Philip C. Habib Biography, Age, Height, Wife, Net Worth and Family

In 2006, Habib was featured on a United States postage stamp, one of a block of six featuring prominent diplomats. In 2013, the city of Junieh, Lebanon, unveiled a bust of Habib among other “national heroes” in Friendship Square.

While on vacation in France in 1992, Habib suffered a cardiac arrhythmia in Puligny-Montrachet and died on May 25 at age 72.

On August 7, 1987, the five Central American presidents, much to the shock of the rest of the world, agreed in principle to the Arias plan. Because further negotiating would require Habib to meet directly with Nicaragua’s president, Daniel Ortega, President Reagan forbade him to travel. Believing he no longer had the confidence of the president, Habib resigned.

He came out of retirement to take two assignments as U.S. special envoy; one to the Philippines in 1986, and another to Central America in 1986–87. In the latter assignment, he helped Costa Rican president Oscar Arias propose a peace plan to end the region’s civil wars.

Early in 1986, Reagan sent Habib to the Philippines to convince President Ferdinand Marcos to step down. In March 1986, Reagan appointed him as a special envoy to Central America with the intention of furthering U.S. interests in the conflict in Nicaragua. Administration hard-liners intended to use his fame and stature to advance a military solution, namely further funding of the Contras.

Habib was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1982—the highest official honor given to a U.S. citizen by the U.S. government.

Habib is the subject of the 1982 Warren Zevon song “The Envoy”.

Habib later became known for his work as Ronald Reagan’s special envoy to the Middle East from 1981 to 1983. In that role, he negotiated numerous cease-fire agreements between the various parties involved in the Lebanese Civil War.

In 1978, a massive heart attack forced Habib to resign as Under Secretary, the top post for a career Foreign Service officer. In 1981, President Ronald Reagan called him out of retirement to serve as special envoy to the Middle East. Habib oversaw the negotiations of a peace deal that allowed the PLO to evacuate from the besieged city of Beirut. In 1982, for his efforts he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom—the highest official honor given to a U.S. citizen by the U.S. government.

Habib served as Acting Secretary of State in January, 1977.

When South Korean opposition leader Kim Dae-jung was kidnapped in 1973 while Habib was U.S. ambassador to South Korea, Habib credits his intervention for saving Kim’s life. Kim later became the first opposition leader in South Korea to become president and also won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2000 for his reconciliation efforts with North Korea.

During his 30-year career as a Foreign Service Officer, he had mostly specialized in Asia. In 1968, he was working to prevent the escalation of U.S. involvement in Vietnam.

Beginning in 1949, his foreign service career took him to Canada, New Zealand, South Korea (twice), and South Vietnam. He held the State Department position of Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs from 1967–1969 and was chief of staff for the U.S. delegation to the Paris Peace Talks from 1968 to 1971. Habib acquired increasingly important posts, serving as Ambassador to South Korea (1971–1974), Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs (1974–1976), and Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs (1976–1978).

In 1947, recruiters for the United States Foreign Service visited the Berkeley campus. They were particularly interested in candidates who did not fit the then-current mold of Ivy League blueblood WASPs. Habib says he had never given diplomacy a moment’s thought, and that he just enjoyed taking tests for intellectual challenge. He took the Foreign Service exam and scored in the top 10% nationally.

After graduating in 1942 from the UI’s College of Forestry (now Natural Resources), he served in the U.S. Army during World War II and attained the rank of captain. Discharged from the service in 1946, Habib continued his education via the G.I. Bill in a doctoral program in agricultural economics at the University of California in Berkeley, and earned a Ph.D. in 1952.

Philip Charles Habib (February 25, 1920 – May 25, 1992) was an American career diplomat active from 1949 to 1987.