Richard C. Holbrooke is Vice Chairman of Perseus, a leading private equity firm. He most recently served as the United States Ambassador to the United Nations, where he was also a member of President Clinton’s cabinet (1999-2001). As Assistant Secretary of State for Europe (1994-1996), he was the chief architect of the 1995 Dayton peace agreement that ended the war in Bosnia. He later served as President Clinton’s Special Envoy to Bosnia and Kosovo and Special Envoy to Cyprus on a pro-bono basis while a private citizen. From 1993-1994, he was the US. Ambassador to Germany.

During the Carter Administration (1977-1981), he served as the Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, and was in charge of U.S. relations with China at the time Sino-American relations were normalized in December, 1978.

After joining the Foreign Service in 1962, he served in Vietnam (1963-66), including a tour of duty in the Mekong Delta for AID. He worked on Vietnam at the Johnson White House (1966-68), wrote one volume of the Pentagon Papers, and was a member of the American delegation to the Vietnam Peace Talks in Paris (1968-69).

He was Peace Corps Director in Morocco (1970-72), Managing Editor of Foreign Policy (1972-77), and held senior positions at two leading Wall Street firms, Credit Suisse First Boston (Vice Chairman) and Lehman Brothers (Managing Director). He has written numerous articles and two best-selling books: To End a War, a memoir of the Dayton negotiations, and co-author of Counsel to the President, Clark Clifford’s memoir. He writes a monthly column for The Washington Post.

He has received over twenty honorary degrees and numerous awards, including several Nobel Peace Prize nominations. He is the Founding Chairman of the American Academy in Berlin, a center for U.S.-German cultural exchange; President and CEO of the Global Business Coalition, the business alliance against HIV/AIDS; and Chairman of the Asia Society. NGO board memberships include the American Museum of Natural History, the National Endowment for Democracy, the Citizens Committee for New York City, the Council on Foreign Relations, and Refugees International. He is Director Emeritus of The Africa-America Institute, on the Advisory Board of MEMRI, is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a member of the US Board of Governors of Interpeace, and Professor-at-Large, Brown University.

Blog Entries by Amb. Richard C. Holbrooke

Why the Nation and the World Need Barack Obama

126 Comments | Posted October 27, 2008 | 04:28 PM (EST)


The winner of the presidential election will inherit a perfect storm of problems, both economic and international. He will face the most difficult opening day agenda of any president since -- and I say this quite seriously -- the man who saved the Union, Abraham Lincoln. But a more instructive...

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Calm, Methodical Obama vs. Angry, Ungracious McCain

424 Comments | Posted September 29, 2008 | 04:27 PM (EST)


Friday's unique free-form debate format offered the best insights so far into the vast differences, values and style of Barack Obama and John McCain, and how they would approach the challenges that only a president can decide. It was the stunning contrast in personal behavior, not their answers, that...

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Setting the Record Straight: Hillary's Foreign Policy

Posted December 18, 2007 | 01:42 PM (EST)


A quote I gave a journalist almost two years ago has been recycled, out of context, to suggest that Senator Clinton and I would contemplate going to war with Iran or other nations. This is, of course, a complete misrepresentation of what I was saying and of Senator Clinton's longstanding...

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