Associated Press
NEW YORK – Former Secretary of State Cyrus Vance was remembered as an old-fashioned patriot, a peacemaker and a humanitarian Saturday as dignitaries representing at least six administrations mourned at his funeral.
About 1,000 people attended the service at a Manhattan church.
Vance, who served as secretary of state under President Carter, died Jan. 12 at age 84 following a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease. He was to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
“It will be the end of a long journey that advanced the cause of peace,” former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger said in his eulogy.
Kissinger escorted Vance’s flag-draped coffin along with former Secretary of State Warren Christopher, former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, former Secretary of the Army Stanley Resor, former presidential speech writer Theodore Sorenson, and Najeeb Halaby, father of Jordan’s Queen Noor.
Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, presidential historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr., former national security adviser Sandy Berger and numerous ambassadors also attended the funeral at the Episcopal Church of the Heavenly Rest.
After the service, Christopher, who had been Vance’s deputy, remembered his former boss as “an old-fashioned patriot.”
“He inspired a whole generation of people to try to follow in his footsteps,” Christopher said. “I think he leaves a dedication to public service and peace.”
Albright called Vance a superb secretary of state, saying “He did an incredible job in terms of trying to bring people together.”
Heading the State Department was the highlight of Vance’s career, but his duties on behalf of presidents, Congress and the United Nations spanned more than three decades. He used his peacemaking skills to ease conflicts in foreign lands, racially torn American cities and even corporate boardrooms.
“A champion for peace and human rights, he was a superb statesman,” Carter, who did not attend Saturday’s service, said in a statement after Vance’s death. “We will miss his friendship, and the world will miss his humanitarian work and goodness.”
Vance, a West Virginian who went to Yale, played a quiet but key role in guiding the United States out of the Vietnam war. Carter appointed him secretary of state in 1977, and he became known for his support of human rights and advocacy of diplomacy in place of force.
During his early tenure as secretary of state, Vance played a key role in normalizing relations with China, winning approval for new Panama Canal treaties and helping negotiate the Camp David treaty between Egypt and Israel.
But his tenure also saw the collapse of the pro-American monarchy in Iran and the seizure of American hostages there. When Carter approved a military operation for the rescue of the hostages in April 1980, Vance resigned because he felt he could not support it.
The operation ended in disaster. Eight servicemen died when a Marine Corps helicopter crashed, and the 52 hostages were held for 444 days before their release on Ronald Reagan’s inauguration day.
Later, Vance moved into the business world, resolving rival creditor claims against a debt-ridden commercial real estate firm with extensive holdings in New York City.
Vance retired several years later, when Alzheimer’s began to curtail his activities.
He is survived by his wife, Grace, five children and two grandchildren.
Copyright ©2002 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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