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Ellen Belcher is the Dayton Daily News opinion pages editor. She writes about state government, education, the environment, higher education and all things Dayton.
Martin Gottlieb is an editorial writer and columnist for the Dayton Daily News opinion pages. He focuses on the political process itself and does such national issues as war, the economy, taxes and Social Security, as well as a hodge-podge of local and state issues.
Scott Elliott is an editorial writer and columnist for the Dayton Daily News opinion pages. He writes about education, city and suburban issues, politics, business, workforce and consumer issues.Home > Blogs > A Matter of Opinion > Archives > 2010 > December > 15
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Editorial: Holbrooke legacy bigger than Bosnia
Richard Holbrooke’s job description as an assistant secretary of state did not include ending the war in the Balkans. That was the work of presidents or foreign ministers or the United Nations or some other group of nations. Or fate or God.
But he made it his own work. Through a stroke of imagination — forged by intelligence, experience, thought and conscience — he found a way.
In the process, he put Dayton on the map in a way it had never been.
Mr. Holbrooke could not have pulled off the success of the peace talks if the time had been wrong. But this was not an idea whose time simply came along. Richard Holbrooke came along.
He saw what could happen if the United States took leadership firmly — as opposed to the leadership of European powers and the United Nations, both of which had been players in the miserable modern history of the Balkans.
Lacking the power of high office, he had the power of brilliance, relationships and his high-impact, high-energy personality. And he brought the power of the United States into play by turning to an Air Force base in Ohio.
His site selection for the talks that would end the Bosnian war produced a wail from Slobodan Milosevic, president of the old Yugoslavia. Mr. Milosevic had been hoping for a trip to New York.
Picturing a temporary life of deprivation and seclusion in the middle of nowhere, he said, “I am not a priest.”
But Mr. Holbrooke wasn’t interested in bringing foreign politicians to U.S. media central to hold press conferences and bask in media attention as they saw the city. He wanted the trip of the foreign leaders to be about ending a war.
And so the word “Dayton” entered the world’s vocabulary. It was an approach to diplomacy: Bring all the major players together and make them confront each other in privacy until they work things out. And it was a symbol of peace, or the potential for peace.
Since then, some good Daytonians have tried — in one way or another — to justify the city’s association with peace. They’ve done useful work.
But for all that Dayton — the place — really contributed to the end of the Bosnian war, the world’s new vocabulary word might just as well have been “Holbrooke” as “Dayton.”
He imagined the talks. He made them happen. And he ran them. In movie terms, he was writer, producer, director and star.
The result was a peace that has lasted for 15 years and ushered in a new era in European history. In the Balkans, that era has been deeply troubled, as post-war eras often are. But the potential for better times is there.
The Holbrooke accomplishment is unlike any other in these times.
It was not a fluke coming out of nowhere. It was an outgrowth of the man’s life course. He was a promising young man who went into a life of public service and did not let experience beat his imagination and his moral impulses out of him. Instead, he learned how to use them.
He will be an inspiration to others in his field — and other fields — for generations. His name will come up often when people wonder about the potential for one person to have historic impact.
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