As President Clinton's first term ends, Warren Christopher heads home to Los Angeles, adding a final few thousand miles to the record three-quarters of a million he logged in his four years as secretary of State. Christopher can return to his law practice and, undoubtedly, to further community service comfortable in the knowledge that his tenure was a time of impressive accomplishment for American diplomacy.
Not the least of Christopher's achievements was prodding a president who entered office with little experience or interest in foreign affairs into realizing that managing U.S. relations with the world is half of his job. It took a long time to get Clinton to focus on international issues, and during that period U.S. global leadership was often perceived as indecisive and drifting. But Clinton learned and in the process forged good ties with many of the world's key leaders. Give major credit to Christopher for helping guide the president in that essential effort.
