And now from luminary media and the University of Chicago Institute of Politics, the Axfiles,

with your host, David Axelrod.

Anyone who knows anything about American diplomacy knows Bill Burns a universally respected

career diplomat, he served under Republican and Democratic administrations in sensitive

roles, including Ambassador to Jordan, Ambassador to Russia, and finally as Deputy Secretary

of State in the Obama administration.

He was the man who laid the groundwork for the Iran nuclear agreement and has been involved

in most major foreign policy issues for a generation.

He's written a book called the Back Channel about his career and service of this country

and making the case for the importance of diplomacy.

Ambassador Burns came to the Institute of Politics recently, we sat down to talk about his

career, about the need for diplomacy and the state of the world today.

Bill Burns, it's great to be with you.

It's great to be with you.

I had the privilege of sitting in on some meetings, on the sidelines and on some weighty

issues during my years in the White House and always admired you as sort of the thorough

going professional.

So it's really a pleasure to be with you and to talk about your life and career in this

great new book of yours, The Back Channel.

In keeping with my sense of you, you write very little about yourself as your life in

particular, you're growing up and so on and you devote yourself to the craft of diplomacy

and your significant role in the history of the last 30 years.

...