George Shultz
Overview
Shultz worked in academia, business and government, serving as secretary of state from July 16, 1982, to January 20, 1989. His diplomacy included late-Cold-War U.S.–Soviet arms control and relations involving China, Lebanon and Central America.[1]
Contents10 sections
Key facts
1920–1949Early Life, War and Education
Born in New York City on December 13, 1920, Shultz grew up in Englewood, New Jersey, and graduated from PrincetonPrinceton UniversityPrinceton University is a private university and Ivy League member in Princeton, New Jersey. Chartered on October 22, 1746 as the College of New Jersey, it moved to Princeton in 1756 and adopted its present name in 1896. Undergraduate education leads to A.B. and B.S.E. degrees and emphasizes small-group discussion, independent research and residential college life. Graduate education spans the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences and engineering. As of October 2026, Christopher L. Eisgruber was president. Its 2026–27 operating budget was $3.407 billion, including $342 million for undergraduate aid.Open the full entry in 1942. He served in the Marine Corps from 1942 to 1945 as an artillery officer, reaching captain, and earned an MIT doctorate in industrial economics in 1949.[2]
1948–1968Academic Career
Shultz taught at MIT from 1948 to 1957, taking leave to work on Eisenhower’s Council of Economic Advisers. He joined the University of Chicago in 1957 and became business-school dean in 1962.[2]
1969–1974Nixon Administration
Shultz served successively as labor secretary, budget director and treasury secretary. As East-West Trade Policy Committee chairman, he negotiated trade protocols in Moscow in 1973 and represented the United States at GATT talks in Tokyo.[2]
1974–1982Bechtel
Shultz left government in 1974 to become Bechtel Group president and director, serving until 1982 while maintaining teaching ties to Stanford. He returned in 1989 as a director and senior counselor, continuing until 2006.[2]
1982–1989Diplomacy and Arms Control
Shultz advanced negotiations with Gorbachev and Shevardnadze and helped develop arms-control agreements that reduced U.S.–Soviet confrontation. He opposed but failed to halt the Iran arms-for-hostages arrangements; his Middle East diplomacy did not produce a lasting settlement.[1]
After 1989: Research and Writing
Shultz received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in January 1989 and returned to Stanford and the Hoover Institution. His memoir Turmoil and Triumph: My Years as Secretary of State appeared in 1993.[2]
Theranos Directorship and Family Conflict
Shultz served on TheranosTheranosTheranos was a blood-testing company founded in 2003 by Elizabeth Holmes and based in Palo Alto, California, which offered retail testing with Walgreens and was valued at up to $9 billion before regulatory sanctions and criminal charges over alleged fraud in its technology and financial claims led to its dissolution in 2018.Open the full entry’s board. His grandson Tyler raised testing and validation problems with him, but he initially disbelieved him and tried to mediate with the company. Tyler later became an anonymous source for John Carreyrou’s reporting and faced legal threats from Theranos.[3]
2021Death
Shultz died on February 6, 2021, aged 100.[4]