Celebrating famous Jews from Ukraine: Wendy Sherman

By coincidence, the city of Pereiaslav, located 90 km east of Kyiv, began to play a special role in current Ukrainian-American relations. This city, which was once the birthplace of Sholem Aleichem, also turned out to be native to the current leadership of the US State Department.

Pereiaslav roots of the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken have become known not so long ago, and the other day his deputy Wendy Sherman shared a detail from the history of her family – her grandmother was also from Pereiaslav.

For the color of her hair and the versatility of negotiating tactics Wendy Sherman was nicknamed the Silver Fox in the US foreign policy. Sherman has had many victories in the US diplomacy. These include freezing the North Korea’s nuclear weapons project and holding talks on the Iranian nuclear program. She also played a leading role in resolving the conflict in Syria.

She advised on issues of foreign policy for the administrations of Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and now she serves in the administration of Joe Biden.

The talent of the negotiator, which is attributed to her, Sherman herself attributes to the “clinical experience” gained in her youth, when she was a social worker and dealt with issues of providing assistance to the people in poverty and women who became victims of domestic abuse. In her own words, she now applies these skills in negotiations with both members of Congress and dictators.

—

Join me, Boris Lozhkin, on Twitter @lozhkin_boris for news and commentary on Judaism in Ukraine and around the world. Follow me on Facebook for updates on the work of the Jewish Confederation of Ukraine.

Find out more about my work at borislozhkin.org