Ellen Tauscher: The Tireless Negotiator

I used to be all the time slightly in awe of Ellen Tauscher; not only because of her sensible mind and fantastic character, but as a result of she was recreation for anything. It didn’t matter what the stakes have been or whether anyone had tried to do it earlier than—no venture was too massive or too small. Once you referred to as her and stated, “I have an concept,” her reply was all the time a powerful: “How can I assist?”

When President Barack Obama took workplace in 2009, he had particular concepts about decreasing the danger of nuclear warfare and stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction. That fell underneath my purview as secretary of State. I used to be given free rein by the president to select my staff at the State Division, and as I considered who would fill the position of undersecretary for arms management and international safety, one identify stored coming back time and again again: Ellen Tauscher. And so, she turned the first lady ever to serve in that position.

It was a natural fit. Ellen had spent years in Congress as chairwoman and rating member on the Strategic Forces Subcommittee of the Armed Providers Committee. She was one of many foremost specialists on arms management in our country. And when she led negotiations on the New START Treaty with Russia, there was no one more qualified or decided to realize that aim.

One factor you need to find out about negotiating with Russia is that this: There isn't a such thing as a feminist on a Russian negotiating staff. Dealing with Ellen was at first a curiosity for the Russians, then a challenge. When treaty negotiations obtained deadlocked, Ellen—as all the time—had a technique. I’ll never forget her calls from Moscow, which have been crammed with typically hilarious stories about negotiating together with her counterparts. She would comply with them, refusing to let them out of her sight; she made it clear she wasn’t going anyplace till they negotiated this treaty. She was as robust a negotiator as we might have had. But she additionally used her unimaginable appeal. As she was sitting round a desk with a gaggle of tough-talking Russians, she would open those large blue eyes of hers and say, “Now, you know we have now to do this.” The end result, New START, was a historic win—one that not solely improved America’s security but decreased the probabilities that america and Russia together might destroy all of humanity.

When Ellen got here house, she went to work on the strategy for ratification. As she stated, it was one factor to negotiate with the Russians; it was one thing else to get the treaty via the Senate with a two-thirds vote. She had me call every Republican senator not once, however several occasions. She had speaking factors about what to say to each one, even probably the most stalwart opponent.

And then she was recognized with esophageal cancer. The midterm elections in 2010 didn't go nicely for Democrats, and it appeared that hopes for ratification, which had been pushed off until after the election into the lame duck session, have been floundering. However even while Ellen was preventing for her life, she by no means give up. She stored calling to offer me recommendation. “Call up Dick Lugar and inform him how necessary this is,” she would say. “Call up John Kerry and tell him.” When the treaty passed in 2010, it was an unlimited tribute to Ellen.

After she left the State Division, Ellen stored proper on going as a diplomat. After a terrible hearth in a textile manufacturing unit in Bangladesh in 2012, a lot of the world’s largest textile producers enlisted Ellen to negotiate a code of conduct to improve working circumstances for ladies. She went forwards and backwards to Bangladesh and negotiated that code of conduct, which continues to be in place at the moment.

In these difficult occasions, Ellen’s example should remind us all that this country is residence to leaders who're both expert diplomats and hard negotiators.

Ellen wore many hats. She was a successful businesswoman, an completed politician, an efficient diplomat and a big-hearted pal. She believed in public service, and she or he treasured the public servants who worked for and alongside her. She awakened every day determined to make a distinction. She introduced her irrepressible passion, fearlessness and wholehearted joy to every thing she did—and she or he would anticipate nothing less from the remainder of us.

Article originally revealed on POLITICO Magazine

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