Cyrus Vance

Cyrus Vance served as Secretary of State under Jimmy Carter from 1977 to 1980. A lawyer and former naval officer, he had been secretary of the Army and deputy secretary of defense during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. Initially supportive of American involvement in Vietnam, he came to oppose the war and participated in the Paris peace negotiations. ¹

Vance favored negotiated settlements and supported Carter’s emphasis on human rights. His secretaryship included the Panama Canal treaties, normalization of diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China, the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty, and diplomacy supporting a settlement in Rhodesia that opened the way to majority rule in Zimbabwe. These initiatives required cooperation with governments whose political systems and strategic interests differed sharply from those of the United States. ¹

His preference for negotiation increasingly conflicted with other advisers as relations with Iran collapsed and the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. After militants seized the American embassy in Tehran, Vance opposed a military attempt to rescue the hostages, believing it would fail and damage negotiations. He resigned in April 1980 over Carter’s decision to proceed with the operation. He later undertook diplomatic assignments for the United Nations, including work on the conflict in the former Yugoslavia. His departure remains an important example of a secretary resigning over a specific use of force. ¹