George Shultz, US Secretary of State under Ronald Reagan who helped to end the Cold War – obituary
He established a fruitful dialogue with Mikhail Gorbachev and his ‘Shultz doctrine’ of preventative war influenced George W Bush in Iraq
George Shultz at a press briefing in 1988
Credit: Arnie Sachs - CNP / DPA Picture Alliance
George Shultz, who has died aged 100, was American Secretary of State between 1982 and 1989 under President Ronald Reagan, and continued to wield an influence on foreign policy long after he retired.
Unfailingly polite and patient, Shultz helped to maintain the good name of the Reagan administration during the worst days of the Contra scandal and played a key role in the lowering of tensions between Washington and Moscow which ultimately helped to hasten an end to the Cold War – a strategy in which he often found himself at loggerheads with the more hawkish Secretary of Defence Caspar Weinberger. He also campaigned valiantly, though without conspicuous success, to bring peace to the Middle East, based on the premise that Israel should be prepared to make territorial concessions in exchange for security guarantees.