George P. Shultz
U.S. Secretary of State (1982–1989); his appearance as a welcoming speaker at the 48th International PEN Congress in January 1986 — at Mailer's invitation — set off the central controversy of Mailer's PEN presidency.
George P. Shultz, U.S. Secretary of State under Ronald Reagan, was invited by Mailer to give a welcoming address at the opening of the 48th International PEN Congress on 12 January 1986. The invitation — made, critics charged, without the American PEN board’s approval — touched off the defining row of Mailer’s presidency: 65 of the roughly 700 assembled writers signed a public letter of protest (E.L. Doctorow’s “Shultz and PEN” stated the original complaint), Shultz was heckled, and the “Shultz issue” dominated the week’s sessions (86.2, 86.5–86.8, 86.13, 86.30). Mailer defended the invitation as self-evidently dignifying the Congress and noted that no overseas applicant had been denied a U.S. visa for the event.
Stub created during the 1986 ingest.