Bill Clinton, in a Rare Handwritten Letter as President, Writes His Chief Negotiator Reflecting on What Helped Him Most During the Peace Negotiations That Led to the Bosnian Peace Accords

“Press the President early” is a fascinating insight into how to maximize presidential involvement and effectiveness.

 

A search of public sale records shows that fewer than 10 ALSs as President reached that marketplace, and this the only one related to perhaps his most prominent foreign policy enterprise: resolving the sectarian conflicts in the former Yugoslavia

Richard Holbrooke became known to the wider public when, together with former Swedish prime minister Carl Bildt, he brokered a peace agreement among the warring factions in Bosnia that led to the signing of the Dayton Peace Accords in 1995.

When President Clinton sent Holbrooke to Bosnia as America’s chief negotiator in late 1995, he took a gamble that would eventually redefine his presidency. But there was no saying then, at the height of the Bosnian war, that Holbrooke’s mission would succeed. The odds were strongly against it. As passionate as he was controversial, Holbrooke believed that the only way to bring peace to the Balkans was through a complex blend of American leadership, aggressive and creative diplomacy, and a willingness to use force, if necessary, in the cause for peace. This was not a universally popular view. What George F. Kennan has called Holbrooke’s “heroic efforts” were shaped by the enormous tragedy with which the mission began, when three of his four team members were killed during their first attempt to reach Sarajevo. In Belgrade, Sarajevo, Zagreb, Paris, Athens, and Ankara, and throughout the dramatic roller-coaster ride at Dayton, he tirelessly imposed, cajoled, and threatened in the quest to stop the killing and forge a peace agreement. Holbrooke later a book on this subject: “To End a War.”

Autograph letter signed, on White House letterhead, Washington, May 6, 1998, to Holbrook. “Dear Dick, I finished ‘To End a War’ over the weekend. It’s a fine piece of work. There was so much there that I had forgotten. It brought home to me again why it is so important to have someone press the President early in problem areas to get through the blizzard of things which crowd out the necessary focus on work days. Hope to see you soon. Best to Katie.” “Press the President early” is a fascinating insight into how to maximize presidential involvement and effectiveness.

One of fewer than 10 ALSs as President to appear publicly for sale and the only related to his perhaps his most prominent foreign policy enterprise: the sectarian conflicts in former Yugoslavia. That it is to his chief negotiator is all the more extraordinary.