George Shultz, who served as secretary of state for President Ronald Reagan, died on Saturday at the age of 100.
Shultz’s death was first announced by the Hoover Institution, where he served as the Thomas W. and Susan B. Ford Distinguished Fellow.
Shultz is one of two people to serve in four different cabinet-level positions, according to his biography at the Hoover Institution. Schultz served as labor secretary, Office of Management and Budget (OMB) director, and treasury secretary under President Richard Nixon. He was the first director of the OMB.
Returning to government during the Reagan administration, Shultz was a key participant in the negotiations for the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, according to the Office of the Historian at the State Department.
Shultz was also a key chronicler of the Reagan administration’s efforts to develop the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), according to the Atomic Heritage Foundation. Shultz argued that SDI’s main benefit was as a negotiating chip to make the Soviet Union believe that the United States was on the precipice of developing new anti-missile technologies, according to his book, “Turmoil and Triumph: Diplomacy, Power, and the Victory of the American Ideal.”
George Shultz and Ronald Reagan, 1986:
????: @USNatArchives pic.twitter.com/qxkJ9Jbw5Z— U.S. Presidents Trivia (@funusprezfacts) February 7, 2021
A World War II veteran, Shultz fought in the Battle of Peleliu in the Pacific theater, according to the Congressional Joint Resolution issued on the 60th anniversary of the battle. He served as a Marine Corps officer during the war.
Shultz was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Reagan in 1989. Upon awarding Shultz the medal, Reagan said that his secretary of state “helped to make the world a freer and more peaceful place.”