Notable deaths: Military and government

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Wednesday, December 28th. Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Mary Reichard.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. Coming next on The World and Everything in It: remembering those who died in 2022.

Today, government leaders, military veterans, and politicians who passed away—people like Queen Elizabeth II, or the World War II pilot Gail Halvorsen who during the Berlin airlift dropped candy for children from his plane.

Also former Solicitor General Kenneth Starr, whose independent counsel investigation led to the impeachment of President Bill Clinton.

REICHARD: Here now is WORLD’s Paul Butler.

PAUL BUTLER, REPORTER: Former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright died in March at age 84. She was the first woman to serve in that role. As secretary of state under President Clinton, Albright believed in using military force to pressure authoritarian governments. She urged NATO to bomb Yugoslavia. And she pushed for strict financial and trade embargoes against Iraq, despite humanitarian concerns.

60 Minutes’ Ed Bradley interviewed Albright in 1997:

BRADLEY: You certainly weren't the typical diplomat at the United Nations. You were known for being outspoken. Some even said that you were times undiplomatic…

ALBRIGHT: Rather than feeling that it is wrong to interfere. I always believe that if you can stop something early, and you can show the support of free countries for those who are under totalitarianism, then it's worth doing. That's my mindset. The only plan I ever had was to make a difference as hokey as that might sound…

Next, Republican Senator Orrin Hatch also died in March. He was 88 years old. Hatch represented Utah from 1977 to 2019. Only one US Senator has served longer. During his time in the Senate, Hatch held many significant leadership positions, including chair of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and chair of the Senate Finance Committee. Here’s a portion of his farewell address.

HATCH: Having served as a Senator for nearly 42 years, I can tell you this particular thing, things weren't always as they are now. I was here when this body was at its best. I was here when the regular order was the norm. When legislation was debated in committee, and when members work constructively, with one another for the good of the country. I was here when we could say without any hint of irony, that we were members of the world's greatest deliberative body. The bar of decency has been set so low that jumping over it is no longer the objective. Limbo is the new name of the game. How low can you go? The answer it seems is always lower. All the evidence points to an unsettling truth. The Senate as an institution is in crisis, or at least may be in crisis. Mr. President, this is the last request I will ever make from this lectern. That as a Senate and as a nation. We listen to our better angels, that we will restore civility to the public discourse, that we embrace wholeheartedly the principles of pluralism and that we strive for unity by rejecting the rhetoric of division.

Heading across the pond, David Trimble died in July. He was 77. Trimble was a key architect of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement—that ended 30 years of violent conflict in Northern Ireland known as “The Troubles.” Trimble was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize in 1998. 10 years later, Sir David Frost interviewed Trimble for his Al Jazeera English program:

FROST: Do you think there are any lessons from these negotiations, that would, for instance, be instructive, constructive for Israel and Palestine?

TRIMBLE: I'm reluctant to say that there are lessons because each situation has got its own history, its own dynamic, its own particular issues. I think people might gain some insights by looking at what has happened. I certainly gained insights from looking at other situations. But at the end of the day, it is the people in each situation who have to solve it for themselves. And it's not something that I or anybody else from outside can really come in and say, you know, this is what you should do. One can offer encouragement and support, but at the end of the day, it is the people there who have to do it. And the really crucial issue, I think, is are the people they're willing to make an accommodation with the other? Or are they trying to achieve a victory over the other? If they're still trying to achieve victories over the other, then clearly, there can't be an agreement. But if they're prepared to accept the reality that they're going to have to live together and find a way of working together, then you've taken the first huge step towards a solution.

Next, former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev died in August at age 91. During his seven years as general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Gorbachev brought new freedoms to the Soviet republics, and in the end led to the demise of the USSR. He spoke with Larry King in 1993—just two years after stepping down as President:

LARRY KING: Was it difficult to open doors to the United States? Because you had to be raised with feelings about the United States like we were raised with feelings about the Soviets?

GORBACHEV: Very difficult. I think maybe that was the hardest thing. And trying to understand the positions of each other and studying each other. If we had not believed each other, if we had not established human rapport, then we wouldn't have been able, I think, to develop real cooperation to real work together. It was hard. When President Reagan and I first began to talk, we were together just like you and I, today, at a small table and President Reagan began to accuse me, you know, human rights violations. He said, You have no democracy. He said, You need to make these changes in foreign policies and these changes, etc, etc. And my answer when our dialogue began to go that way, was, Mr. President, you are not a prosecutor and I'm not an accused. Let us not lecture each other. We represent big countries. Let us speak as equals. I think that then we will be able to find keys to any problem.

Finally today, Michael Gerson died in November at age 58. He was an evangelical columnist and speechwriter for President George W. Bush from 1999 to 2006. He was behind some of the President’s most memorable phrases—including “armies of compassion” and “axis of evil.” In 2019 Gerson preached a sermon at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. where he spoke of his life-long struggle with depression and the hope of the gospel.

GERSON: Let me turn to a earlier happier part of my journals from May 2nd, 2002. It's probably been a month, I wrote, since some prompting of God led me to a more disciplined Christian life. One afternoon I was at the Cathedral, the place I feel most secure in the world. I saw the beautiful sculpture in the bishop's garden of the prodigal son melting into his father's arms, and the inscription how he fell on his neck and kissed him. I felt tears and calm, like something important had happened to me. And in me. My goals, I wrote, are pretty clear. I want to stop thinking about myself all the time. I want to be a mature disciple of Jesus, not a casual believer, I want to be God's man. I have failed at these goals in a disturbing variety of ways. And I have more doubts than I did on that day. Faith thankfully does not preclude doubt. It consists of staking your life on the rumor of grace.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Paul Butler.

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