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American International Club
In reviewing the list of some of your previous speakers, I noticed that former President George H.W. Bush, Elizabeth Dole, Haley Barbour, and William F. Buckley were among them – and I want to say how very honored I am to be included in such esteemed company. I understand that your executive director, Pierre Imfeld, is retiring after 30 successful years. In fact, this is his last official event and so I want to thank him, and wish him Godspeed. I also want to thank our DCM, PAC, DPAC, and one of our interns for joining us. One of the jobs of an ambassador is to surround yourself with smart, capable people – and I am fortunate to have done so with Judy, Brooks, Magda and Emily. I also did so at the altar. I am pleased that Rhonda is here as well. We’ve made Geneva our home for some five and a half months, and thank everyone for your warm reception. I’m glad to have the opportunity to tell you a little about myself, the road that brought me to Geneva, and about our goals and the work we are doing here on behalf of the American people. I was born in Texas, one of four children – I have two brothers and one sister – attended school there. At 18, went to college at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, majored in business, met my wife Rhonda there, we married in Los Angeles a few years later – and a few years after that, we welcomed the arrival of our son, Warren II. I spent the early years of my career in Spanish-language media in the U.S. My family’s business went on to become the largest Spanish-language radio owner/operator in the country. Throughout school and into my business life I’d always been interested in history, government, politics, affairs of state, but never known anyone in it or how to get involved. While still in the private sector, I remember sitting at my desk, in the early 90’s reading the newspaper about then President Bush 41, the President’s father, and Secretary of State James A. Baker III. Admiring their public service, wondering what they knew that I didn’t know and now, just 14 years later, I'm proud to consider both of them friends and people I look up to who have been very generous to me with their time and insights. “If I have been able to see further, it is because I’ve stood on the shoulders of giants.” Isaac Newton said that – I’ve spoken of several giants in my life and will speak of a few more. One of them, certainly, was my grandfather. His favorite verse in the Bible was Mathew 7:7, “Ask and it shall be given to you; seek and you shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you.” As I look back over my life and career thus far, I see how this verse not only inspired and animated my grandfather in his life, it too has inspired me in mine. And now let me tell you how my road to Geneva began. In the summer of 1997 I saw an advertisement for a cruise to Alaska, sponsored by the National Review magazine, with a list of likely guests that included some of the leading luminaries in the world of ideas and politics: William F. Buckley, founder of the National Review, Nobel prize winning economist Milton Friedman, who sadly recently left us, among others. Rhonda had always dreamt of visiting Alaska, so when I saw the advertisement, I did what any good husband would do: I signed us up not knowing entirely what awaited us. And as it turned out, the journey would change the course of our lives. Alaska was every bit as magical as we’d imagined with its crystal glaciers. It was very inspiring to see our national symbol, the bald eagle, soaring in the wild. It was on board the cruise that I met, one of America’s leading political figures, then and now, Haley Barbour. Haley Barbour was at the time the immediate former Chairman of the Republican National Committee, one of the most influential political leaders in the country, and today serves as the distinguished governor of the great state of Mississippi. Fortuitously, we had the occasion to speak that very first evening out to sea. He asked what I was doing there, and with my grandfather’s words echoing in the back of my mind, I told him this: “I came on this cruise to meet you. America has been very good to me and to my family. I don’t need anything. I think I have some good ideas that could be helpful. Would you help me?” I must have struck a chord with him as he graciously said: “come and see me the next time you’re in Washington” (as if I went there all the time!) The truth is: the last time I had been in Washington was in the 8th grade! But I made a point to get there in very short order. In preparing for the meeting I was somewhat apprehensive, as you might imagine. I wanted to be at my best because my best was needed. Fortunately, the meeting went well because at the conclusion, in his inimitable Southern accent he said, “I will help you. I’ll call Karl, he’s the Governor’s guy.” This was on a Friday afternoon. At 8:30 Monday morning my phone rang. It was Karl Rove on the other end of the line. He said, “Haley Barbour says you have some good ideas, and that you are someone we need to meet. How soon can you get up to Austin?” I said “Give me 90 minutes.” And five minutes later I was on my way to Austin. Soon there after I met, for the first time, then Governor Bush – at the Governor’s Mansion – who was about to launch his run for a second term as Governor of Texas. It was a bright, sunny day in the fall of 1997. I still remember that meeting very vividly. Governor Bush knew what I knew, that winning the Hispanic vote in Texas was key, and that doing so, would be an asset in his likely run for the White House in 2000. Fortunately, he liked my ideas and put me in charge of putting them into action. Some made history, others burnished former glories. Fortunately, all ultimately worked out well. Governor Bush was, of course, reelected in a landslide, on November 3, 1998, as the first Republican governor of Texas, since Reconstruction, to be elected to a second consecutive term, earning 49% of the Hispanic vote along the way. As a result of that success, a few months later, my family and I moved to Austin and became one of the first to join Governor Bush’s still unannounced 2000 presidential run, serving as Director of the Hispanic Campaign. In 2000, the President earned the largest percentage of Hispanic votes ever by a Republican candidate for president. From election day to a lot of stops along the way, through the President’s Inauguration on 20 January, 2005, we have been together ever since. It was in February 2005 that I was invited to the White House where a senior advisor to the President told me that the President had in mind a position in the administration that he’d like me to consider. I said that if this is what the President wanted, then my answer was ‘yes’. For almost a year, I worked judiciously to prepare myself in a round of meetings with former Secretaries of State Henry Kissinger, George Schultz, and James A. Baker III, and a number of former ambassadors. I also had extensive consultations at the White House, with