Frank G. Wisner
{{Short description|American diplomat and politician (1938–2025)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2013}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Frank G. Wisner
| image = Frank G. Wisner as Ambassador.png
| imagesize = 188px
| office = Acting United States Secretary of State
| president = Bill Clinton
| term = January 20, 1993
| predecessor = Arnold Kanter
(acting)
| successor = Warren Christopher
| office1 = United States Ambassador to India
| president1 = Bill Clinton
| term1 = June 9, 1994 – July 12, 1997
| predecessor1 = Thomas R. Pickering
| successor1 = Richard F. Celeste
| office2 = Under Secretary of Defense for Policy
| president2 = Bill Clinton
| term2 = 1993–1994
| predecessor2 = Paul Wolfowitz
| successor2 = Walter B. Slocombe
| office3 = 10th Under Secretary of State for International Security Affairs
| president3 = George H. W. Bush
| term3 = 1992–1993
| predecessor3 = Reginald Bartholomew
| successor3 = Lynn Etheridge Davis
| office4 = United States Ambassador to the Philippines
| president4 = George H. W. Bush
| term4 = August 16, 1991 – June 10, 1992
| predecessor4 = Nicholas Platt
| successor4 = Richard H. Solomon
| office5 = United States Ambassador to Egypt
| president5 = Ronald Reagan
George H. W. Bush
| term5 = August 18, 1986 – June 6, 1991
| predecessor5 = Nicholas A. Veliotes
| successor5 = Robert Pelletreau
| office6 = United States Ambassador to Zambia
| president6 = Jimmy Carter
Ronald Reagan
| term6 = August 2, 1979 – April 19, 1982
| predecessor6 = Stephen Low
| successor6 = Nicholas Platt
| birth_name = Frank George Wisner II
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1938|7|2}}
| birth_place = New York City, U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2025|2|24|1938|7|2}}
| death_place = Mill Neck, New York, U.S.
| party =
| spouse = {{unbulleted list|{{marriage|Genevieve Jeanne Marie du Fresne de Virel{{cite web|title=The extended family of Nicolas Sarkozy (de Nagy-Bocsa)|url=https://www.xing.com/communities/posts/the-extended-family-of-nicolas-sarkozy-de-nagy-bocsa-1003130502|publisher=xing.com|access-date=26 March 2016}} |1969|1974|reason=died}}|
{{marriage|Countess Christine de Ganay|1976|2013|reason=divorced}}|
{{marriage|Judy C. Cormier|2015|}} }}
| alma_mater = Bachelor of Arts, Princeton University (1961)
| caption = Wisner in 2007
}}
Frank George Wisner II (July 2, 1938 – February 24, 2025) was an American businessman and diplomat who served as United States Secretary of State following the resignation of the previous acting United States Secretary of State Arnold Kanter at noon on January 20, 1993 until the confirmation by the United States Senate and swearing in of Warren Christopher as United States Secretary of State later that day.{{Cite news|url= https://www.nytimes.com/1993/01/20/world/clinton-rounds-out-state-dept-team.html|title=Clinton Rounds Out State Dept. Team|newspaper=The New York Times|date=January 20, 1993|last1=Friedman|first1=Thomas L.}} On January 31, 2011, he was sent to Egypt by President Barack Obama to negotiate a resolution to the popular protests against the regime that had swept the country.{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/blog/2011/jan/31/egypt-protests-live-updates |title=Egypt protests – Monday 31 January |work=The Guardian |date=January 31, 2011 }} A White House spokesman said that Wisner had vast experience in the region as well as close relationships with many Egyptians in and out of government. The New York Times reported that he was a personal friend of former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/02/world/middleeast/02transition.html |title=Obama Urges Mubarak Not to Run Again |newspaper=New York Times |date=February 1, 2011 }}
Wisner worked as an international-affairs advisor at the firm of Squire Patton Boggs in Washington, D.C.{{cite web|title=Frank G. Wisner|url=http://www.squirepattonboggs.com/professionals/w/wisner-frank-g|publisher=Squire Patton Boggs|access-date=2 March 2016}}
Life and career
Wisner was born in New York City on July 2, 1938, the son of Mary Knowles Fritchey, a philanthropist, and CIA official Frank Wisner (1909–1965).{{cite web| url = http://www.whartonglobal.com/wgbf2003/india/wisner.asp |title= Frank G. Wisner | publisher= (Biography) Wharton Global Business Forum| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120521092640/http://www.whartonglobal.com/wgbf2003/india/wisner.asp | archive-date= May 21, 2012}}{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DH8rAQAAMAAJ&q=Frank+George+Wisner+II+1938&pg=PA1263|title=La Giustizia amministrativa: Raccolta completa contenente le decisioni tutte della IV sezione del Consiglio di Stato, le decisioni più importanti della Corte dei conti in materia di conti comunali, provinciali ed erariali, e di pensioni, le più importanti sentenze della Corte di cassazione di Roma in materia elettorale e di competenza e monografie relative a questioni amministrative|year=1980}}https://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/17/us/mary-knowles-fritchey-90-philanthropist.html He joined the United States Department of State as a Foreign Service Officer in December 1961.