Philip Habib
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Philip Charles Habib (February 25, 1920–May 25, 1992) was an American career diplomat known for work in Vietnam and the Middle East. The New York Times in observing his passing described him as "the outstanding professional diplomat of his generation in the United States".
Habib was born in Brooklyn and raised there in section of the borough known as Bensonhurst, by Lebanese Maronite Christian parents. He worked as a shipping clerk before starting his undergraduate study at the College of Forestry and Wildlife and Range Sciences at the University of Idaho. After graduating in 1942, he served in the Army until 1946 and attained the rank of captain. He continued his education in an agricultural economics Ph.D. program at University of California, Berkeley, graduating in 1952. There he happened across a flyer advertising the State Department entrance exam, which he sat and passed.
Beginning in 1949, his foreign service career took him to Canada, New Zealand, South Korea, and South Vietnam. He held the State Dept. position of Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs from 1967-1969 and was part of the Vietnamese peace talk delegation in 1968. Habib acquired increasingly important posts, serving as Ambassador to South Korea (1971-1974), Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs (1974-1976), and Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs (1976-1978). He retired after suffering a second heart attack but soon returned back in 1979 as a special advisor and in 1981 as a special envoy sent to defuse the conflict in Lebanon by Ronald Reagan. Habib negotiated a peace that lasted temporarily and for his efforts was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1982. In March 1986, Reagan appointed Habib as a special envoy to Central America with the intention of resolving the conflict in Nicaragua. Five months later he quit the job.
While on vacation in Puligny-Montrachet, France, Habib suffered a heart attack and died.
In 2006, Habib will be featured on a United States postage stamp, one of a block of four featuring prominent diplomats [link].
Warren Zevon wrote the song "The Envoy" in honor of Habib.
References
- Molotsky, Irvin. (May 28, 1981). "Man in the News; Tireless Trouble-Shooter for the U.S.". The New York Times, p. 3.
- Manegold, Catherine S. (May 27, 1992). "Philip C. Habib, a Leading U.S. Diplomat, Dies at 72". The New York Times, p. 21.
- "Habib Remembered As a Blunt Diplomat Who Defied Cliches". (June 11, 1992). New York Times, p. 22.
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