Saunders, Harold H. (Harold Henry), 1930-2016

Harold Henry Saunders (December 27, 1930 – March 6, 2016) was a member of the NSC Staff from 1961 to 1974. He was responsible for the Middle East and North Africa. He served as the United States Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research between 1975 and 1978 and United States Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs between 1978 and 1981. Saunders was a key participant in the Camp David Accords, helped negotiate the Iran Hostage Crisis, and developed the sustained dialogue model for resolving conflicts. He later launched the Sustained Dialogue Institute, which uses the sustained dialogue model to address racial and other issues in the United States and abroad.

Saunders was director of international affairs at the Kettering Foundation and co-chaired the Dartmouth Conference Task Force. He authored several works, including The Other Walls: The Arab-Israeli Peace Process in a Global Perspective (1985), A Public Peace Process: Sustained Dialogue to Transform Racial and Ethnic Conflict (1999), Politics Is about Relationship: A Blueprint for the Citizens’ Century (2005), and Sustained Dialogue in Conflicts: Transformation and Change (2011).