Mission: Make History – Top Diplomat Wendy Sherman
Nuclear weapons. National security. Global peace. Top diplomat Wendy Sherman has a daunting to-do list.
One day in fall 2013, Wendy Sherman’s pinky finger made headline news. The undersecretary for political affairs and the fourth-ranking official in the US State Department was en route to a congressional hearing when she fell and ruptured a tendon—and then kept right on going, finger throbbing, to update lawmakers on the recent negotiations with Iran. Only after she finished her briefing, reports the New York Times, did she head for the emergency room. “Suddenly,” Sherman (CAS’71) says, “I had the most famous finger in the world.”
If it hadn’t been for one historic phone call, it’s unlikely anyone would have taken note of the undersecretary’s digit drama. But on September 27, 2013, President Obama called Iran’s newly elected president, initiating the first conversation between an American and Iranian president in more than 30 years. The call sparked cautious hope for dialogue about Iran’s nuclear program—and also launched Sherman, who has spent much of her career out of the public view, into the media spotlight. Soon, she was everywhere: answering questions on CNN, walking shoulder-to-shoulder with John Kerry (Hon.’05), addressing members of Congress at a microphone, sitting at a table with Iranian officials, her red jacket a bright exclamation point amid a mass of mostly gray-suited men.
Her job, as the State Department website dryly understates it, is to be “the day-to-day manager of overall regional and bilateral policy issues.” When America sits down with other countries to thrash out world-altering deals, it’s frequently represented by Sherman. According to the New York Times, her efforts were instrumental in preparing “the ground for talks with Iran that gained momentum, both in public and through a secret channel, once Hassan Rouhani was elected Iran’s president.” Click here to read the full article.