As serious strains are emerging with key international allies, a Republican-led Senate today confirmed former ExxonMobil CEO and Chairman Rex W. Tillerson as the nation’s 69th secretary of state in a 56-43 vote.
The New York Times reports the many votes against Tillerson’s confirmation made his selection among the most contentious for a secretary of state in recent history. Tillerson takes his post just as many traditional American allies are questioning the policies of President Donald Trump. In the past 50 years, the most contentious confirmations for secretary of state were those of Condoleezza Rice in 2005, who passed by a vote of 85-13, and Henry Kissinger in 1973, who was confirmed 78-7.
How Tillerson’s translates Trump’s vow of “America first” into the kind of polite diplomatic parlance that will maintain vital alliances will be a significant test. Among his other challenges are dealing with Trump’s promises to recast relations with China and Russia, move the American Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv, and re-examine an international nuclear deal with Iran.
With operations on six continents, ExxonMobil is in some ways a state within a state, the newspaper reports. As its chief executive, Tillerson struck deals with repressive governments—in at least one case, against the advice of the State Department. Environmentalists largely opposed his nomination.
