Danger Zones: A Diplomat's Fight for America's Interests

By John Gunther Dean

Book Overview

This action-packed memoir by a leading American diplomat provides provocative reflections on events and leaders, American and foreign, 1959 to 1989. Over the course of his career, Ambassador Dean found himself embroiled in controversy in hot spots in Asia and the Middle East. Serving several stints in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, he worked on development projects in all three countries and with the U.S. military in Central Vietnam in the early 1970s. He brokered the deal that ended the war in Laos and faced down an attempted coup d' tat in 1973 against the neutralist regime of Prime Minister Souvanna Phouma. As ambassador in Cambodia, he was the last man out on April 12, 1975, as the last helicopter left Phnom Penh and Khmer Rouge forces approached the city. He was notably willing to work with anyone and everyone-communists and capitalists, diplomats and spies, urbanites and peasants, entrenched leaders and emerging reformers, Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists. "A thoroughly readable, even fascinating, account of Dean's life and experiences as one of America's top twentieth-century diplomats." Robert V. Keeley, author, publisher, career diplomat, and former U.S. ambassador to Greece. "Dean's career reflects his strongly held belief that America should lead through the good example of its own principled behavior and decency, not through brute force and threats." John V. Whitbeck, international lawyer and author of The World According to Whitbeck. "Ambassador Dean comes across in this memoir as exactly what he is Ambassador Dean comes across in this memoir as exactly what he is Ambassador Dean comes across in this memoir as exactly what he isa dedicated and talented man deeply proud of his record in the practice of American diplomacy." Bruce Laingen, U.S. ambassador (ret.) and former president, American Academy of Diplomacy.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0982386702
• ISBN13: 9780982386705
• Release Date: May 2009
• Publisher: Vellum
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

The Curious Diplomatic Career of U.S. Ambassador John Gunther Dean

John Gunther Dean was one of America's distinguished diplomats who won kudos for his performance in Laos and Cambodia, among other places. One would think that his memoir would be equally distinguished. And it is, to a degree -- but his memoir also has a touch of the bizarre because his career ends like some Middle East spy mystery. Dean's career figured prominently in recent American history. He served as America's chief diplomat in Laos, Cambodia, Denmark, Lebanon Thailand and India. Indeed, in 1973 he played a key role in brokering the peace settlement in Laos where he single-handedly put down an attempted coup that could have brought down the government of Prime Minister Souvanna Phouma even as the Laotian premier was close to reaching a peace agreement with the Pathet Lao. Moreover two years later, Dean was America's last man out of Cambodia when that country fell to the Khmer Rouge in 1975. By all accounts his performance in that difficult assignment was exemplary. So there was nothing bizarre about his career; it was the end of his career that leaves the reader on the edge of his or her seat. Mr. Dean reports that he was effectively dismissed from his last post in New Delhi in 1988. The State Department first told him that he was mentally unstable, and then, as soon as he submitted his retirement papers, exonerated him of that blasphemy. Dean takes us through his entire career, describing in some detail the dramatic events in Laos and Cambodia as the American war in Indochina wound down. After Cambodia fell, he was named ambassador to Denmark and then Lebanon. In Beirut in 1980, he was the target of an assassination attempt by men who were armed with American weapons that had been sent to Israel. Dean never did get a full explanation of who was behind the assassination attempt, but he speculates that the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad was behind incident, because Dean had made some belligerent public remarks about Israel's air strikes against Palestinian targets in Lebanon. From Lebanon, Dean was posted to Thailand in 1981, and then was sent to New Delhi in 1985 as ambassador to India. It was in New Delhi that Dean developed concerns about the historic confrontation between India, primarily a Hindu country, and Pakistan, which was a Muslim state. Since the 1971 war between India and Pakistan, the United States had affected a clear "tilt" towards the Pakistanis, and because of that, India had developed a close security relationship with the Soviet Union. India developed its nuclear capacity in the early 1970s, and Pakistan was in the midst of developing its own nuclear weapons. Moreover, the Russians were in the midst of their own adventure in Afghanistan, so things were tense on the subcontinent to say the least. Dean's story turns bizarre in August of 1988, when Pakistani military strongman Zia ul Haq was killed in the crash of his military aircraft with American Ambassador Arnold Raphel on board. Dean became suspic

Excellent book and very good reading

Ambassador Dean has given a personal account of the fifty-some years he spent in the service of the US both in the military and with the State Department. He provides an insight into US policy and execution of that policy that is rare and hence valuable. If only he had been listened to more carefully in Washington the US might not be in the mess it is currently in abroad! This book should be required reading in any International Relations course. I enjoyed it, it explained many things I did not previously understand and I learnt a great deal from it.