3
standing on the normative principle that social justice was trumped by Waldheim’s personal
ambitions and an inadequate will. In Waldheim’s case, it was probably both.
Images, identities, and personalities that strike deeply into moral ambiguities create
polarizing experiences. They can become symbols that participate in the reality and ambiguous
meanings they seek to describe.
3
Anyone familiar with the United States in the first part of the
twenty-first century would recognize such a process at work when reflecting upon concepts as
diverse as “abortion, red and blue voting maps, prisons in Iraq, President Bush, Bill Clinton, or
Vietnam.” For most Americans, these words contain tensions that trigger moral ambiguities,
dilemmas, and disputed values for the American community about the American community.
4
Waldheim and his public life fit such a process, too.
5
It is difficult to assess the impact of moral
dilemmas from one community to the next, but because Waldheim’s public life spans decades in
highly public spotlights, the dilemma that he causes will be variously owned.
6
What follows, then, is an analytical dialogue between a person (Waldheim) and his
contexts for value formation, and a part of the text of his work as Secretary-General. Historical
events raise points and counterpoints—the substance and reactions to moral dilemmas—to be
challenged or affirmed by those interviewed, and the study’s analysis.
One assumption given to answer the question “who are we” as individuals and collective
humanity might be an ancient theological creedal formula stemming from the European
Reformation – similar justus et pecator. Both “justified and sinner” would be a loose translation
for the formulaic response…and not a bad send-off into the enigmatic life of Kurt Waldheim.
Convention