The Diplomat

Um, last question.

How high a price should one pay to do good in the world?

You talking about risks?

Risk and, you know, ultimate sacrifices.

Those people who travel into the dangerous areas

should do so fully aware that they're taking great risks.

But life is always risks.

The important thing is not to be reckless.

- Up a little more. - There you go. Right there.

To the left a little bit. There you go.

Why did you appoint him? Okay.

Yeah, and was it harder?

Hi. Hi, David.

- Hello, Secretary Clinton. - Hey, who's your helper?

This is Wiley. You've met him a couple of times.

Nice to see you again. How are you doing?

- How are you, my dear? - I'm well. It's nice to see you.

- Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. - A pleasure.

- Thank you for doing this. - My pleasure.

I keep on knocking over lights.

One, two, three, four. You want to tape it?

You guys are ready?

We are now.

Okay, great.

This interview with you is the last one we're doing for the film.

- Oh, my gosh. I'm so flattered. - Isn't that crazy?

- It seems fitting, though. - Oh, thank you.

It does seem fitting.

So sad, but nevertheless fitting.

Top US officials and world leaders

packed the Kennedy Center today

to pay tribute to the late Richard Holbrooke.

With the number of dignitaries in attendance,

that would account for some of this higher security

in the west end of downtown DC.

For me, this whole film really started

when I sat onstage with you and President Clinton

and President Obama and all these other luminaries

and I realized for the first time, I think, really

that my father was a historical figure.

I think that is a recognition

that sometimes comes upon someone gradually.

With Richard, he filled up so much space

and had his own energy field.

People just assumed

that he was a unique figure in their lives

and in the work that they were doing with him.

But taking a step back, which is what you're doing with this film,

you can see the broad impact and the historic significance

of his life and work.

My father died on December 13, 2010,

when his heart gave out.

At the time of his death, he was President Obama's point man

for Afghanistan and Pakistan.

But his career as a diplomat spanned 50 years

of American foreign policy.

By the time I came to know Richard,

his place in history was assured.

But when he began to talk about the importance

of restoring America's place in the world,

it was clear that Richard was not comfortable on the sidelines.

He belonged in the arena.

He wanted to be a great man

so he could change history.

He was and he did.

I believe in history.

I think history is continuous.

It doesn't begin or end on Pearl Harbor Day

or on 9/11.

You have to learn from the past.

Everything everybody said about him here is true.

But in the end what matters is there are a lot of people

walking around on the face of the Earth today

or their children or their grandchildren

because of the way he lived his life.

- What are you gonna call it? - "The Diplomat."

- That's great. - Seems right, right?

Yeah, it does.

My father's life was a public one.

So when he died, I received an overwhelming number

of condolence letters and emails.

One of those notes came from journalist Christiane Amanpour,

who sent me this photo and wrote,

"This is Sarajevo."

New Year's not long ago.

Bright, shining, at peace, and with a future for her children.

"Thank you, Richard."

I had never been to Sarajevo,

the capital of Bosnia and the site of my father's greatest achievement.

I realized that while I read about his many accomplishments,

there was much about his storied career

I didn't understand.

My father's life as a diplomat

constantly pulled him away from our family.

And when we did manage to get together,

he rarely wanted to talk about his work.

Life with Pops, as I called him,

provided a remarkable vantage point.

But he could be an intense and complicated man,

often making our relationship challenging.

As I dealt with this sudden loss,

I decided the only way for me to grieve

was to get to know him better in death

than I did in life.

So I set out into his world.

- Oh, my God. - No kidding, huh?

Thanks for doing this. Appreciate it.

You're the first interview we've done.

You know that I want to.

If there's one word to describe my father?

I would say the diplomatic hope for my generation.

- We're gathered to honor. - Ambassador Dick Holbrooke,

who brought peace to Bosnia.

If you could describe in 25 words or less

your theory of diplomatic persuasion.

You start out by defining your national interest.

You then look at the parties and see what they want

and you find out how you can put it together.

He's admired for his intelligence

and his political savvy,

but "Newsweek" mocked his personal ambition.

I don't understand the ambition issue.

I've never met any successful person in Washington,

or for that matter in television, who didn't have ambition.

Look at that. "New York Times Magazine."

That's crazy.

He had two different covers?

- Two different covers. - Holy Christ.

- Oh, this is about Diane. - This was his old girlfriend.

Did you have these or did you get them just recently?

I found these just as I was going through his stuff.

It's weird, you know, he's always kept these papers.

He always had such a sense of his own history.

This file cabinet as well behind you?

- All of these. Yeah. - All these file cabinets are my father's papers.

This is his...

letters.

These are letters from your father to your mother.

Wow.

"Darling Litty." Weird.

"I left Saigon by beach this morning"

arriving in Soc Trang 0830 with a member of USOM.

It is quite a place to be right now.

Rumor follows rumor,

and now they are sometimes right.

"Incidentally, we really do not know just what is going on in this country."

He left for Vietnam and we corresponded.

He said instead of writing a diary or a journal,

he would write his experiences in letters to me

and I would keep the letters.

"October 25, 1963."

He had a journalist's instinct.

"The tension in Saigon is amazing.

I've never experienced anything quite like it."

There's a lot of reporting,

of recording what the scene is like.

"The country is so sad and I feel it more and more.

I really don't know how I will react to war,

"but it sounds like war there really will be."

You have to remember, this is before

Vietnam is Vietnam.

The beginning was very different from the end.

There are 5,500 Americans in Vietnam.

More than Kennedy wants to be there,

but he sees no alternative.

- Four-star general. - Paul Harkins says

we shall have almost all the American military

phased out of Vietnam by 1965.

We are winning this war.

My father's experience in Vietnam

taught him that what mattered most was having a view from the ground...

...and knowing the right people.

We changed beers.

It's not as good, but it's cold.

In May of 1963,

he and Vlad Lehovich landed in Vietnam

as young Foreign Service officers.

When we arrived, there was a pretty small

American military commitment.

A lot of them were senior people

who weren't that enthusiastic to come here.

The younger folks were.

We thought it was the most exciting place in the world.

"Some things about Vietnam.

I enjoy the drama of the helicopters,

with the air being slapped at by the rotor blades

and driving hard against you.

These scenes, so common to me now,

are still thrilling moments,

"although I would not dare admit it to anyone here."

We formed a little clique.

Your dad was the youngest.

This was to be our war

and the beginning of our careers.

Your father wanted to contribute to the American war effort,

which at the time he believed in.

"September 15, 1963.

As you can see, there's something different about the delta.

I'm fast deciding that's perhaps

"the most supremely unlivable place I've ever seen."