Robert Zoellick American Foreign Service Association

Remarks at the American Foreign Service Association Annual Awards Ceremony

Robert Zoellick, Deputy Secretary of State, Benjamin Franklin Room
Washington, DC, June 21, 2005. (4:30 p.m. EDT)

DEPUTY SECRETARY ZOELLICK: Well first, let me thank AFSA and everyone at the State Department for the process of these awards and taking a moment out of what I know are very busy days to stop and recognize some very important achievements because all the people at the State Department do something very important: They represent the United States in every corner of the globe. And so whether it's actions with communities, whether it's actions with families in the post, whether it's offering dissent, whether constructive or not, makes it lively. You know, I think it's a very important aspect of what the State Department is about. And it's so easy amidst everything that people are doing and the hustle and bustle not to pause and to stop and thank and to recognize good performance, so let me just start again by offering, on behalf of the Secretary, a round of applause for all the people that have won these awards. (Applause.) So thank you.

It's a particular honor for me to be here today because of the next award winner is someone who started his public service career very, very early. So even though I feel I'm getting up a little bit in age now, he's someone who I've watched from the very start with a lot of admiration and respect. Senator Lugar, as probably most of you know, actually started as a young Naval officer, shortly after being a Rhodes Scholar, working for a very important CNO, as I recall, and that started a pattern of his service, which has been a combination of, I think, the best that America has to offer. He still has a farm. He's still got very much his "Midwestern roots," as we say, being from -- a neighbor of Illinois. He was a very, very successful mayor in Indianapolis, had some achievements not only in his tenure but structurally for Indianapolis that have set a model for many others. And, obviously, he's served in the Senate since 1976.

Now, in the Senate as well, he's mixed a number of different careers together. All of you obviously know about the critical role and interests that he's had in foreign policy. He's also been a key player in the world of agriculture, being Chairman of the Agricultural Committee and, frankly, where foreign policy and agricultural policy come together, trying to promote some free trade in agriculture, some better farming practices. And it's a dimension that I've actually had the opportunity to talk about Senator Lugar many, many times overseas because many people, as all of you know, when they think about the United States, they tend to think the international sort of corners of the country tend to be more on the coasts, and I've had to put out, actually, if you look at some of the great internationalists and people who are really pushing our agenda, they're often from the Midwest. And Senator Lugar is the model of the models. And that's in part because there's a view, particularly from the American agriculture community about connecting with the world, we have to keep pushing that and promoting that. So it's wonderful for me to have had a long friendship and association with someone who understands the need to connect our domestic and international policies in so many different ways.

Senator Lugar, obviously, has had a very strong interest in foreign affairs and foreign relations, but he's also been able to combine diplomatic missions. I remember one in the Reagan Administration, a critical one he did in the case of the Philippines. There's been others that he's been asked to do and I'm sure will be asked to do -- some even discussed today.

But also, he's combined that with something very valuable, which is working across the aisle to reach out to set some major policy decisions through the legislative process in his own very constructive way, the most notable one being Nunn-Lugar and its evolutions in terms of how we deal with proliferation at the end of the Cold War.

Another sort of personal sense, I've attended a number of meetings with Senator Lugar over the years overseas and one area in which we all have a form of thanks is that he is somebody who on so many occasions, when people overseas are interested to know how the Congress thinks about our foreign policy and whether the Congress has an interest in our foreign policy, has been ready to go, to talk, to engage with people, to try to explain some of the domestic aspects of foreign policy and to listen, which is a very important dimension of what we need to try to do abroad.

So, frankly, you picked the very best person I can imagine for this. It's my good fortune and honor to be part of the association of presenting the award. And as I think about Senator Lugar's role going forward, I want to add one other dimension, which I've seen in my professional career and I've seen with many others around Washington.

Because he's somebody that cares a lot about our country and cares about foreign policy, he also cares about the people that help develop it, and that's one of the reasons he's been a strong supporter of the State Department, strong supporter of the Foreign Service. There's people all around Washington in different capacities that have benefited from his mentorship and attention and basic human decency. So, in addition to being someone who's got a good policy view and is good at execution, and as we all know, there are sometimes people are good at that but maybe not so good at watching out for others. He's a person that combines all those.

So it's my great honor, Senator, to have a chance to be able to present this to you.

(Applause.)

2005/643 Released on June 21, 2005 more at American Foreign Service Association or Robert Zoellick