He began his career at the White House by running the motor pool as a military aid. He would go on to join the staff in the Nixon Administration. While his duties initially would be low-level logistics, Brent Scowcroft would rise to the highest levels of U.S. foreign policy power.
His work as the National Security Advisor would cement the nation's views on China for decades. He would see the country through some of the tumultuous scenes in the cold war.
The oftentimes hawk would put himself at odds with former coworkers and friends when he went dove on the second Iraq war.
An architect of Desert Storm to liberate Kuwait, Scowcroft wrote a scathing analysis of the rationale for war with Iraq in the Wall Street Journal.
Guest:
- Bartholomew Sparrow, professor of government at the University of Texas at Austin
