Tales of the Foreign Service

By Ralph Hilton

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• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0872493598
• ISBN13: 9780872493599
• Release Date: January 1978
• Publisher: University of South Carolina Press
• Length: 176 Pages
• Weight: 0.10 lbs.

Customer Reviews

A wonderful read

"What do you DO in the Foreign Service?" Jack McFall got tired of answering this question asked by friends and relatives. He helped the Foreign Service Journal gather and publish short reminiscences -- "tales" -- written by American diplomats. Seventeen of these articles were presented in this volume, edited by Ralph Hilton and published by the University of South Carolina Press in 1978. Only a few of the articles touch on grand issues of foreign policy or diplomacy. Rather they are tales of life and work in the Foreign Service, stretching in time from before World War II through the early 1970s. Sit down with this book and a cup of coffee. You'll enjoy reading about ... handling problems that come to the Embassy Duty Officer in Paris ... retrieving the remains of three Americans killed in a plane crash in Mexico ... working out the occupation of Austria after WWII ... sightseeing with Helen Keller in Spain ... visiting Siberia while being tailed by Soviet security ... serving in the Department of State during the Cuban Missile Crisis ... protecting British and American citizens taking refuge in the American Embassy in Baghdad (in 1941) ... closing down a U.S. Information Center in the face of demonstrations in Indonesia ... being detained in Nasser's Egypt for distributing copies of speeches ... visiting a Yemeni jail ... and entertaining a visiting Member of Congress (the host served some unusual dishes). Two of the stories are personal favorites. In "Ship Afire," J.W. Schutz told how, during his first assignment to a remote post on the coast of Central America, he saved a burning freighter by recalling his high school chemistry. In "Ordeal at Cannes," Howard Simpson told how he unexpectedly became the U.S. delegate to the Cannes Film Festival, and the adventures that transpired. He and actor Van Johnson saved the day. Many decades have now passed since the events in the articles took place. The "tales" are now part of Foreign Service history, but they still make a great read. -30-