George P. Shultz Biography Quotes 6 Report mistakes

Early life and education
George Pratt Shultz was born on December 13, 1920, in New York City. Raised during the interwar years and the Great Depression, he developed an early interest in economics and public affairs. He studied at Princeton University, where he earned an A.B. in 1942 and was introduced to the rigorous blend of economics, public policy, and international relations that would frame his life's work. Soon after graduation he entered the United States Marine Corps and served in the Pacific Theater during World War II, an experience that grounded his later instinct for practical, disciplined leadership. After the war he pursued graduate study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, completing a Ph.D. in industrial economics in 1949.

Academic and early public service
Shultz joined the faculties of MIT and later the University of Chicago, becoming a central figure in the Chicago tradition of applied economics. At the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, he served as dean, working alongside leading economists such as Milton Friedman and George Stigler, who were reshaping debates about markets, regulation, and monetary policy. His academic work focused on labor markets and economic organization, but he also gained experience in Washington as a staff economist on the Council of Economic Advisers during the Eisenhower years, sharpening his view of how economic theory and public administration meet. The combination of scholarship and policy practice gave him a reputation for analytic clarity, managerial competence, and personal steadiness that drew the attention of future presidents.

Nixon administration: Labor, OMB, and Treasury
In 1969 Richard Nixon tapped Shultz to serve as Secretary of Labor. He brought a negotiator's patience to contentious disputes, pressing for practical labor-management solutions at a time of industrial unrest. Nixon next asked him to lead the newly created Office of Management and Budget, where Shultz became a pivotal manager of government-wide economic policy. In 1972 he assumed the post of Secretary of the Treasury. He confronted the breakdown of the Bretton Woods system, worked to normalize the transition toward more flexible exchange rates, and tried to wind down wage and price controls that had been imposed earlier in the decade. In those years he worked closely with Treasury officials such as Paul Volcker and interacted with Federal Reserve Chairman Arthur Burns as the administration navigated inflation and currency pressures. His tenure coincided with the broader foreign and domestic policy struggles of the Nixon years, but Shultz maintained a reputation for integrity and competence.

Private sector leadership at Bechtel
Leaving government in 1974, Shultz joined the Bechtel Group in San Francisco, eventually serving in senior executive roles. The move broadened his experience managing large, international enterprises and exposed him to the practicalities of global commerce and infrastructure. In the Bay Area he built extensive civic ties that later connected him to Stanford University and a long affiliation with the Hoover Institution. This period also allowed him to step back from the Washington spotlight while retaining a voice in national debates on economic policy and trade.

Secretary of State under Ronald Reagan
President Ronald Reagan appointed Shultz Secretary of State in 1982, succeeding Alexander Haig at a tense moment in Cold War diplomacy. Shultz's steadiness and respect for process helped him work with key colleagues across the administration, including Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger and several national security advisers such as Robert McFarlane, John Poindexter, and later Colin Powell. He opposed the clandestine arms-for-hostages initiative that grew into the Iran-Contra affair, aligning with Attorney General Edwin Meese in pressing for accountability while protecting the State Department's role in policy formation.

Shultz's hallmark achievement was the transformation of U.S.-Soviet relations. With Reagan's support he built a candid working relationship with Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze and supported Reagan's summit diplomacy with Mikhail Gorbachev. From Geneva in 1985 to Reykjavik in 1986 and through the Washington and Moscow summits, Shultz helped drive unprecedented arms control progress that culminated in the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. He married firmness about Western security with the insight that dialogue could accelerate change inside the Soviet system, and he kept human rights, including the emigration of Soviet Jews, on the agenda.

Shultz also managed a wide portfolio beyond Europe. He advocated a principled U.S. response to events in the Philippines, urging a break with Ferdinand Marcos and support for Corazon Aquino and democratic institutions during the People Power Revolution. In the Middle East he worked persistently, if often against long odds, to reduce tensions and encourage negotiations among Israel, its neighbors, and Arab partners such as Jordan. Across these theaters he favored personal diplomacy, methodical preparation, and incremental gains that could be locked in by formal agreements.

Later years, scholarship, and advocacy
After leaving office in 1989, Shultz remained a public voice of consequence. He served as a distinguished fellow at Stanford's Hoover Institution, mentoring scholars and practitioners, among them Condoleezza Rice, who later became National Security Adviser and Secretary of State. He published Turmoil and Triumph: My Years as Secretary of State, a detailed memoir of Cold War statecraft. With fellow senior statesmen Henry Kissinger, William Perry, and Sam Nunn, he advocated a long-term vision of reducing nuclear dangers and moving toward a world less reliant on nuclear weapons. He also championed market-based approaches to environmental policy, coauthoring work with James A. Baker III and others in support of carbon dividends as a conservative climate solution.

Shultz served on corporate and nonprofit boards, a late-career chapter that included membership on the board of Theranos. The company's collapse drew scrutiny to its governance; he initially defended its founder, Elizabeth Holmes, while his grandson Tyler Shultz raised concerns about the technology. The episode strained family ties before becoming a cautionary tale about oversight and scientific rigor, and Shultz later acknowledged the seriousness of the failings involved.

Personal life
Shultz's private life reflected loyalty and community as much as public service. He and his first wife raised a family during the years of academic and early government service. In 1997 he married Charlotte Mailliard Swig, a prominent San Francisco civic leader who served for decades as the city's chief of protocol. Their partnership anchored him on the West Coast even as he continued to advise leaders in Washington and abroad. He maintained close friendships across ideological lines, working productively with figures who had been both counterparts and colleagues, from James A. Baker III to former rivals in interagency debates.

Honors and legacy
In recognition of his service, Shultz received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1989. Yet his legacy rests less on accolades than on craft and character. He bridged the worlds of economics and diplomacy, bringing a manager's clarity to complex negotiations and a scholar's respect for evidence to public policy. He cultivated relationships with adversaries without abandoning core interests, exemplified in his work with Eduard Shevardnadze and Mikhail Gorbachev that helped unwind the nuclear-armed confrontation of the Cold War. He demonstrated, too, that officials could disagree openly within an administration, as he did during Iran-Contra, while still advancing a president's broader agenda.

Shultz lived to 100, dying on February 6, 2021, in California. By that time he had become a touchstone for generations of policymakers and students. From Princeton and the Marine Corps to Chicago and Washington, and finally to Stanford, he left an institutional imprint that endures in classrooms, diplomatic practice, and the ongoing effort to marry American principle with prudent statecraft. His example suggested that good policy is the outcome of discipline, dialogue, and courage, applied steadily over time and accountable to both facts and values.

Our collection contains 6 quotes who is written by George, under the main topics: Motivational - Leadership - Sarcastic - War - Work.