Harold H. Saunders | |
---|---|
12th Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs | |
In office April 11, 1978 – January 16, 1981 |
|
President | Jimmy Carter |
Preceded by | Alfred L. Atherton |
Succeeded by | Nicholas A. Veliotes |
6th Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research | |
In office December 1, 1975 – April 10, 1978 |
|
President | Gerald Ford |
Preceded by | William G. Hyland |
Succeeded by | William G. Bowdler |
Personal details | |
Born |
Harold Henry Saunders December 27, 1930 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
Died | March 6, 2016 McLean, Virginia |
(aged 85)
Nationality | American |
Alma mater |
Princeton University Yale University |
Harold Henry "Hal" Saunders (December 27, 1930 – March 6, 2016) served as the United States Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research between 1975 and 1978 and United States Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs between 1978 and 1981. Saunders was a key participant in the Camp David Accords, helped negotiate the Iran Hostage Crisis, and developed of the sustained dialogue model for resolving conflicts He later launched the Sustained Dialogue Institute, which uses the sustained dialogue model to address racial and other issues in the United States and abroad.
Additionally, Saunders was director of international affairs at the Kettering Foundation and co-chaired the Dartmouth Conference Task Force. He authored several works, including The Other Walls: The Arab-Israeli Peace Process in a Global Perspective (1985), A Public Peace Process: Sustained Dialogue to Transform Racial and Ethnic Conflict (1999), Politics Is about Relationship: A Blueprint for the Citizens’ Century (2005), and Sustained Dialogue in Conflicts: Transformation and Change (2011).
Saunders graduated from Princeton University in 1952 with an A.B. and Yale University in 1955 with a Ph.D, prior to joining the United States Air Force to fulfill the mandatory service requirement, which led to a liaison role with the Central Intelligence Agency. Saunders joined the National Security Council staff in 1961, serving through the Johnson administration as the NSC's Mideast expert during June 1967 Six-Day War. He died of prostate cancer in 2016.
Saunders joined the Kissinger shuttles in October 1973 as an integral part of the small team of American diplomats led by Kissinger, with whom Saunders worked for the next eight years. During this period from 1973 to 1975, the Kissinger team helped negotiate a number of key disengagement agreements between Egypt and Israel. In 1974, Saunders was appointed deputy assistant secretary of state for the Near East and North Africa.