{{Cite web |date=22 March 1988 |title=The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project AMBASSADOR FRANK G. WISNER |url=https://adst.org/OH%20TOCs/Wisner,%20Frank%20G.toc.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240716021839/https://adst.org/OH%20TOCs/Wisner,%20Frank%20G.toc.pdf |archive-date=16 July 2024 |access-date=6 August 2024 |website=Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training}}
He was assigned as a vice consul at the American Consulate General in Tangier, Morocco. He served as third secretary at the U.S. Embassy in Algiers, Algeria. In 1964 he became a rural development officer at the U.S. Embassy in Saigon, South Vietnam, for the Agency for International Development. He served in South Vietnam until 1969, when he returned to the State Department as officer in charge of Tunisian affairs. From 1971 to 1973, he was first secretary at the U.S. Embassy in Tunis, Tunisia, and following that, from 1973 to 1974, he was first secretary at the U.S. Embassy in Dacca, Bangladesh. From 1974 to 1975, he was Director of the Office of Plans and Management in the Bureau of Public Affairs and in late 1975 became Deputy Director of the President's Indo-China Task Force in the Department.{{cite web|url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/nomination-frank-g-wisner-be-united-states-ambassador-egypt|title=Nomination of Frank G. Wisner To Be United States Ambassador to Egypt|publisher=Reagan White House|date=23 May 1986|accessdate=11 March 2021}}{{PD-notice}}
In 1976, at the beginning of the Carter administration, he served under Cyrus Vance as Deputy Executive Secretary of the Department of State. Among his overseas assignments, Wisner served as the United States Ambassador to Zambia (1979–82); Egypt (1986–91), the Philippines (1991–92), and India, (1994–97).
During his tenure in Lusaka, he played the role of point man for the Constructive Engagement policy of assistant secretary of state for African affairs Chester Crocker. Wisner worked well with Zambian president Kenneth Kaunda and helped to rebuild bilateral relations between Zambia and the USA after a 1980 spy scandal at the U.S. embassy in Lusaka. Crocker's efforts contributed to the organization and successful discussions at the February 1984 Lusaka Conference regarding conflicts in Angola and Namibia.Andy DeRoche, Kenneth Kaunda, the United States and Southern Africa (London: Bloomsbury, 2016), 150-151, 168-170, and 192-196.
After retiring from government service in 1997, Wisner joined the board at a subsidiary of Enron, the former energy company and served on the board of American International Group (AIG).
In late 2002, Wisner co-chaired an independent working group that developed a model for the United States' post-conflict role in Iraq, should an invasion occur. Their published recommendations included: the establishment of law and order through the retraining of the Iraqi army, focusing on the distribution of humanitarian assistance and reestablishment of vital services, and the importance of avoiding the appointment of exiled Iraqi opposition leaders to dominant positions in the new government.{{cite web |url=http://bakerinstitute.org/programs/energy-forum/publications/docs/GuidingPrinciples_USPostConflictPolicy_Iraq.pdf/view?searchterm=wisner |title=Guiding Principles for U.S. Post-Conflict Policy in Iraq |publisher=James A. Baker Institute For Public Policy at Rice University |access-date=February 1, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110901053419/http://bakerinstitute.org/programs/energy-forum/publications/docs/GuidingPrinciples_USPostConflictPolicy_Iraq.pdf/view?searchterm=wisner |archive-date=September 1, 2011 |url-status=dead }}
Wisner was an advisory board member for the Partnership for a Secure America, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to recreating the bipartisan center in American national security and foreign policy. In 2012, he succeeded Paul A. Volcker as chairman of the board of trustees of International House, a cultural-exchange residence and program center in New York City. He also served on the advisory board of the National Security Network, and on the board of Refugees International.