Nelson Strobridge Talbott III (born April 25, 1946) is an American foreign policy analyst focused on Russia. He was associated with ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'' magazine, and a diplomat who served as the deputy secretary of state from 1994 to 2001. He was president of

Brookings Institution The Brookings Institution, often stylized as Brookings, is an American think tank that conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in economics (and tax policy), metropolitan policy, governance, foreign policy, global econo ...

from 2002 to 2017.

Early life and education

Talbott was born in

Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is a city in Montgomery County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of cities in Ohio, sixth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 137,644 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Dayton metro ...

, to Helen Josephine (Large) and Nelson Strobridge "Bud" Talbott II. He attended the Hotchkiss School in Connecticut and graduated in 1968 from

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

, where he had been chairman of the ''

Yale Daily News The ''Yale Daily News'' is an independent student newspaper published by Yale University students in New Haven, Connecticut, since January 28, 1878. Description Financially and editorially independent of Yale University since its founding, th ...

''. He was awarded Yale's Alpheus Henry Snow Prize. He was also a member of the Scholar of the House program in 1967–68, belonged to a society of juniors and seniors called Saint Anthony Hall, and was elected to the exclusive Elizabethan Club. He became a friend of future President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

when both were Rhodes Scholars at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

; during his studies there he translated Nikita Khrushchev's memoirs into English.

Career

In 1972, Talbott, along with fellow Rhodes Scholar

Robert Reich Robert Bernard Reich (; born June 24, 1946) is an American professor, author, lawyer, and political commentator. He worked in the administrations of presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, and he served as United States Secretary of Labor, Se ...

and friend David E. Kendall, rallied their friends Bill and

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...

to help the Texas campaign to elect

George McGovern George Stanley McGovern (July 19, 1922 – October 21, 2012) was an American politician, diplomat, and historian who was a U.S. representative and three-term U.S. senator from South Dakota, and the Democratic Party (United States), Democ ...

as president of the United States. In the 1980s, he was ''Times principal correspondent on Soviet-American relations, and his work for the magazine was cited in the three

Overseas Press Club The Overseas Press Club of America (OPC) was founded in 1939 in New York City by a group of foreign correspondents. The wire service reporter Carol Weld was a founding member, as was the war correspondent Peggy Hull. The club seeks to maintain ...

Awards won by ''Time'' in the 1980s. Talbott also wrote several books on disarmament. He translated and edited ''Khrushchev Remembers: The Last Testament'' (2 volumes, 1974) by Nikita S. Khrushchev. Following Bill Clinton's election as president, Talbott served in the U.S. government. He was appointed Ambassador-at-Large and Special Adviser to the Secretary of State Warren Christopher on the New Independent States from 1993 to 1994, to mitigate the consequences of the Soviet breakup. He was then appointed to the second highest ranking position in the U.S. State Department as deputy secretary of state from 1994 to 2001. In that rôle, he made efforts to synchronize U.S. policy towards Eastern Europe with Germany, France, the U.K., and with George Soros. After leaving government, he was briefly the Director of the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization. Dmitry Medvedev in the United States 14 April 2010-9

Dmitry Medvedev in the United States 14 April 2010-9

Talbott was the sixth president of the

in Washington from 2002 to 2017. He helped raise more than $650 million in support of independent policy research and analysis. At Brookings, he was responsible for formulating policies, recommending projects, approving publications and selecting staff, focusing on Eastern Europe, Russia, and nuclear arms control. On January 31, 2017, Talbott announced his resignation from the Brookings Institution. The resignation was later retracted, but in October 2017, he was succeeded by General John R. Allen. In December 2011, Talbott returned to government service as chair of the U.S. State Department’s Foreign Affairs Policy Board. He was on the advisory board of the DC non-profit America Abroad Media and holds leadership positions in other organizations such as the Aspen Institute and the American Academy of Diplomacy.

Family

Talbott married Brooke Shearer in 1971. He had been the college roommate of her brother, Derek. Brooke was a personal aide to

. They were married for 38 years, until her death on May 19, 2009. He has two sons, Devin and Adrian Talbott, co-founders of the now-defunct Generation Engage. In 2015, he married Barbara Lazear Ascher.

Quotes

*"It was

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

's resistance to the broader trends of political and economic reform - not the plight of Kosovar Albanians - that best explains

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

war War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

." *"In the next century, nations as we know it will be obsolete; all states will recognize a single, global authority. National sovereignty wasn't such a great idea after all." (''Time'') *"The Russians have provided an opening for renewed diplomacy. Since last summer, President Dmitry Medvedev has been calling for a 'new Euro-Atlantic security architecture'. So far, except for rehashing old complaints and the unacceptable claim that other former Soviet republics fall within Russia's 'sphere of privileged interests', Mr Medvedev and Mr Lavrov have been vague about what they have in mind. :"That creates a vacuum that the United States and its European partners can fill with their own proposals. The theme of those should be accelerating the emergence of an international system (of which NATO is a part) that is prepared to include Russia rather than exclude or contain it, and to encourage positive forces in Russia that want to see their nation integrated in a globalized world organized around the search for common solutions to common problems." (''Financial Times'') *"We already know that the Kremlin helped put

Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

into the White House and played him for a sucker…. Trump has been colluding with a hostile Russia throughout his presidency."

Honors and awards

* Grand Officer of the

Order of the Three Stars Order of the Three Stars () is the highest civilian order awarded for meritorious service to Latvia. It was established in 1924 in remembrance of the founding of Latvia. Its motto is ''Per aspera ad astra'', meaning "Through hardships towards the ...

, Latvia (2012) * JPN Kyokujitsu-sho 1Class BAR

Grand Cordon of the

Order of the Rising Sun The is a Japanese honors system, Japanese order, established in 1875 by Emperor Meiji. The Order was the first national decoration awarded by the Japanese government, created on 10 April 1875 by decree of the Council of State. The badge feat ...

, Japan (2016) * GEO Golden Fleece Order BAR

Order of the Golden Fleece (Georgia)

References

External links

Strobe Talbott's Brookings Expert Page

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Talbott, Strobe 1946 births Living people Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford American male journalists American Rhodes Scholars Brookings Institution people Center on International Cooperation Clinton administration personnel Fellows of Magdalen College, Oxford Hotchkiss School alumni Journalists from Ohio Ohio Democrats Recipients of the Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana, 1st Class Recipients of the Order of the Golden Fleece (Georgia) Time (magazine) people United States deputy secretaries of state Writers from Dayton, Ohio Yale University alumni United States ambassadors-at-large