Between Hope and History.

CLINTON, Bill [William Jefferson] [Bill Richardson].

$1,400.00

Item Number: 146659

New York: Times Books/ Random House, 1996.

First edition of this work by President Clinton. Octavo, original boards. Association copy, inscribed by the author in the year of publication on the half-title page, “To Bill Richardson with thanks Bill Clinton 9-7-96.” The recipient, Bill Richardson served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and energy secretary under the Clinton administration. Richardson became a member of the Democratic leadership as a deputy majority whip, where he became friends with Clinton after they worked closely on several issues. For his work as a back channel to Carlos Salinas de Gortari, Mexico’s president at the time of the negotiations, he was awarded the Aztec Eagle Award, Mexico’s highest award for a foreigner. Clinton in turn sent Richardson on various foreign policy missions, including a trip in 1995 in which Richardson traveled to Baghdad with Peter Bourne and engaged in lengthy one-on-one negotiations with Saddam Hussein to secure the release of two American aerospace workers who had been captured by the Iraqis after wandering over the Kuwaiti border. In 1996, he played a major role in securing the release of American Evan Hunziker from North Korean custody and for securing a pardon for Eliadah McCord, an American convicted and imprisoned in Bangladesh. Due to these missions, Richardson was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize three times. As United States Ambassador to the United Nations, alongside Nelson Mandela, he helped negotiate the transfer of power between Mobutu Sese Seko and Laurent-Désiré Kabila at the conclusion of the First Congo War, and in 1998 he flew to Afghanistan to meet with the Taliban and Abdul Rachid Dostum, an Uzbek warlord, to negotiate a ceasefire which ultimately failed to hold. Fine in a fine dust jacket. Jacket design by Robin Schiff. An exceptional association.

Published by President Clinton during his second run for the office of the President, Between Hope and History "is a snapshot of President Clinton's "New Democratic" philosophy as he segues from his first to his second term" (The New York Times Book Review, Robin Toner).