Biography

He is a sufferer of myasthenia gravis, a chronic muscle disease.

Eagleburger had one son by his first marriage and two by his second - all three of whom are named Lawrence. He said he named them all after himself out of ego and "to screw up the Social Security system." To avoid confusion, the boys use their middle names--Scott, Andrew, and Jason.

While second secretary in the American embassy's economics section in Yugoslavia, Eagleburger became a hero following the terrible 1963 earthquake in Skopje, Macedonia. He directed a massive relief effort, almost single-handedly arranging for the construction of an army field hospital. The local people called him Lawrence of Macedonia. When President Jimmy Carter appointed him Ambassador to Yugoslavia in 1977, Eagleburger was cheered in the streets upon his return to Belgrade.

U.S. government official, a moderate Republican, who was employed by presidents of both parties. As vice-chairman for his congressional district of the Wisconsin Young Republicans from 1950 to 1951, Eagleburger spoke out against Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy's horrific anti-Communist witch-hunting. He spent his career in the foreign service as Henry Kissinger's deputy, in the State Department, and briefly as Secretary of State in 1992. Under President Jimmy Carter, Eagleburger served as ambassador to what was then Yugoslavia (he had studied the Serbo-Croatian language). In 1981, Eagleburger was named assistant secretary for European affairs under President Ronald Reagan. He supported Reagan's funding of the Contra rebels fighting to overthrow the government of Nicaragua. Under President George H.W. Bush, Eagleburger returned to the State Department as deputy to Secretary James A. Baker in 1989. Three years later, he was White House chief of staff and manager of the flagging Bush reelection campaign.

U.S. Secretary of State (1992-1993).

[when the Soviet Union dissolved:] There is no guarantee that the new states of Central and Eastern Europe or those of the former Soviet Union will evolve into friendly, prosperous democracies. They face formidable obstacles along the path of reform, as Communism has driven these countries and their economies to the brink of ruin. In the final analysis, success will depend on the will and determination of the governments and peoples of the region. But Western assistance can make a difference, and we have an obligation before history and to future generations to do our part in helping to make their democratic experiment a success. What is at stake for us is whether the recent transformation of dangerous adversaries into friends and partners is a permanent or a passing phenomenon. [testimony before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Foreign Operations, March 11, 1992]

I grew up in a Republican family. My father was somewhere to the right of Genghis Khan. I can even remember, as a very young kid, his banging the table for Alf Landon one day [in 1936].

[asked if he thought that the Soviet Union would ever change:] Not in my lifetime. ... If I were sitting here forty years from now, having the same discussion, the answer would be the same. Not in my lifetime. ... The Soviet system for sixty years has demonstrated its inability to change. ... It cannot adapt. [U.S. News & World Report, June 11, 1984]

I don't care what anybody says about the domino theory having been discredited in Southeast Asia -- number one, if you were a Cambodian or a Laotian you might argue that there was something to the theory. [New York Times, April 22, 1984]

"...pot-induced behavior by an erratic leftist." [an offhand remark following an after-dinner speech in November 1983, when asked for his reaction to Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau's call for arms reduction talks; he later had to apologize].