Outgoing Secretary of State Rex Tillerson urged his colleagues in the government to treat each other kindly as he bid farewell following an abrupt dismissal from President Trump’s Cabinet.
“This can be a very mean-spirited town, but you don’t have to choose to participate in that,” Tillerson told the assembled State Department personnel on Thursday.
The former Exxon Mobil CEO was fired unexpectedly last week, after cutting short a trip to Africa for a series of diplomatic meetings. His ouster took place just days after Trump accepted an invitation for face-to-face talks with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, in addition to ongoing negotiations between the United States and European allies over the fate of the Iran nuclear deal. His final day at the department is March 31.
“In these times, your continued diligence and devotion to the State Department’s mission has never been more necessary,” he said.
Tillerson was often accused of not valuing the State Department, as he planned a reform and reorganization of the diplomatic bureaucracy. He was set to testify before the Senate on that reform plan the day after his firing. Without the opportunity to implement those reforms, the former national president of the Boy Scouts was left to offer general professional and personal advice.
“Never lose sight of your most valuable asset, the most valuable asset you possess: your personal integrity,” Tillerson said. “Only you can relinquish it or allow it to be compromised. Once you’ve done so, it is very, very hard to regain it. So guard it as the most precious thing you possess.”
Tillerson made no mention of Trump, just as he avoided referring to the president in his comments on the day he was fired. “Each of us get to choose the person we want to be, and the way we want to be treated, and the way we will treat others,” he said. “God bless you all, your loved ones. God bless America.”