{{cite web |url=http://www.refugeesinternational.org/press-room/press-release/release-refugees-international-welcomes-new-board-members |title=Press Release |publisher=Refugees International |date=May 9, 2008 |access-date=February 17, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090606012702/http://www.refugeesinternational.org/press-room/press-release/release-refugees-international-welcomes-new-board-members |archive-date=June 6, 2009 |url-status=dead }} He went on to become a member of the board for EOG Resources. In June 2013, Wisner joined the advisory board of Ergo, a global intelligence and advisory firm.{{cite press release| url = http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ambassador-frank-g-wisner-joins-ergos-advisory-board-211002551.html |title= Ambassador Frank G. Wisner Joins Ergo's Advisory Board| publisher= Ergo via PR Newswire|date= June 11, 2013|access-date= June 12, 2013| archive-date= October 13, 2013 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20131013034354/http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ambassador-frank-g-wisner-joins-ergos-advisory-board-211002551.html | url-status=live}} Wisner was chair of the board of directors of The Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington.{{cite news|last1=Weisner|first1=Frank|title=America Still Needs Saudi Arabia|url=http://nationalinterest.org/feature/america-still-needs-saudi-arabia-16074|access-date=4 July 2016|publisher=The National Interest|date=5 May 2016}}{{Cite web |title=Ambassador Frank G. Wisner |url=https://agsiw.org/associates/ambassador-frank-g-wisner/ |access-date=2022-04-21 |website=Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington |date=March 23, 2021 |language=en-US}}
Frank Wisner was married to Christine de Ganay, the stepmother of Nicolas Sarkozy, the President of France from 2007 until 2012.
He was a member of the Metropolitan Club of Washington, D.C.
Wisner died from lung cancer in Mill Neck, New York, on February 24, 2025, at the age of 86.[https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/24/us/politics/frank-g-wisner-ii-dead.html Frank G. Wisner, Diplomat With Impact on Foreign Policy, Dies at 86]
2011 Egypt protests
In early 2011, the Obama administration asked Wisner to carry views to Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak, including advice that Mubarak should resign to defuse the crisis.{{vague|date=October 2015}}{{Cite news |title=Frank Wisner, the Diplomat Sent to Prod Mubarak |first=Sjeryl Gay| last= Stolberg |date=February 2, 2011 |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/03/world/middleeast/03wisner.html?_r=1 |access-date=2011-05-11}} Wisner was unsuccessful in convincing Mubarak to do so. Four days later, after a day in which Mubarak allies took violent reprisal against democracy activists, Wisner spoke to a security conference in Europe and called it "crucial" that Mubarak stay on in the interest of "stability." The State Department immediately disavowed his comments and said Wisner had not been serving as an envoy but as a conduit for certain administration views.{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/06/world/middleeast/06egypt.html?hp |title=West Backs Gradual Egyptian Transition |work=The New York Times |date=February 5, 2011 }}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{commons category|Frank G. Wisner}}
- {{C-SPAN|25527}}
- [http://www.democracynow.org/2011/2/7/the_empires_bagman_us_ambassador_frank Obama Egypt Envoy Frank Wisner Says Mubarak Should Stay] – video report by Democracy Now!
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{{succession box|title=United States Ambassador to Zambia|before=Stephen Low|after=Nicholas Platt|years=1979–1982}}
{{succession box|title=United States Ambassador to Egypt|before=Nicholas A. Veliotes|after=Robert Pelletreau|years=1986–1991}}
{{succession box|title=United States Ambassador to the Philippines|before=Nicholas Platt|after=Richard H. Solomon|years=1991–1992}}
{{succession box|title=United States Ambassador to India|before=Thomas R. Pickering|after=Richard F. Celeste|years=1994–1997}}
{{s-end}}
{{Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Affairs}}
{{US Ambassadors to the Philippines}}
{{US Ambassador to India}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wisner, Frank G.}}
Category:20th-century American businesspeople
Category:American people of German descent
Category:Princeton University alumni
Category:Businesspeople from New York City
Category:Ambassadors of the United States to the Philippines
Category:Ambassadors of the United States to India
Category:Ambassadors of the United States to Egypt
Category:Ambassadors of the United States to Zambia
Category:United States career ambassadors
Category:United States Under Secretaries of Defense for Policy
Category:American University of Beirut trustees
Category:United States under secretaries of state
Category:People of the Egyptian revolution of 2011
Category:United States Foreign Service personnel
Category:Acting United States secretaries of state
Category:20th-century American diplomats
Category:People associated with Squire Patton Boggs