I was pleased to find in the April 2021 issue of the PAW appropriate portraits of two of our outstanding alumni from the mid-20th century, George P. Shultz ’42 and James A. Baker III ’52. These men reflect an era in which Princeton in the Nation’s Service was not only an established and valued concept, but also a substantial reality, particularly with regard to America’s role as leader in the world community.
These alumni followed in the hallowed tradition of President Woodrow Wilson 1879; George Kennan 1925, Cold War strategist for the Truman administration; and John Foster Dulles 1908, secretary of state during the Eisenhower administration (1953–59) and a legendary figure in the forging of America’s leadership role in the uncertainty that followed World War II. Shultz, secretary of state during the Reagan administration (1982–89), participated in the path to triumph of American power over the “evil empire” of the Soviet Union. Baker, secretary of state for the George H. W. Bush administration (1989–93), established policy and process for America in its new role as sole surviving world superpower.
Additionally, Baker has been saluted by William Burns, current CIA director, as a consummate diplomat and one of the most masterful American foreign policy negotiators in recent history (The Back Channel, Random House, 2019).
Younger alumni and current students should be aware of the prominent roles that Princetonians in previous decades have played for our nation on the world stage, particularly during times when America was in the process of achieving hegemony in world affairs.