Archive: Holbrooke Discusses Dayton Peace Accords

As leaders in the United States and around the world expressed their condolences at the death of Ambassador Richard C. Holbrooke, a longtime diplomat with a career spanning four decades, many are remembering one of his most famous accomplishments: the Dayton peace accords — a framework agreed upon by leaders of the three warring factions of Serbs, Croats and Bosnian Muslims to create a unified national government in Bosnia after a three-year war. The 20 days of talks in Ohio were not without critics; Holbrooke was criticized for bargaining with Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.

Holbrooke, then Assistant Secretary of State, appeared on the NewsHour on Nov. 21, 1995, to defend the agreement, and the sacrifices needed to make it acceptable to all parties. He said he had “never been an optimist” about the region, but nonetheless called the framework a “historic step forward.”