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Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Stuart Elliot Eizenstat has worked for
democracy and human rights in Cuba, justice for Holocaust victims and much more
to make the United States a force for good in this world.
When he delivers the 2000 commencement address May 21 at Carolina, his
alma mater, Eizenstat will tell graduates and their families that this
University instilled in him a dedication to public service that has been the
hallmark of his career.
"I've served all three recent Democratic administrations, in domestic
issues with Johnson and Carter and international matters in the Clinton
administration," he said. He served on an advisory commission for President
George Bush and maintains good relationships on both sides of the aisle in
Congress, counting his "close relationship with Sen. Jesse Helms" among his
most valuable associations.
Eizenstat has wrestled with trade negotiations worse than Rubik's Cube,
promoted U.S. exports and helped American business efforts abroad. "I've been
given really tough international issues to negotiate: sanctions against Cuba
and Iran, global warming, trade issues with Japan ... " to name just a few.
"I've had four appointments unanimously confirmed by Congress."
He's not bragging. Eizenstat's point is that a Carolina education is no
small prize, and he's living proof.
Now treasury's second-highest-ranking official, Eizenstat also represents
the president and the secretary of state on Holocaust issues. Previously, he
was an undersecretary of state (1997-99), winning a Distinguished Honor Award
from Secretary of State Madeleine Albright; undersecretary of commerce
(1996-97), establishing a compliance center that lets the federal government
monitor foreign government compliance with trade agreements for the first time
ever; and a U.S. ambassador to the European Union (1993-96), which brought him
the Foreign Affairs Award for Public Service, the highest award to a non-career
ambassador, from then-Secretary of State Warren Christopher.
At Carolina
"The four years I spent at UNC were among the best years of my
life, and the most influential in my choosing a career in public service,"
Eizenstat said. "UNC taught me the importance of giving something back to our
great country, which has given so much to us and to the world."
He was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa his junior year and graduated with
honors in 1964 in political science. He wrote for the Daily Tar Heel, was
inducted into the service-oriented Order of the Old Well and participated in
the Hillel Foundation and Zeta Beta Tau, which had a Carolina chapter at the
time. He participated in student government and worked in the student attorney
general's office.
"UNC had one of the best and most established student governments of any
university at the time," Eizenstat said. And the University chose him as one of
five students for Carolina-funded congressional internships in summer 1963,
complete with room, board and a faculty adviser.
"That was an incredible, electric summer, with the civil rights movement
in full bloom," Eizenstat said. "It really whetted my appetite for public
policy."
They met newscaster David Brinkley, Congressman Hale Boggs and other
notables. Martin Luther King Jr. led his historic march on Washington.
Eizenstat said his college experiences of the 1960s and Carolina courses
"opened my eyes to the injustices against black Americans."
Eizenstat also represented Carolina at a U.S. Naval Academy model United
Nations convention. He went on to earn a Harvard law degree in 1967. He was
research director of Hubert Humphrey's 1968 presidential campaign and an aide
at the White House during Lyndon Johnson's administration.
From 1970 to 1976, Eizenstat was a lawyer and partner with the firm of
Powell, Goldstein, Frazer and Murphy in Atlanta, the city where he was reared.
He was Jimmy Carter's campaign director of issues and policy in 1976, then
Carter's chief domestic policy adviser and executive director of the White
House domestic policy staff from 1977-81.
From 1981 to 1993, Eizenstat returned to his law firm as chair of its
Washington, D.C., office. He lectured at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of
Government for nine years, developing a course on presidential decision-making.
He also was a guest scholar at the Brookings Institution in Washington.
`Don't go to Duke'
Danya Ledford of Franklin, N.C., president of Carolina's Class of
2000, said seniors wanted Eizenstat as their commencement speaker and an
honorary degree recipient because he's an alumnus with "very distinguished
service to the nation and the state. We thought he would have an excellent
message for the seniors about going into the world and doing good
things."
Provost Richard Richardson, chair of the University's commencement
committee, said Eizenstat's career mirrors the ideals of his alma mater.
"Surely the words and deeds of such a distinguished alumnus will
demonstrate for our graduating seniors the full meaning of a Carolina degree,"
Richardson said. "Their diplomas not only forecast worthy achievement, but
also pass on a legacy of service to humanity."
When Eizenstat takes the podium, seniors may notice his 6-foot frame. To
this day, he follows Carolina basketball "with a passion." In high school, he
was an All-City and Honorable Mention All-American in basketball, the
third-leading scorer in Atlanta. He insists on listing those accolades only
with a footnote that they preceded integration on the teams.
"When I applied to UNC and came for an interview, the person in admissions
said, `Would you like to see Frank McGuire?' (then men's basketball coach) and
I said, `Sure, that would make my year, not just my day!'
"They took me to Woollen Gym, to his office there, and he asked what other
schools I was interested in, so I told him, `Penn and Duke.' He said, `Whatever
you do, don't go to Duke.'
"So when I came to Carolina, I tried out for the freshman team in 1961 --
freshmen had a separate team then. The coach was a young man named Dean Smith.
I tried out for a couple of days and then said to myself, `I might be all-city
in Atlanta, but this is a different league.' The kids they had recruited were
really one giant step above me. I said, `I think I'd better play intramural
ball and hit the books.'"
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