Pickering's time as United States Ambassador to El Salvador was particularly eventful. Only a year after having been appointed ambassador in 1984, Pickering was the subject of assassination threats from right-wing Salvadoran politicians.[8] The same year, Republican Senator Jesse Helms of North Carolina urged that Pickering be dismissed, arguing that he helped manipulate the country's elections.[10] In both cases, President Ronald Reagan offered Pickering his full support and he secured him a job as United States Ambassador to Israel after his appointment in El Salvador. It was later noted when Pickering was nominated as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations that he played a minor role in the Iran–Contra affair while Ambassador to El Salvador.[11]
As Ambassador to Israel, Pickering led the United States' criticism of an Israeli policy that expelled Palestinians accused of instilling uprising.[12] Pickering stressed to Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir that the United States considered the actions illegal and unhelpful for peace efforts.[13]
In December 1994, while serving as U.S. Ambassador to Russia, he wrote that "hostility to early NATO expansion is almost universally felt across the domestic political spectrum here."[18] Although the quote would erroneously be described as coming from William J. Burns,[19][20][21] who was serving as counselor for political affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow at the time, Burns did not claim ownership of the cable, only saying, in his memoir, that "we reported [it] just after the Budapest outburst."[22]
Following the resignation of Secretary of State Warren Christopher in 1996, Pickering was reportedly a top contender for the post, but was ultimately passed over in favor of then-UN Ambassador Madeleine Albright.[23]
From 1997 to 2001, Pickering served as Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, the number-three position at the State Department. When Albright appointed him to the post, Time magazine declared him the "five star general of the diplomatic corps".[24] In 1998, he was a special envoy to Nigeria and was meeting with imprisoned leader M. K. O. Abiola on the day of his release. In a BBC interview made at the time, Pickering recounted how during the meeting Abiola became ill, and died soon after.[25]
After the State Department
Following his retirement from the Foreign Service in 2001, Pickering served as Senior Vice President for International Relations at Boeing until 2006. Currently[when?], he is serving as an independent board member at the world's biggest pipe company, OAO TMK, in Moscow. At present[when?], he is affiliated with the International Crisis Group and currently serves as its Co-Chair,[26] and oversees their international actions as co-chair. In addition, he is Chairman of the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress, Chairman of the Board of Advisers of the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy,[27] Chairman of the American Academy of Diplomacy, Chairman of the Rostropovich-Vishnevskaya Foundation,[28] and a member of the Board of Advisors of the National Bureau of Asian Research and the Global Panel Foundation based in Berlin, Prague and Sydney.[29]
SecretaryCondoleezza Rice with (left to right): Tom Pickering, John Engler and John Breaux at the presentation of Final Report of the Secretary's Advisory Committee on Transformational Diplomacy
Pickering also serves as Co-Chairman of the International Economic Alliance (IEA),[35] where he actively hosts and partakes in international forums attended by notable corporate leaders, ambassadors, and senior government officials from member nations of the Alliance.
Pickering is a member of the Global Leadership Foundation, an organization that works to support democratic leadership, prevent and resolve conflict through mediation, and promote good governance. He is also a board member of the National Iranian American Council (NIAC).[36]
In 2014, Pickering gave the keynote speech at the Student Conference on U.S. Affairs at West Point, New York, addressing the unique challenges that disaster preparedness poses to United States foreign policy planning.[38]
Personal life
Pickering lives in Fairfax County, Virginia. His wife, the former Alice Jean Stover, whom he married in 1955, died in 2011. The couple had two children, Timothy and Margaret.[39]
Pickering is fluent in French, Spanish, and Swahili, and has a working knowledge of Russian, Hebrew, and Arabic.[40]
In May 2015, Pickering received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Brandeis University. He addressed the graduates as the commencement speaker.[41]
References
^"About Rutherford High School". Rutherford High School. Archived from the original on October 20, 2007. Retrieved July 7, 2007. Career diplomat and ambassador Thomas H. Pickering and presidential speechwriter Peggy Noonan are among those honored as part of this tradition.