Shultz, Nearing End of His Term, Defends Active U.S. Role Abroad

Secretary of State George P. Shultz, giving what is expected to be his valedictory address as a government official, defended U.S. activism in world affairs Monday and rebuffed analysts who contend America is on the decline.

“Clearly America’s national interest is served best by being engaged, by continuing to shape the new developments we have done so much to create,” he said, referring to what he called a new, more optimistic era of world affairs during President Reagan’s eight years in office.

In a philosophical speech to the Citizens Network for Foreign Affairs, an elite group of scholars, activists and former U.S. officials, Shultz hailed the concept of public service based on trust and voluntarism and said it must have an international dimension.

“At our best, we work for a better world not because we’re forced to do it but because we want to do it--and because a better world is better for America.

“If we don’t show the will to lead, no one else can,” he said.

Shultz railed against “false prophets” who have predicted that America is in decline because it is engaged abroad.

These naysayers, whom he called “declinists,” play to the “darker side, to the idea that America no longer has anything to give the world,” but are wrong, Shultz said.

To reverse what he called the “erosion of public service,” Shultz said that trust within government must be renewed, foreign aid funds restored and trade protectionism must be rejected.

Shultz, 67, who has served 6 1/2 years at the State Department and served earlier administrations as head of the Treasury, Labor Department and Budget Office, plans to leave Washington on Jan. 20 to return to academic life and semi-retirement in California.