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And now, from the University of Chicago Institute of Politics and CNN, the Axviles, with your host, David Axelrod.

Perhaps the greatest diplomatic achievement of the last decade was the agreement that was hammered out between the United States, its allies, and the Republic of Iran, over Iran's nuclear program.

Wendy Sherman was the diplomat at the table who was the point person for the U.S. during those negotiations.

It was the capstone on a long and interesting career in politics, government, and diplomacy.

She came by the Institute of Politics the other day and we talked about all of that.

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Wendy Sherman, welcome.

Thank you.

I'm happy to see you. You know, we've known each other for some time, but just to get ready for this conversation today, I did a little reviewing of your life.

And I knew you from politics, like years ago, when you were with Senator McCullesky.

But I didn't realize quite how varied your life was. I mean, like, why can't you hang on to a job? What is the deal with that?

Well, you know, I gave some commencement addresses last year and the theme of it was that I wished all those young people an unexpected life.

I've never had a five-year plan. I've been really privileged and fortunate to have great opportunities come along.

And, you know, I really started out with parents who were quite activists.

Yeah, I was interested in that. How to tell me about them and their background.

Yeah, so this is in Baltimore. This was in Baltimore, but my dad was a Marine.

He was a Guadalcanal. He got injured and came back to the West Coast, was married to my mother who had graduated high school.

I think that in another era she would have gone on to college and done great things for herself.

But my dad was still an active duty Marine, but he thought there should never be war again, nor did my mother.

This was at the end of World War II and getting to the end of World War II.

And so he helped organize what became the American Veterans Committee and my mother and father were at the founding of the UN in 1945 in San Francisco.

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