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A F S A N E W S CLASSIFIEDS 74 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/JULY-AUGUST 2008
Cultural Diplomacy’s Finest Hour Practicing Public Diplomacy: A Cold War Odyssey Yale Richmond, Berghahn Books, 2008, $29.95, hardback, 175 pages. REVIEWED BY GERALD LOFTUS Yale Richmond’s latest book, Practicing Public Diplomacy: A Cold War Odyssey — part of the ongoing “Diplomats and Diplomacy” series jointly published by the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training and Diplomatic and Consular Officers, Retired — is a lively and important study in memoir form. Richmond skillfully provides both the background and “flash forward” context to his career in Eastern Europe during the decades following World War II. There he took part in early cultural exchange efforts with the Soviet bloc, which he updates throughout his lifelong study of the region. Readers will see parallels with today’s transformational diplomacy in Richmond’s years as a civilian “Resident Officer” in American-occupied Germany, from which he segued into the Foreign Service. As ROs, precursors to today’s Provincial Reconstruction Teams, he and his military colleagues administered, with imagination and initiative, the post- Nazi “Reorientation Program.” Richmond recalls asking himself, “How would Germans react to me as a BOOKS Richmond’s account affirms PD officers’ key role in opening Iron Curtain countries to Western influence, a vital step on the way to winning the Cold War. Jew?” His answer shows the strength of character and magnanimity toward his “hosts” that he displayed throughout his seven years in Germany. The heart of this memoir is the time Richmond spends in Warsaw, Vienna and Moscow as a cultural and press officer. (His “out-of-area” assignment in Laos provides a rare look at Indochina between the French and American wars there.) Warsaw, the “best post of my career,” gives Richmond free rein to build cultural programs, including the first Polish-U.S. Fulbright academic exchanges — precedent-setting given Cold War tensions. The author generously credits his success there to a colleague’s counsel: “If you can show officials that you really like Poland, you can do almost everything you want here.” And so he did for the next three years. Serving diplomats might envy Richmond’s freedom of action during the heyday of showcasing American culture, before security and media placement priorities trumped libraries, and “strategic communication” and “information operations” came to vie with civilian public diplomacy. Entry-level officers, in particular, should see his story as confirmation of the importance of the “basics”: learning languages (in his case, at least four), and developing regional and functional expertise. And for PD officers, the book will affirm their profession’s key role in opening Iron Curtain countries to Western influence, a vital step on the way to winning the Cold War. The chapter “Shafted by Shakespeare” should be excerpted for AFSA’s dissent collection. Richmond’s finest hour, as a professional defending longterm American interests, was his runin with Nixon political appointee Frank Shakespeare. The new head of the U.S. Information Agency visited Moscow in 1969, bent on regime change. After years of carefully implementing the bilateral cultural agreement, Richmond was floored when Shakespeare blurted out, to American staff in a (presumably) bugged room, that USIA’s mission was to overthrow the Soviet government. Richmond’s response took some boldness: “Mr. Shakespeare, that has never been the policy of the State Department ... our aim is to live with these people in peace.” Though Shakespeare subsequently blocked Richmond’s promotion, the McCarthy era was over. The Nixon administration’s embrace of détente vindicated Richmond, and he became a respected Washington expert in the burgeoning exchange program with the Soviet Union. JULY-AUGUST 2008/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 75
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A TIRELESS “AFSA-CATE” ■ HONO
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CONTENTS AFSA NEWS DISSENTERS HONOR
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Getting History Wrong I was astonis
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Forgetting History The April Cybern
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National Security Infrastructure: D
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Saharan Africa, where the number of
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Association for Diplomatic Studies
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udget of $3.5 million, and a profes
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Pinochet to form a political party
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aircraft was an American flag carri
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of State’s attention to managemen
Page 26 and 27: In recent months, the growing secur
Page 28 and 29: Commission and the Judicial Reform
Page 30 and 31: of government — notwithstanding t
Page 32 and 33: setup, relying on elected provincia
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Page 40 and 41: institutional memory, as well as th
Page 42 and 43: ise of the Taliban. This has been b
Page 44 and 45: Durand Line broke the region’s do
Page 46 and 47: Center, that the TTP is bound to re
Page 48 and 49: On Sept. 7, 1948, Secretary of Stat
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Page 52 and 53: What I want to get at is a problem
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Page 61 and 62: AFSANEWS American Foreign Service A
Page 63 and 64: V.P. VOICE: STATE ■ BY STEVE KASH
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Page 71 and 72: AUSTIN TRACY Scholarship Winners Ho
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Page 80 and 81: Lucius Durham Battle, 89, a retired
Page 82 and 83: ing French and Spanish literature a
Page 84 and 85: Comforts, that specialized in anima
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Page 88 and 89: losing a battle with cancer. Born i
Page 90 and 91: Leasing and Management of Exception
Page 94: Seven months ago, I was living in a
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