-Cascade , the paper company and largest timber sales company in the world. He then did his military service in the US Army between 1942 and 1946 during the Second World War , but also studied briefly at the Sorbonne in 1945 . After completing his active military service, he studied at the University of California at Berkeley from 1946 to 1949 , where he obtained a Philosophia Doctor (Ph.D.) in 1952 .

In 1949 he entered the diplomatic service and was first third secretary and vice-consul at the embassy in Canada and then between 1951 and 1955 second secretary and vice-consul at the embassy in New Zealand. After a subsequent activity in the intelligence research office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he was consul in Port of Spain from 1958 to 1959 .

He then returned to the State Department and from 1962 to 1965 Counselor for Political Affairs at the Embassy in South Korea. After serving as Counselor for Political Affairs at the Embassy in South Vietnam between 1965 and 1967 , he returned to the State Department and was Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Oceania Affairs until 1969 .

In 1968 he was named a member of the US delegation in the negotiations to end the Vietnam War and belongs to this delegation, which ultimately negotiated the Paris Treaty in 1973 , until October 1971.

He then succeeded William J. Porter as US Ambassador to South Korea and then returned to the State Department in September 1974, where he was Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Oceania Affairs until 1976. During this time he campaigned more emphatically as porter for prosecution of the South Korean entrepreneur Tongsun Park, one of the main actors in the so-called Koreagate . Habib tried, albeit unsuccessfully, to convince Park to register as a lobbyist for South Korea. In response to his unsuccessful efforts, he ordered all embassy staff to cut ties with Park and warned various congressmen of their illegal behavior. In addition, he was part of the US delegation to the United Nations Security Council . When he announced to the other Security Council members on October 8, 1975 that it looked as if Indonesia had begun attacking East Timor , then US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger replied that he hoped Habib would keep his mouth shut about the matter.

Under Secretary of State and US Special Envoy

Habib then took over from July 1976 to April 1978 as Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, the third highest post in the State Department of the United States.

Even after his retirement from the diplomatic service, Habib, who was also involved in the Council on Foreign Relations , remained a sought-after negotiator for the US government and was initially special envoy in the Middle East between 1981 and 1983 . In particular, he conducted negotiations after the Lebanon War in 1982 with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) through the mediation of the former Lebanese Prime Minister Saeb Salam and the then Prime Minister of Lebanon, Shafik Wazzan .

Later he was a mediator in the Philippines after the overthrow of the dictatorial ruling Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos in February 1986 and special envoy in Central America in March 1986 .

For his outstanding services, especially in peace negotiations, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1982, one of the two highest civilian awards in the United States , along with the congressional gold medal of honor .

Philip Habib was also involved in a number of political organizations and was a senior fellow of the Hoover Institution and the American Enterprise Institute as well as a trustee of the Asia Foundation.

In May 2006, the US Postal Service issued a special 39 cents stamp in the Distinguished American Diplomats series in his honor .

Background literature

  • John Boykin: Cursed is the Peacemaker: The American Diplomat Versus the Israeli General, Beirut 1982 . Belmont, California: Applegate Press. 2002.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The National Security Archive: The Secretary's Staff Meeting (PDF; 174 kB) October 8, 1974
  2. ^ Appointment of Philip C. Habib as Special Envoy for Central America (March 7, 1986)
  3. ^ US Stamp Gallery
personal data
SURNAME Habib, Philip
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Habib, Philip Charles (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American diplomat
DATE OF BIRTH February 25, 1920
PLACE OF BIRTH Brooklyn , New York City
DATE OF DEATH May 24, 1992
Place of death Puligny-Montrachet , Cote-d'Or department , France