Washington Post diplomatic correspondent Glenn Kessler '81 presented a critical portrayal of Condoleezza Rice's tenure as national security adviser and secretary of state Monday afternoon in a lecture at the Watson Institute for International Studies.
The talk - part of Kessler's tour to promote his new book, "The Confidante: Condoleezza Rice and the Creation of the Bush Legacy" - attracted a crowd of about 30 to the Joukowsky Forum. Kessler drew heavily on anecdotes from covering diplomatic meetings and speaking to Rice and her aides to present his book's main argument: Rice is "a smart, sophisticated diplomat," he said, "but she lacks a strategic vision."
He detailed what he called Rice's failures in Iran, North Korea and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and how her actions as national security adviser during President Bush's first term added to her problems as his secretary of state in his second.
Kessler argued that Rice has missed numerous diplomatic opportunities during the past seven years, in refusing bilateral talks with North Korea over its nuclear weapons program and in other situations.
At the same time, he said, she has more power than her predecessor as secretary of state, Colin Powell, because diplomats are aware of her close relationship with the president. She also has the highest approval rating of any administration official, he said.
Kessler recounted one story about Rice after another, including scenes illustrative of her struggles as a black woman in diplomacy. He told how Rice - in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to speak on greater freedom for women in the Middle East - received a gift from Saudi Arabia's then-crown prince: An abaya, the full-length covering that Saudi Arabian women are required to wear in public.
"His anecdotes were great," said attendee Patrick Cook-Deegan '08. "It was good to get an insider's account" of Rice's diplomatic struggles, he added.
Kessler's speech was "very balanced," said former Sen. Lincoln Chafee '75, now a visiting fellow at the Watson Institute. Speaking of Rice's failures as recounted by Kessler, Chafee asked, "Is it possible for anybody to make so many mistakes?"
Kessler told The Herald he knew he wanted to be a reporter in the fifth grade.
"I liked being a witness to history," he said. But he took a roundabout route to his current job reporting on foreign affairs, first covering subjects like Wall Street, airline safety and economic policy. While at Brown, he took sports photos for The Herald but did not write.
"Why should I do it when I'm in college when it's going to be my life?" he recalled thinking at the time, though he said he later realized he had made a mistake when he went job-hunting and had no writing samples.
So he started writing for the Wall Street Letter, a weekly financial tip sheet, after getting his master's degree in international affairs from Columbia University. He became editor of the newsletter within three months. Since then, he has written for Newsday and the Post and was part of teams at Newsday that won Pulitzer Prizes in 1992 and 1997, for reporting on a subway crash and the TWA Flight 800 crash, which killed 230 people.
Kessler's new book has received positive reviews from the left and the right, he said. Publisher interest was also high - his is only one of three recent books on Rice, which he said is unusual for a sitting secretary of state.
"She's a diplomatic rock star," he explained.
Five hours of interviews with Rice went into researching the book, along with interviews with her aides and other diplomats, through which he reconstructed scenes which took place behind closed doors, Kessler said. Though he gave Rice a copy of the book three weeks before its release, Kessler said, she has said she did not read it - but, naturally, told him she disagreed with its conclusions.
He traveled with Rice to over 50 countries, he said, and found her to be "very charming." He said her aides were very cooperative in scheduling interviews.
"I don't know if they regret it now," he said.
