Yahoo News Rex Tillerson 'didn't want to be' Secretary of State - 'my wife convinced me'
Rex Tillerson, the US secretary of State, said he "didn't want this job" and that he only agreed to take it because his wife told him to.
The former chief executive and chairman of oil giant ExxonMobil discussed his first two months as America's top diplomat during his recent trip to East Asia.
In a wide-ranging interview with the Independent Journal Review, Mr Tillerson said: "I didn’t want this job. I didn’t seek this job.
“My wife told me I’m supposed to do this.”
Mr Tillerson, who turns 65 on Thursday, said he had never met Donald Trump before their meeting in December when the then-president asked to talk to him “about the world”.
"When he asked me at the end of that conversation to be secretary of state, I was stunned," he said.
Recalling his wife, Renda St. Clair, saying “I told you God’s not through with you”, he added: “I was supposed to retire in March, this month. I was going to go to the ranch to be with my grandkids.”
Asked if he will serve for a whole term, he replied: “I serve at the pleasure of the president.”
"My wife convinced me. She was right. I’m supposed to do this," he added.
He is the first secretary of state in modern history with no experience in any public office. He was chosen because of his background with ExxonMobil, thrashing out oil deals on behalf of the oil giant with leaders from countries including Nigeria, Yemen, Qatar and Russia.
Mr Tillerson, who prefers to keep a low profile, has come under criticism after barring the press from joining him on the tour of Japan, South Korea and China - a break from decades of tradition.
The only reporter allowed to join the delegation was from the IJR, a publication founded by former Republican operatives.
"I’m not a big media press access person," he told the IJR. "I personally don’t need it. I understand it’s important to get the message of what we’re doing out, but I also think there’s only a purpose in getting the message out when there’s something to be done."
Throughout his 41-year career Mr Tillerson has perhaps been best known for the decades he spent driving the company's expansion in Russia - experience he was reluctant to discuss in the interview.
"He was so cagey when Russia came up, for example, that his answer wasn’t even worthy of inclusion," the reporter, Erin McPike, wrote.
