Page 6 - TheBlueCardJournal2013

THE RICHARD C. HOLBROOKE AWARD FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE

Presented by Kati Marton

THE RICHARD C. HOLBROOKE AWARD FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE

Richard C. Holbrooke lived a profoundly purposeful life. Regarded as one of the country’s most influential and accomplished diplomats, he was a deeply committed humanitarian whose intelligence, persistence and unusual skills made the seemingly impossible possible — across the globe.

Among his innumerable achievements, Mr. Holbrooke expanded upon Richard Nixon’s trip to China to establish full diplomatic relations with China, and he spotlighted conflicts and health crises in Africa and Indonesia, where he called for more peacekeeping forces. His deft prodding led to the landmark1995 Dayton peace accords that ended the war in Bosnia — a feat Mr. Holbrooke sought to duplicate as chief envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan before his untimely death in 2010. And after the collapse of Communism, he successfully fought for Holocaust survivors to receive restitution from then-emerging democracies in Central and Eastern Europe.

“He was a hurricane—of eloquence and energy and force,” said President Bill Clinton. “He was a great diplomat because he was smart, and he could learn, and he could think, he could write, he could speak, and most importantly, he could do . . . there are a lot of people walking around on the face of the earth today — or their children or their grandchildren — because of the way he lived his life.”

The Blue Card’s Richard C. Holbrooke Award for Social Justice is a fitting, lasting tribute to a man who, according to Henry Kissinger, ”saw a challenge not an obstacle” and, because of his inspired leadership, elevated “a forlorn problem into a moral adventure.”

Richard C. Holbrooke lived a profoundly purposeful life. Regarded as one of the country’s most infuential and accomplished diplomats, he was a deeply committed humanitarian whose intelligence, persistence and unusual skills made the seemingly impossible possible — across the globe.

Among his innumerable achievements, Mr. Holbrooke expanded upon Richard Nixon’s trip to China to establish full diplomatic relations with China, and he spotlighted conficts and health crises in Africa and Indonesia, where he called for more peacekeeping forces. His deft prodding led to the landmark 1995 Dayton peace accords that ended the war in Bosnia — a feat Mr. Holbrooke sought to duplicate as chief envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan before his untimely death in 2010. And after the collapse of Communism, he successfully fought for

Holocaust survivors to receive restitution from then-emerging democracies in Central and Eastern Europe.

“He was a hurricane—of eloquence and energy and force,” said President Bill Clinton. “He was a great diplomat because he was smart, and he could learn, and he could think, he could write, he could speak, and most importantly, he could do . . . there are a lot of people walking around on the face of the earth today — or their children or their grandchildren — because of the way he lived his life.”

The Blue Card’s Richard C. Holbrooke Award for Social Justice is a ftting, lasting tribute to a man who, according to Henry Kissinger, ”saw a challenge not an obstacle” and, because of his inspired leadership, elevated “a forlorn problem into a moral adventure.”