Washington College Mourns Loss of Honorary Alumnus Lawrence Eagleburger

CHESTERTOWN, MD—The Washington College community is mourning the passing of Lawrence Eagleburger, the veteran foreign policy expert who received the College’s honorary degree, Doctor of Laws, at Convocation this past February. Ambassador Eagleburger died Friday, June 3, after a long battle with lung cancer.

Ambassador Eagleburger served in policy positions under four presidents, was Secretary of State under George H.W. Bush, and chaired the International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims, which resolved unpaid Nazi-era insurance claims for survivors of the Holocaust. “He was a great American patriot and a passionate defender of the less fortunate,” said Washington College president Mitchell Reiss, who worked closely with him when Secretary Eagleburger was a member of William & Mary’s Board Visitors and subsequently on some trouble-shooting issues in the Middle East.

“One of my favorite memories,” Reiss recalled, “was when Larry spent an afternoon talking to me about his early career—working for Secretary of State Dean Acheson, courting Acheson’s personal assistant, Marlene (who later became Larry's wife), representing the United States overseas during the first few decades of the Cold War and generally sharing the lessons and insights he had gathered from his experiences.”

In the citation for the honorary degree, President Reiss said Eagleburger had “demonstrated a remarkable fortitude in the face of adversity” in resolving diplomatic crises, and that “his propensity for direct and honest responses to sticky problems have earned him the respect of key legislators in Washington and leaders around the world.”

Eagleburger showed his trademark wit and straightforward style when accepting the honorary degree. He endeared himself to the campus community with heartfelt and humorous remarks about what he had discovered during his visit to Washington College and about the nation’s need for small liberal arts colleges like the one in Chestertown.

“Every student in this place is fortunate to be in one of the most remarkable colleges I have ever seen, and one of the most remarkable colleges in this country,” he told the Convocation audience. “It has demonstrated something I have believed many, many years: That education at the college level is far best received in a small college, not one of these huge factories that are now so prevalent in the American educational system—our national disgrace in terms of our educational system. I say to all of you (students, faculty, alumni, Mr. President) that you are fortunate to be associated with this institution.”

A short clip of Ambassador Eagleburger’s remarks can be found at http://news.washcoll.edu/events/2011/02/convocation/. A partial transcript of his full remarks appears below, following the text of the official citation for his honorary degree.

W A S H I N G T O N C O L L E G E

CITATION

Lawrence Eagleburger

An American statesman who climbed the foreign service ladder to the highest rank ever achieved by a career diplomat, former Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger remains one of our country’s leading experts in foreign policy and global diplomatic affairs. He is known throughout the world for his role during the Gulf War—he kept the U.S.-led coalition together by persuading the Israeli government to show restraint against Saddam Hussein’s scud missiles. He remains a key adviser on the Middle East and an outspoken figure on the public stage, raising the alarm of nuclear weapon development in North Korea and Iran, as well as concerns over waning U.S. relations with Israel.

Throughout his career of public service, Mr. Eagleburger has demonstrated a remarkable fortitude in the face of adversity. While second secretary in the American embassy’s economics section in Yugoslavia in the early 1960s, he directed a massive relief effort following the ravaging earthquake in Macedonia, almost single-handedly arranging for the construction of an army field hospital. As Deputy Secretary under James Baker during the Gulf War, he negotiated Israel’s measured response to Iraqi aggression. After joining the Bush administration, he was one of the envoys sent to China after the Tiananmen Square massacre to help restore relations with the rulers in Beijing.

Tapped to be the personal aide to Henry Kissinger early in his career, Mr. Eagleburger went on to serve four U.S. Presidents. His propensity for direct and honest responses to sticky problems have earned him the respect of key legislators in Washington and leaders around the world. In his recent assignment as Chairman of the International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims, he oversaw the distribution of more than $300 million in awards to more than 48,000 Holocaust survivors and their heirs.

In recognition of his extraordinary talents directed in service to our nation, we hereby present to Lawrence Eagleburger the honorary degree, doctor of laws.

Mitchell Reiss

President

February 25, 2011

AMBASSADOR EAGLEBURGER’S REMARKS

Upon receiving the honorary degree, doctor of laws, at Washington College Convocation February 25, 2011.

When I first was told that I was going to get this degree, I started writing my remarks about a month and a half ago, then threw them away. And now that I am here and have seen this college, talked to students, and so forth, the word that runs through my head is “fortunate,” or “lucky.”

Every student in this place is fortunate to be in one of the most remarkable colleges I have ever seen, and one of the most remarkable colleges in this country. It has demonstrated something I have believed many, many years: That education at the college level is far best received in a small college, not one of these huge factories that are now so prevalent in the American educational system—our national disgrace in terms of our educational system. I say to all of you (students, faculty, alumni, Mr. President) that you are fortunate to be associated with this institution.

I want to make a few remarks based on what I’ve learned in the last 48 hours:
First of all, your president is very much open to this faculty, the students, and the employees of this institution. I learned that, for instance, yesterday from a young woman who works here. She said, “You can tell the president for me, I want more money.” [laughter].

In addition, this is a very open institution. You’ll notice, if you’ll look at your program, we are all, after this, supposed to go to a room and disrobe [laughter].

When I was coming here, I thought “Well, I’m supposed to meet with students, and since the students that I met with in the past (most places) have hissed, have yelled, and told me I was full of it, I thought I would receive the same. So I was very cautious about what I was going to say and I sort of expected that my reception would probably be similar to that of the governor of Wisconsin appearing before the AFL-CIO convention somewhere [laughter]. It has not been like that. The students here have been very polite, very decent, I haven’t heard one hiss so far. Maybe I’ll get out of here tonight without one [laughter]. But once again, “fortunate” and “lucky” occur in everything I’ve seen here, and I want to say something specific about that.

I’m in a kind of a paradox with my honorary degree, “Doctor of Laws,” because I tried for a year and a half, two years, to get through law school and never was able to do so [laughter]. I’m now very pleased you’ve short-circuited that for me. It’s only that I had to be 80 years of age before I got it, that’s all [laughter].

And then finally, there’s one other thing (no joking here at all), one of the things that I wanted to say about this school that I’ve learned is that it has set aside some scholarships and some assistance for G.I.s who come back from serving their country. And I cannot tell you, how much I think that expresses, for me and I hope for all of you, for the American people in general, our gratitude for people who have gone off, risked their lives (many times lost their lives), in defense of this country of ours. God bless you for doing what you’re doing for them.

So, with all of that and looking forward to disrobing [laughter], I will leave you now with only this remark, one more time: You cannot know, all of you, how lucky you are to be associated with this educational institution, when most of us are surrounded by educational factories of 15 to 25 thousand students, and this small college here produces better graduates and cares more about the country they serve than anything I have seen anywhere else.

Congratulations to all of you.