Lawrence Eagleburger

In 2003, President George W. Bush asked him to lead the United States delegation at the funeral of Zoran Djindjic, the assassinated Serbian prime minister.

He retired from the Foreign Service in 1984 and was employed as a consultant at Kissinger's firm. He returned to government service in 1989 as deputy secretary of state under James Baker. He was named acting secretary of state in August 1992. He was officially named Secretary of State from December 8,1992 to January 19,1993. He served the second shortest term as secretary of state.

After resigning from government service, he spent five years at Kissinger Associates before returning to the state department as James Baker's deputy secretary of state. He was sent on missions to Israel and China after the Tiananmen Square and to Panama after the American invasion in 1989.

After an illness in June 1969, he was assigned to Brussels, Belgium and served in the Pentagon before Henry Kissinger assigned him to the State Department when he became secretary of state in 1973.

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.

From 1962 to 1965, he was an economics officer for the American Embassy in Belgrade, Yugoslavia.

He began his Foreign Service career in the early 1960s. In the 1980s, he spent seven years and two tours of duty in Europe particularly the Balkan states. He served as United States Ambassador in Belgrade, Yugoslavia but was unable to maintain the country's stability.

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 Bush, Eagleburger returned to the State Department as deputy to Secretary James Baker III in 1989. Three years later, he was White House chief of staff and manager of the flagging Bush reelection campaign.

He was a leader of the Wisconsin Young Republicans from 1949 to 1951. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin in Madison with a Bachelor's Degree. He joined the United States Army from 1952 to 1954.

Son of Leon Eagleburger and Helen Eagleburger of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His father served in the United States Army during World War II. The family moved to Mississippi and later to Seattle, Washington and returned to Stevens Point, Wisconsin in 1946.

Lawrence Eagleburger was born on August 1, 1930 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA as Lawrence Sidney Eagleburger. He was married to Marlene Ann Heinemann.