the Department of State, Commerce, Treasury and the Pentagon. These all prepared me for my confirmation hearing on 28 March, 2006, before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. I don’t know how many of you have appeared before a Senate hearing, but for those of you who haven’t, let me assure you that it can be a humbling experience! On 26 May, 2006, I was again humbled and honored to learn that the full Senate confirmed my nomination by unanimous consent. Some two weeks later, 12 June, 2006, I took the oath of office in the Ben Franklin Room at the Department of State as the 17th United States Ambassador to the United Nations and other International Organizations in Geneva. I spoke Ben Franklin’s words saying “I now take up a resolution to do for the future all that lies in my way for the service of my countrymen.” The day had come to translate words and good intentions into political realities. Soon thereafter we arrived in Geneva to begin the work that the President had sent me to complete. I am often asked what is it like to be the United States Ambassador. With a tip of the hat to Winston Churchill, my answer is always the same. It is a great honor, opportunity and responsibility, all at the same time. An honor to be chosen by the President to serve as his personal representative; an opportunity to lead a group of talented people in shaping the events of our times; and a great responsibility as you are responsible for your people as well as the overall conduct of U.S. policy at the U.N. and specialized agencies here. It has got to be one of the greatest jobs in the world as you’re more than a U.S. Ambassador to one country – in a sense you have the privilege of serving as the U.S. Ambassador to the world. I am, after all, the standard bearer of the world’s leading democracy. The pressures are sometimes tremendous, the responsibility is great – and I like to think, I can meet it. There are, it seems to me, four distinct roles as U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. The Ambassador is the President’s personal representative, the public face and voice of the United States overseas. The Ambassador is also a strategist, setting goals and leading efforts to achieve them. The Ambassador is also a sort of small town mayor of a 250-strong mission community here in Geneva – giving voice and support to the victories, setbacks, enthusiasms, pains, births and deaths that attend any significant grouping of people. And importantly, the Ambassador is a steward of personnel and U.S. taxpayer resources with a solemn responsibility to insure that these resources are effectively and efficiently used to advance U.S. interests and goals. To give you a feel for the broad range of activities I’ve been involved in as Ambassador, here’s a recap of a recent one month period. I had a one-on-one meeting in the Oval Office with President Bush. Earlier in the week, I’d met in Houston with former Secretary of State James A. Baker III – back in Geneva – I cast the U.S. vote to confirm the new Director General of the WHO; celebrated the Marine Corps birthday anniversary with our own Marine Security Guard Detachment; spoke on behalf of the American people at the UN on the questions of war and peace in the Middle East; and had the privilege of welcoming former President Bush 41 – the President’s father – to Geneva. And all that in a one month period! Turning now to the UN, President Bush and I share a belief that our interests are advanced by a robust partnership within the UN system. That is why we are working with our friends and allies in search of a more secure, democratic and prosperous world. As President Bush said, on United Nations day last year, “Sixty years ago, the United Nations was created to spread hope, liberty, fight poverty and disease, and help secure human rights and human dignity for people everywhere… we recommit ourselves to the ideals on which this organization was founded.” These are the President’s goals, and so are they mine. Now I’d like to tell you about some of what we are doing at the US Mission. We’re dealing with people’s hopes and dreams, fears and concerns, the issues of life and death, war and peace, human rights, health and disease, safety and security, prosperity and the instruments that protect it, refugees and human suffering – we do this in partnership with the UN system with a number of specialized and UN agencies from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to the Red Cross, to the WHO, and to many, many more – let me give you some concrete examples: Human rights are an essential part of our nation’s founding, character, identity and purpose. Indeed, the United States has been at the vanguard of human rights promotion and protection – both at home and around the globe – since our founding as a nation to the founding of the UN, and this remains the calling of our time. Our work in the Human Rights Council has included the human rights situations in many regions of the world, and we are soon to take up the grave situation in Darfur. While the Human Rights Council has not yet lived up to its initial promise, I can assure you that the United States will remain a leader in constructive engagement in order to give voice to the victims of the most egregious human rights situations around the world. HIV/AIDS remains a global health challenge to save lives, a crisis affecting many of our families and neighbors. America leads the world in the fight against HIV/AIDS. This fight is marked with compassion and decisive action like continuing as the largest donor to the Global Fund for AIDS and the new Partners Initiative. We are also actively engaged in the global efforts against the avian flu, the H5N1 virus. Most recently, we announced a $10 million contribution to the World Health Organization to support the development and manufacturing of the flu vaccine in other countries. We’re also leading international efforts to save lives with our tsunami detection device programs through scientific cooperation under the stewardship of the World Meteorological Organization. This we are doing and more. It is more than just financially that we are supporting these initiatives. We are also supporting them with human energy, expertise, scientific knowledge, and deep compassion as we stand with our friends and allies around the world to address, and overcome these common challenges. In my acceptance speech I said, it seems to me that, in the final judgment of history, the mission of a United States Ambassador in this new century will be judged on these four questions: 1. Have the vital interests of the United States been protected…and
advanced? These remain the challenges ahead, these are the objectives that we are working towards – I will rest on them, whenever I’m through. As we continue the quest, along with our friends and allies, in pursuit of a more secure, democratic, and prosperous world, the light from that fire can truly light the world, and to that high goal there can be no end – save victory. Thank you all.
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