In memory of Richard Armitage and Joseph Nye Jr.
WASHINGTON/SYDNEY -- Perhaps no two individuals in recent history have had a more enduring impact on American strategic engagement with Asia -- and particularly U.S. engagement with key allies and partners, notably Japan -- than Richard Armitage and Joseph Nye. We were brought up and initiated into their orbit -- inspired by their examples, motivated by their dedication, and nurtured by them in our own careers and personal lives, as were many others. We lost Rich in March and Joe this month. Their passing leaves a yawning chasm in American foreign policy, but their legacy and examples will endure for many years to come.
Rich Armitage and Joe Nye had very different backgrounds. Rich graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1967 and after a tour in Vietnam working with riverine forces, left the Navy so that he could stay alongside his South Vietnamese comrades in the fight. When Communist forces overran Saigon in 1975, a young Rich Armitage organized the South Vietnamese Navy with their families and rescued thousands in a ragtag flotilla of ships that made it to the Philippines. He went on to work as a congressional staffer and rose within Republican administrations to be deputy secretary of state.
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