Warren Christopher Biography Quotes 32 Report mistakes

Early Life and Education
Warren Minor Christopher was born on October 27, 1925, in Scranton, North Dakota. Raised on the northern plains during the hardships of the Depression, he developed a reserve and discipline that would later define his public service. After service in the U.S. Naval Reserve during World War II, he attended Stanford University, completing his undergraduate studies and then earning a law degree from Stanford Law School. His legal promise was recognized early; he clerked for Justice William O. Douglas on the U.S. Supreme Court, an experience that honed the precise, careful style for which he became known.

Early Legal Career and Government Service
Christopher built a distinguished career in Los Angeles with the law firm O'Melveny & Myers, becoming one of the most respected attorneys in the country. He entered national service in the 1960s, joining the Department of Justice and serving as Deputy Attorney General under President Lyndon B. Johnson and Attorney General Ramsey Clark. In that turbulent era, he earned a reputation for calm judgment and integrity, handling sensitive issues with a lawyer's care for process and the rule of law. His measured approach and bipartisan credibility would become hallmarks of his public life.

Deputy Secretary of State under President Carter
In 1977, President Jimmy Carter appointed Christopher Deputy Secretary of State, working closely with Secretary of State Cyrus Vance and later with Edmund Muskie. He became an architect of the administration's human rights emphasis and a central manager of complex diplomatic transitions and crises. He helped steer the implementation of significant changes in U.S. policy toward China and Taiwan as Washington normalized relations with Beijing. During the Iran hostage crisis, Christopher led the day-to-day interagency effort that culminated in the Algiers Accords and the release of the American hostages on January 20, 1981. For his service, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, reflecting the esteem in which Carter and others held his steady leadership.

Private Practice and Public Commissions
After leaving office in 1981, Christopher returned to O'Melveny & Myers as a senior partner, where his counsel was sought on major corporate and public matters. He also undertook civic responsibilities. In 1991, following the beating of Rodney King, Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley appointed him to chair the Independent Commission on the Los Angeles Police Department, widely known as the Christopher Commission. Its report documented patterns of misconduct and recommended reforms that reshaped oversight of the department, contributing to the eventual transition from the leadership of Chief Daryl Gates and to broader changes in urban policing. Christopher's evenhanded, evidence-based methods gave the commission's findings unusual moral and practical force.

Path to the State Department
In 1992, Christopher played a key role during the presidential transition after Governor Bill Clinton's election, helping build the new administration's national security team. His reputation for discretion and managerial discipline, combined with decades of legal and diplomatic experience, made him a natural choice for the role that followed. In early 1993, President Clinton nominated him to serve as the 63rd U.S. Secretary of State, where he worked alongside national security advisers Anthony Lake and later Samuel "Sandy" Berger, Deputy Secretary Strobe Talbott, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Madeleine Albright, and envoys such as Richard Holbrooke.

Secretary of State in the Clinton Administration
As Secretary of State from 1993 to 1997, Christopher faced a rapidly changing post, Cold War world. He pursued a strategy of careful engagement, balancing new opportunities with the risks of ethnic conflict and nuclear proliferation. In the Balkans, he supported a progressively stronger NATO role that, combined with Holbrooke's negotiations and the leadership of President Clinton, led to the 1995 Dayton Accords with Slobodan Milosevic, Franjo Tudjman, and Alija Izetbegovic. In the Middle East, he advanced U.S. efforts after the Oslo breakthrough, working with Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres, Yasser Arafat, and King Hussein. He witnessed the 1994 Israel-Jordan peace treaty and repeatedly shuttled to Damascus to seek progress with Hafez al-Assad, embodying the patient, incremental diplomacy he favored.

Christopher also managed delicate negotiations on the Korean Peninsula. The 1994 Agreed Framework, negotiated by Robert Gallucci and facilitated by a climate opened in part by Jimmy Carter's private mission to Pyongyang, froze North Korea's plutonium program for a time and exemplified his pragmatic approach to containment and dialogue. In the Western Hemisphere, he helped orchestrate a multilateral effort that restored Haiti's elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, through a combination of diplomacy and credible force, with key roles played by Carter, General Colin Powell, and Senator Sam Nunn. He worked to redefine relations with a reforming Russia under Boris Yeltsin, shaping the Partnership for Peace and preparing the ground for NATO's later enlargement. His tenure also faced criticism for the international community's failure to prevent the genocide in Rwanda and the initial slowness in confronting aggression in Bosnia, episodes that tested the limits of incremental diplomacy.

Style, Method, and Influence
Christopher's style was famously quiet, deliberate, and exacting. He drafted his cables and speeches with a lawyer's precision, a trait evident in his addresses collected in "In the Stream of History". He saw diplomacy as sustained engagement rather than headline-making breakthroughs, and he valued alliances and institutional process. Those who worked with him, from Strobe Talbott to Madeleine Albright and Anthony Lake, often noted his courtesy and his unflappable demeanor, even amid contentious debates. His steadiness helped a young administration navigate crises while laying frameworks that successors could develop. He was not a showman; he measured success by durable agreements and the preservation of U.S. credibility.

Return to Private Life and Writing
Leaving office in 1997, Christopher returned to O'Melveny & Myers and devoted time to teaching, public lectures, and writing. His memoir, "Chances of a Lifetime", reflected on legal practice, public service, and the ethics of decision-making. He remained a mentor to lawyers, diplomats, and students, emphasizing preparation, humility, and the importance of listening. He continued to be consulted on institutional reforms and foreign policy questions, lending his experience to discussions on rule of law, police accountability, and the conduct of American diplomacy in an era of rapid change.

Legacy
Warren Christopher died on March 18, 2011, in Los Angeles, closing a career that spanned the Supreme Court, the Department of Justice, and two pivotal periods at the State Department. Across decades, he served presidents Lyndon B. Johnson, Jimmy Carter, and Bill Clinton, and worked closely with figures such as Cyrus Vance, Edmund Muskie, Richard Holbrooke, and Strobe Talbott. He will be remembered for the release of the Iran hostages, the Christopher Commission's blueprint for police reform, the architecture of U.S. engagement in the post, Cold War world, and his role in Middle East peacemaking and the Balkans. Above all, he modeled public service rooted in restraint, integrity, and respect for institutions, leaving a legacy of diplomacy that prizes patience, partnership, and the careful pursuit of the possible.

Our collection contains 32 quotes who is written by Warren, under the main topics: Witty One-Liners - Justice - Friendship - Learning - Freedom.