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Richard Holbrooke Remembered As Diplomatic Hero

SCOTT SIMON, Host:

Richard Holbrooke made the language of diplomacy blunt, and often famously profane. He stared straight across the table at Serbia's President Slobodan Milosevic and called him a war criminal - a real profanity. Mr. Holbrooke helped bring in the NATO airstrikes against Serbian guns that had strangled Sarajevo for four years. They drove Serbia into peace talks. At yesterday's memorial, President Obama said...

BARACK OBAMA: He understood American power in all its complexity and believed that when it is applied with purpose and principle, it can tip the scales of history.

SIMON: President Obama announced that a new American award for diplomacy will be named for him. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

Scott Simon is one of America's most admired writers and broadcasters. He is the host of Weekend Edition Saturday and is one of the hosts of NPR's morning news podcast Up First. He has reported from all fifty states, five continents, and ten wars, from El Salvador to Sarajevo to Afghanistan and Iraq. His books have chronicled character and characters, in war and peace, sports and art, tragedy and comedy.